Early in the morning at 6 AM on Saturday, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was already filling up with people. Lines crawled out of all entrances and parking lots were already getting full as thousands of people were rushing in "” not for a football game this time around, but for a prayer gathering to seek revival.
The all-day prayer gathering, called "Azusa Now,' was organized out of a hope to see another revival in the U.S. like that which took place in Azusa Street 110 years ago in 1906. From 7:30 AM to 10:30 PM, thousands attended the event which was organized by The Call, a revival ministry led by Lou Engle. Over 100,000 had registered previous to the event date, and some 900 churches and dozens of ministries partnered with The Call to prepare for the event, including Bethel Redding, which also led worship for a portion of the day.
One of the aspects organizers emphasized for this particular event was unity across racial lines, during a time when racial tensions have resurfaced across the country. As such, leaders of different ethnic groups were given different time frames to lead the people into prayer, including Korean, Messianic Jewish, and Hispanic leaders.
Korean American leaders led the very first hour of the event, from 7:30 to 8:30 AM, and translation into English was provided.
"The Koreans have the redemptive gift of prayer and fasting that we could learn from," said Engle as he started off the event, adding that another landmark revival was seen in Korea, when revival broke out in Pyongyang in 1907.
"We desire to see a third Great Awakening in this country," said Engle.
Six Korean pastors led the congregation into prayer, including Young Gil Kim, the senior pastor of Thanksgiving Church; Paul In Sik Kim, the senior pastor of West Hills Presbyterian Church; Gyeong Jin Kim, the senior pastor of Young Nak Presbyterian Church; Daniel Jung, the senior pastor of Saemmool Church; Yu Chul Chin, the senior pastor of Los Angeles Full Gospel Church; and John M. Song, the president of World Mission University.
"We are grateful for Americans, who sent missionaries to Korea, through whom we were able to receive the gospel," said Young Gil Kim as he started off the Korean portion of the event. "And for their help to our country during the Korean War."
"After the Korean War, the country was reduced to nothing but ashes. But Korea became one of the countries which saw the most rapid economic growth and development. And it was through prayer that Korea was revived," said Kim.
"We pray for America to be holy! We pray for America to be united! We pray for another revival in America," he prayed.
One of the prayer topics that was received with a particularly active response was that which was regarding North Korea. The crowd of thousands of people responded with amens and loud applause as Yu Chul Chin prayed, "May North Korea be open for Jesus Christ!"
A significant portion of the rest of the event consisted of praying for healing, particularly healing across racial lines as two portions were dedicated to that topic. A portion in the afternoon was dedicated to evangelism, and new believers were invited to make their commitments during an altar call portion later in the evening. The entire event was available on livestream through GOD TV, to which up to 20,000 tuned in at one point and offered translations in Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
This article was updated on Monday, April 11, 9:34 AM PST.
