after breakthrough

8/2/2019 After Breakthrough

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ollegiate Impact

igniting hearts, tranforming campuse


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After investing eight years in campus min-istry, God surprised me and the staff I was

working with at the University of Wisconsin-

Madison. On a Friday evening, while listening to the

testimonies of two visiting students from a nearby

Christian college, God revealed himself in His holi-

ness and suddenly many of us found ourselves

broken over the sin lurking beneath the surface

and repenting publicly.

Before the evening was over, everythingoften

in tearswas brought into the light: anger, bitter-

ness, pride, hatred, self-image issues, deception,

stealing, spiritual coldness, and a wide range of

sexual sins. Since the vast majority of people in

attendance had never experienced anything like

this before, they were somewhat bewildered and

had lots of questions . . . including me.

Since that gathering, I have had the opportunity

to take part in many similar meetings where God

has powerfully manifested his presence, bringing

students from bondage and spiritual dullness into

freedom, joy, and fruitfulness. In each situation,

God accomplished a modern-day version of John

the Baptists ministry of calling people to repen-

tance to prepare the way of the Lord. Undeniably, in

many, if not all of these gatherings, many students

walked away with a fresh encounter with Christ, and

streams of living water was no longer just a bibli-cal concept but had become a reality.

The following summarizes what God has taught

me over the years in regards to these kinds of meet-

ings and what I wish someone had shared with me

following that initial life-changing evening at the

University of Wisconsin.

suddenly many of usfound ours elves broke n over the s in

lu rk ing beneath the sur face and

repent ing publ ic ly .

Dave WarnDirector of Collegiant Impact


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Be ready to explain Gods purposes inpublic confession

Many will likely ask, Why is all that is going

on so public? Ive always been taught to confess

my sin privately. Even so, the power of sin is in its

secrecy. Once a persons disposition of concealment

is broken, the Spirits power can once again do a

transforming work.

More specically, even though private prayer

with confession has a key role in the Christian

life, too often sins hold is not broken because wecontinue to coddle it at some conscious or subcon-

scious level. Instead of the abundant life that Jesus

promised His followers, the result is defeat.

But in public confession, very few confess their

waywardness unless they have a sincere desire to

turn, burn bridges, and close the door once and for

all. People feel the weight of the issue at hand and,

for the most part, playing games with God is over.

Another byproduct of public confession is thatmasks come off, real needs are shared, and the

body of Christ at last becomes what God intended it

to be. Like never before, students will pray for each

other, encourage each other, and navigate Gods

will together.

Perhaps this why James urges believers to

confess your sins to one another, that you may be

healed (James 5:16). Through public confession,

spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational healing

is waiting for us.

Often, the real issue is not the sin that needs tobe confessed publicly, but the pride that needs to be

slayed so that we will obey the Spirits promptings to

be transparent. In other words, fundamentally God

uses public confession to humble us.

the body

of Chr i s t at last

becomes what God

intended i t to be.


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The Bible teaches that humility is a prereq-

uisite to the Spirit working in our lives because

God opposes the proud, but works graciously in

the humble (2 Chron. 7:14, James 4:6). Addition-

ally, Peter encourages us to clothe ourselves with

humility (1 Pet. 5:5).

So when we think of public confession it is im-

perative to clearly communicate that God is not try-

ing to embarrass people but is trying to free people.

The truth often hurts before it heals, and becoming

all that God wants us to be in Christ is the goal of

public confession.

Go the whole way with God

The most prevalent mistake I have observed

after initial breakthroughs of Gods manifest pres-

ence is the decision to go back to less convicting,

more informational, teaching oriented, and at times

entertain-ment driven meetings. Sometimes this is

willful, but often it is a subconscious default mode

after all, it is what we know.

While quickly reverting back to previous patternsmay feel right, the ministry will inadvertently move

out of the Spirits ow and back into a conspicuous

lack of power and fruitlessness.

To avoid Gods diminishing presence, the leader-

ship must persistently speak into the issues that

have surfaced and relentlessly pursue those issues

yet to surface so that no stone is left unturned. In

many meetings, the rst encounter with God that

brings people under conviction and public confes-

sioneven gatherings that last for hoursis only the

beginning of what God desires to do.Like layers of an onion, the leadership must

continue to address humility, brokenness, repen-

tance until each layer of sin has been exposed,

each idol has been torn down, and the Spirits

power is in full effect. Be-cause we have set our

hearts on going the whole way with Godwherever

that may leadthere is real hope for freedom,

genuine life-change, and ultimately the transfor-

mation of the entire campus.

An initial breakthrough with conviction and

even public confession is often simply thatan

initial step. We have arrived at the homepage of

the Spirits work, but we have much further to go.

While not decreasing the emphasis onbrokenness, increasingly focus onthe cross

Once God breaks in and many have sharedtheir deepest darkest struggles stuff they would

not have shared with their best friend over coffee

prior to Gods invasion on the scene many will

need clear redemptive teaching from the Word.

It is the leaders role to provide this truth, while

careful-ly not backing off of or obscuring the Holy

Spirits searchlight of conviction for those that

are still in the process of coming clean with God

and others.

In summary, while challenging your students to

go the whole way with God in repentance and con-fession, they will need to hear the truths of Gods

Word that explain that nothing is beyond the reach

of the cross, Jesus died for everything, and Gods

desire is not to condemn anyone but to have

everyone walk in the light as He is in the light

(1 John 1:7).

Keep pressing in

As you continue navigating, it can be challenging

to stay out of the way of what God is doing, but notlet students (i.e., the esh) or the enemy disrupt the

work of the Spirit. Rather than controlling the meet-

ing, there are some practical steps that can help

keep Gods work on track and open the meeting

to an even deeper work of the Spirit.

As a meeting progresses, remember to

regularly remind students to:


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Bring whatever it is into the light where

Jesus can touch it. Satan wants us to keep

our sin and struggles in the dark where he

can continue holding us in bondage. The

last thing Satan wants is for us to walk in

the light as Jesus is in the light.

Go that last 10%. Partial obedience is still

disobedience. Deal with whatever is still

blocking the experience of streams of living

water. On a number of occasions, I have

seen students come forward and confess asin, but when I remind them to go the last

10%, they come back to the front of the

room to confess the real issue that was at

the root of grieving the Holy Spirit.

Help students articulate what God is

placing on their hearts by asking, What

specically are you turning from? And what

are you turning to? These questions help

steer people from vague, meaningless

confessions, and from venting ratherthan repenting. The Spirit always works

in lives by revealing specics

and we are wise to stay in

step with Him.

Brokenness is a lifestyle, not an event

Because of the powerful nature of the way God

meets people during seasons of his manifest pres-

ence, corporate gatherings of confession, broken-

ness, and repentance, along with fresh llings of the

Holy Spirit can be viewed as dramatic events that

happen only on rare occasions. However, the Scrip-

tures teach that brokenness and the lling of the

Holy Spirit are to be experienced as a life-style.

It is important to understand that Gods desires

His children to continually live so closely to histhrone and in His presence that sin is always seen

as repulsive. Therefore, whenever we sin, we will

respond to it with a broken and contrite spirit (Ps.

51:17) and move right back into a fresh experience

with our Heavenly Father.

In addition, leaders must model a lifestyle with

the roof off and the walls down: the roof off before

God and the walls down before other people. We

have nothing to hide, and our lives are an open

book. More than anything else, this heart-set will

ignite movements of authentic Christianitywherever we go.

Big R and little r repentance

While something deep within the soul breaks at

the moment of brokenness and public confession,

this does not necessarily mean that a person will be

completely free from ever committing

that sin again.

go the last 10%


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Because someone confesses anger in broken-ness and tears, will anger ever raise its ugly head in

the days and years to come? Probably.

If someone confesses lust, will he or she ever

experience a lustful feeling again? Probably.

Even so, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit

was not moving powerfully at the moment of confes-

sion. At that instant, when the Holy Spirit opens our

eyes, prompts confession, and brings sin issues into

the light where Jesus supplies grace and forgive-

ness, we are experiencing big R repentance.

However, big R repentance must be followedby little r repentances whenever the esh rears its

ugly head. Put another way, the apostle Paul said to

make it a practice to take off the old self and put on

the new self (Eph. 4:20-24). Following the Spirits

promptings versus eshly impulses is a daily choice

and we should not be surprised to experience some

level of continued temptation.

When we do sin, however, it is important to

remember Johns words, My little children do not

sin . . . but if you do sin, we have an Advocate with

the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:2).Through public confession, true repentance, and a

renewed freedom in the cross and Gods grace, we

have moved from habitual sin with occasional vic-

tory, to habitual righteousness with the possibility

of an occasional sin.

Dealing with the schemes of the enemy

The enemy, prowling around like a roaring lion

looking for someone to devour, hates Christians (1

Pet. 5:8). But even more, he hates Christians whoare clean before God and experiencing streams of

living water. He will do everything possible to

steal from them their rst love and joy that they

are experiencing in Jesus Christ. It is important

to teach those under your care to anticipate

and deal with the following lies:

You embarrassed yourself by confessing yoursin and weaknesses publicly. You will be shunned

and no one will accept you. Actually, the oppo-

site is true. Christians who humbly and genuinely

confess their sins and weaknesses are among the

most beloved in the body of Christ.

Although you confessed, you are still guilty and

will always feel guilty about what you have done.

You will never be free. Actually, John teaches that,

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and

will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteous-ness(1 John 1:9); and the psalmist says, As far as

the east is from the west, so far have I separated

you from your sin (Ps. 103:12).

You have no power and your life will never

change. Actually, in Christ we are dead to sin and

are a new creations (Rom. 6:1ff, 2 Cor. 517); and

Paul reminds us that, It is no longer I who live but

Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

Make restitution with others

Those who have sinned against someone else

will only nd initial freedom through their confes-

sion. They must also go to the offended person(s)

and humbly confess what they have done with a

sincere desire to do whatever they can to promote

reconciliation. The joy of having an absolutely

clear conscience will never be realized until this

nal, crucial step of obedience is complete.

But once it has taken place, there will be

boundless freedom!


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Avoid Commiserating Groups

Paul said, But thanks be to God, who gives us

the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Cor.

15:57). As your ministry moves forward experiencing

real life in God, students will need to be close to oth-

ers who can hold them accountable and help them

see victory together.

Too often accountability groups see very little

victory and degenerate into commiserating groups

where empathy is high and real life change is low. It

is important that the specics of public confessionand repentance detailed above are also practiced

in small groups and accountability groups.

In summary, anytime a system is created where

sin is simply pushed down, there will not be long

term freedom and life in the Spirit. Sin must be

identied at its root, confessed and renounced, and

brought to the cross where grace and forgiveness

is abundantly supplied. It is in this atmosphere

that member of an accountability group can walk

together in victory.

View holiness as life-giving, rather thana burden

Wherever sin operates, toxicity creeps in and

slowly kills the life in Christ being experienced by the

individual, as well as the believing community. How-

ever, where holiness exists, there is purity and the

Holy Spirit exhibiting His life, peace, and power. To

see real transformation, personally or campus-wide,

holiness must be embraced.

It is rare in contemporary campus ministry to

have a robust view of the holiness of God and the

holiness of the believer. But Paul encourages us,

Dear brothers . . . purify yourselves from everything

that contaminates body and spirit perfecting holi-

ness out of reverence for God (2 Cor. 7:1).

In light of the degenerate campus atmosphere,it is crucial that we give our staff and students a

positive, realistic, life-giving picture of holiness. Paul

does this very thing in Romans: But now that you

have been set free from sin and have become slaves

to God, the benet you reap leads to holiness, and

the result is eternal life (Rom. 6:22).

Holiness should never be viewed as an impossible

task or burden, but as the life-giving streams of water,

freely available to everyone through the Holy Spirit.

In closing . . .

A life-changing, campus-altering move of the

Holy Spirit is a paradox. On the one hand it encom-

passes the power of heaven being released to

accomplish all that God desires for a given ministry

and the lost community connected to it. On the

other hand, it is fragile and the Spirits work can

be quenched at every turn. This is the tension that

anyone ministering in these sacred moments of the

outpouring of the Holy Spirit feels.

However, if we employ the principles above andkeep trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead us forward in

a variety of ways beyond the scope of this article, I

believe that a deep, thorough, sweeping move of the

Spirit will be something we no longer have to experi-

ence only vicariously through history books, but will

be a reality that we observe with our own eyes on

the campuses where we minister. Lets pray and

walk by faith toward that end. n


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www.CollegiantImpact.organ outreach of Life Action Ministries

In s umma ry , while challenging your students togo the whole way with God in repentance and confession, they will

need to hear the truths of Gods Word that explain that nothing is

beyond the reach of the Cross.

[That weekend] God put it in my heart to confess my sins. I told

people about how I was dealing with lustful thoughts, physical re-

lationships, and how I had become an alcoholic. That day, people

prayed for me, and I felt the power of God rest on me and God has

been working miraculously in my life since then. I nally defeated

the hold that alcohol had in my life. Lustful thoughts have been

minimal and I can see the Holy Spirit working in my life daily.

The last few months have been an awesome time in my spiritual

journey and I have had the opportunity to lead two of my best

friends to Christ.

after breakthrough

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