September 9, 2002

Cedars speakers: 'Too little repentance'
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CEDAR HILL--When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September, early indicators pointed to an awakened interest in spiritual issues. But one year later, leaders at a spiritual awakening retreat near Dallas wondered aloud why interest in faith-related matters dropped off so drastically.
___For all the God-talk that circulated in the United States after Sept. 11, the tragedy generated too little genuine prayer and too little real repentance by God's people, speakers at the Cedars of Lebanon retreat suggested.
___Don Miller of Bible-Based Ministries in Fort Worth, Richard Owen Roberts of International Awakening Ministries in Wheaton, Ill., and Claude King of Final Command Resources in Murfreesboro, Tenn., were featured speakers at the 14th annual Cedars retreat. Texas Baptist Men sponsored the event Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment.
___Miller, whose prayer ministry helped to shape the early days of the lay renewal movement among Texas Baptist Men, decried shallow appeals of "God bless America" voiced by many in the days after the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
___"God has already blessed America--too much," he said. "Isn't it time for us to bless God?"
___God wants a praying people, and God wants every church to become a house of prayer, Miller insisted.
___"So many people want revival, but they do not want to pay the price. God's price is prayer," he said. "Prayer is the intimate communication between the heavenly Father and his child."
___Praying people are marked by an absence of arrogance and pride, Miller added. "Proud people never pray powerfully."
___King, co-author of the "Experiencing God" discipleship materials with Henry Blackaby, and Roberts, a Congregationalist minister, echoed many of the same themes.
___As he watched news broadcasts of the terrorist attacks on the United States last year, King thought God might use the tragedy to bring about spiritual awakening. "God is trying to get our attention, calling us back to him," he remembered thinking.
___But while many Americans turned to houses of worship for comfort in the days immediately after the attacks, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, seemed to make no lasting impact on the personal faith commitment of most people, the speakers said.
___King and Roberts both called for repentance by Christians. "If we're not a house of prayer, we are on the way to becoming a den of robbers," King said. "Cleansing needs to take place in the house of God."
___Roberts asserted that modern believers must "return to the ancient paths" and seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. The world needs to see Christians who are "ablaze for God" with power, passion and purity, he said.
___

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