United Methodists and other Christians in the Wesleyan family attended the New Room Conference on Sept. 20-22 in Franklin, Tenn. Photo by Heather Hahn, UMNS.

“Great periods of Christian revival in the U.S. need not be consigned to the church’s circuit-rider past,” writes Heather Hahn of United Methodist News Service. “Even without the saddle sores and sawdust trail of yesteryear, a new generation of Christians can be just as fired up with the Holy Spirit.”

Hahn was filing her news story from last week’s New Room Conference in Franklin, Tennessee – an annual gathering of United Methodists and other believers in the Wesleyan tradition to “sow for a Great Awakening.”

The phrase “is so much more than a tagline to us,” the Rev. David Thomas, a United Methodist elder and one of the event’s organizers, told UMNS. “We really believe that’s the only honest expression of our need.”

The more than 1,500 participants worshipped and heard presentations on the “importance of praying, relying on the Holy Spirit, engaging in Wesleyan-style small groups and multiplying churches,” writes Hahn.

Thomas called the gathering “the fellowship of the frustrated.” “We believe this restlessness is a sign of the Spirit,” he said. “We are frustrated in a holy kind of way. It’s an early indicator of awakening.”

To read Hahn’s entire report, click HERE.

To read the article on New Room from Dr. Timothy Tennent of Asbury Theological Seminary, click HERE.