Lord, Revive Our Military, with Megan Brown and Leslie Bennett

Could the military be the catalyst for global revival? Guest Megan Brown thinks so! She says that if you want to see God change your nation, you need to turn your prayers toward the 1.4 million people serving in the military. Find out more about what is happening in the hearts and homes of the families of the enlisted in this episode of Grounded.

Connect with Megan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megbrownwrites
Website: https://www.meganbbrown.com/

Connect with Leslie 

Instagram: @mamalesliebennett
Twitter: @LeslieWBennett 

Episode Notes

• Know What You Signed Up For book by Megan Brown: https://www.moodypublishers.com/know-what-you-signed-up-for/
• MilSpo website: http://www.milspoco.com/
• “Why Do Believers Need Revival?” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2nYuYUjcio
• ROH Women’s Ministry Leader Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342423769604349/
• Leader Connection page on ReviveOurHearts.com: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/leaders/
• Mentor Me training: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/leaders/mentor-me/

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Erin Davis: Could our military be the catalyst for global revival? We're gonna hear more about that. I'm Erin Davis, and this is Grounded.

Portia Collins: I am Portia Collins. We have two favorite words around here: hope and perspective. I'm sure you all say that with me. But we've always got a third word. I want to add that in: revival. Here at Grounded we believe our only hope for the oppressive cultural darkness that we're seeing is hearts that are set on fire for Jesus and His Kingdom. And Megan Brown, I think, might be the most on fire, for Jesus person that I've ever met.

Erin: Yeah, she's gonna get us fired up. But as you were saying that, I mean, it's Monday, you have a choice? Where are you going to look this week? Are you going to look at the darkness around you? Are you going to look to Jesus and what He wants to do? She's going to help us look to Him and get excited for what He is doing and believe for more from Him. 

Megan says if we want to see God change our nation, which we all do, we need to turn our prayers towards the 1.4 million people here in the United States serving in the military, and their families. I know this is a global audience. So please don't feel left out if you're not watching or listening from the States. Because the same is true in your country as it is here. I just don't know the numbers for your country. But it is time for us to mobilize sisters. As we've already said, you're going to be eager to do that after you hear from this guest.

Portia: Absolutely. Well, we're going to jump into our conversation with Megan very soon. And right now you might be wondering, Where's the good news? Come on, Portia.

Erin: Yeah, if they're faithful, they know that it’s time for the good news. 

Portia: We always share good news in every episode of Grounded. But today, we're gonna wait. We're gonna press pause for just a minute. A special guest will help me deliver the good news after Erin's interview with Megan.

12:32 - Grounded with God's People (Megan Brown)

Erin: I love a good shake up. Yeah, we're shaking it up a little bit, so sit tight. We do have some good news coming your way. But first, it's time to get grounded with God's people and introduce you to Megan. Megan Brown is a seasoned military wife. She's a mother of four. She calls herself a military missionary. She's going to tell us more about that. She's the founder and executive director of Milspo Co. I'm gonna let her tell us what those letters mean. She's also all the caffeine you need for today. She is gonna get us fired up to see God move starting in our military. So, I love that I get to say these words. Welcome to Grounded Megan.

Megan Brown: Hey, everyone, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here.

Erin: Okay, I'm a civilian confession. I'm a civilian. What is a Milspo?

Megan: A Milspo is someone who is married to an active duty service member. So Milspo is an abbreviation for military spouse.

Erin: Okay. Well, you've got you've been in Milspo for a long time, you've got the street cred. I want you to tell us what unique challenges our military service members and by extension their families are facing right now.

Megan: Well, I've been a military spouse for a little over 17 years, and we are nearing the end of our military career. But one thing that I have found over the years is that there are so many unique stressors to our lives: moving every two to four years and rebuilding family, community, plugging into local communities, you know, the dreaded church shopping every time we turn around. 

But really, one of the things that is really the prevalent issue is loneliness. Military spouses are constantly having to rebuild communities. They don't always have the bandwidth to do it. And many times you will find that there are several people in our community that are suffering with isolation, loneliness, depression, and not really feeling connected to the local communities that they live in.

Erin: Yeah. And it's kind of an invisible problem for the rest of us, frankly. I mean, we keep pretty separate from our military families. You and I huddled up at True Woman ‘22. You told me some things I found rather shocking about military wives specifically, since Grounded is with women for women. What are you seeing happening in the hearts and homes of military wives?

Megan: Well, they're about 1.8 million active duty military spouses. Let me rephrase that, 1.8 million spouses, 93% are women. And what we're seeing is that there's a rise in suicides. There is an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. But really, the thing that concerns me the most is the amount of lostness in our space. There are so many people that are looking for really hard answers to hard questions, and they're finding that there aren't any people that are willing to have those conversations with them.

Erin: Yeah, and of course, this is connected to hopelessness. If you're facing the unique challenges of military life, you can't put down roots, you're moving around, and you don't have hope or God's people to rally around you. 

It was the suicide number that you said to me at True Woman ’22. I had never before thought about military spouses committing suicide. We hear a lot about the soldiers. But that was kind of my wake up call, like, whoa, something's going on. And there is a contingent of women that really need hope. That's the cloud. But you think there's a silver lining opportunity to reach our military families for the gospel. Tell us more about that.

Megan: One of the things that we're passionate about here at Milspo Co (and Milspo Co is really short for the military spouse coalition), we are a coalition of women who are passionate about disciple making. And one of the things that we really believe in our core is that there's a revival happening on the ground. There's a revival happening inside of the military space, specifically, with military spouses. 

We're seeing this ground movement just spread like wildfire. But we really believe that we have to evangelize the military community because we hope to mobilize them. Think about the fact that the United States military is represented in over 410 installations worldwide, with over 80 nations that we are engaging with regularly.

If we want to see the gospel travel, we can make that happen through the network that already exists in a military community. We are mobilizing women connected to the military community to be missionaries participating in the Great Commission.

Erin: I love it. What percentage of the military are followers of Jesus? I feel like you've thrown that number at me before. You can speak in generalities, but in general, what?

Megan: Yeah, the numbers, according to some of the data, I mean, I think the data might be a little bit outdated. But as of right now, when we did a survey, the numbers are looking at about 250,000 people out of 3 million are recognizing themselves as Christians. 

But I would also say based on our experience, a lot of that information is simply a name only. When we are on the ground, when we are building communities inside of military spaces and installations worldwide, we're finding that even those who identify themselves as Christian are usually nominal, because they just have not been discipled. It's really difficult to be discipled when you're moving over two years and no one at the local church wants to remember your name.

Erin: Man, our church is within 45 minutes of a military base. I can affirm what you're saying. It's a transient group, so we don't exactly know where to plug them in. We expect them to leave soon. It's a real challenge to love them. 

Well, something special started in your living room a few years ago. I love this because I feel like where the Spirit of God ministering to women is concerned. It so often starts in living rooms in people's homes and women being able to open the door. Take us back to when you first started gathering with military wives in your living room, Bibles open. What was that year of your life like?

Megan: We moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, Keesler Air Force Base back in 2014. When I was thinking about that season, we had opened our front door, we had invited women in at the time. I was not a qualified Bible teacher. I was literally reading my sermon notes. I was taking good notes on Sunday and sharing what the pastor had shared with me. 

I was walking through Luke. The first week there were six of us, the second 17. And by the third week, there were 25 women—standing room only. I remember saying to the Lord, “Lord, if I'm your Bible teacher, I think you have an HR problem.” Where are the women who know how to do this? We were a little lost. 

But it was such a sweet season, because in spite of our being very unprepared and unorganized, nearly a decade later, that formula of six women, one coffee pot, a Bible, and a lot of open hearts, has just transformed into something that has been a little bit of a movement.

Erin: Praise God for that. Hey, we love the Word of God here on Grounded. I want you to do a little dot connecting for us. So connect the dots between Matthew 28:16, and Revelation 7:9, as I look on your website and hear from you. I know these are two passages that mean a lot to you. What do you see in Scripture here that connects to our military?

Megan: When I think about Revelation 7:9 in the throne room, and all of us being there, I want to see the warrior class. I want to see some camo with those white robes. I love this community, and there's a nobility and just a legacy in this community, of doing hard things. 

There's a love in here that is just indescribable. What I would love to see is that love be magnified because of the love of Christ. And so when we think about Matthew 28:19, so many times Christian ministry gets relegated to different spaces outside of the church, or here or there, or it might even be a role or responsibility. I want to encourage not only our participants and our military community, but really the global community, the global Church. 

The answer to Christian ministry is participation in the Great Commission to go and make disciples to teach to share these stories. And so our heart is to replicate and recruit and release military spouses who can be missionaries. We train them, we run them through support raising, we release women who are on fire for the Lord to build community in the local church for people in our community in the hopes of revival.

Erin: Amen. I love that vision. I love to hear you share it because it clearly is oozing out of your heart on to us, and we love that. 

You mentioned just then a little bit about your model. You and I've had several conversations about your missionaries. I love that you call them that. Tell us a little bit more about the work. How are you training and equipping military missions? And what's the status? Where do you have boots on the ground as we're having this conversation?

Megan: So we are currently training the first 12 women in the military cohort that we've assembled here at Milspo Co. They represent 12 different installations all over the country and abroad. I'm really, really excited. Our model’s a little unique. 

We do not exist outside of the local church. Each missionary is a member in good standing of a local church, and they are shepherded by the local elder board. 

Simultaneously, we run them through a one year certification in Biblical Studies and theology with our friends at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition, they get a year of discipleship. We are growing them, developing them. 

But the thing that I think makes us really unique is that we believe in paying and training women for the work of revival. We want it to be a paid opportunity. We want them to be able to invest in their families. We want to improve their economic status. We want to value the work of women. 

So we ask them to give us a year in an internship. And then when they are trained, they are released with support raising. They've raised support for their paycheck and an operating budget so they can have tangible support on the ground for military spouses in local areas.

Erin: And then each of those women starts in home Bible study? How does she reach other women?

Megan: You know, we just say we have three core tasks at Milspo Co, as missionaries: one, share the gospel; two, teach the Bible; three minister to women in pain. And so this woman was set up in a local church. 

Her first job is to build relationships with that body of believers to spend time to get to know them to recruit her local team of support. And then she will then build a bridge we call the pipeline. We don't have programs, we have pipelines. We build pipelines, connection events, Bible studies, and spiritual formation book clubs that are all attached to a local church. This church serves as the sending and receiving church. 

So this church will be getting all of the military families that are represented by these women who are missionaries, who they are serving. What we found when we were doing both studies back in 2014 is that a Bible study is not the end game. A Bible study is the on ramp. It's the launching pad. It is definitely not the landing place. We wanted families in worship. And so we had a convoy that would leave East Falcon every Sunday morning because there'd be 13 cars headed to our church. We loved it. That's the model.

Erin: I love it too. It makes me want to enlist just so I can be a part of what God is doing or what you're doing. I don't think I will. I'm not sure my husband would support that decision. 

Megan: Come on in. 

Erin: But I love what you're doing. If it wasn't for you, I would never even think about what God can do through those people who we adore, because they're serving for our sake. I'm so grateful for the work you're doing. There's a lot of women watching that probably are not military wives or not military mamas. Maybe you don't even have a bass near you. But you're getting them energized to think about how God could use our military to start revival. What do we do if we're not a part of the military context?

Megan: There are three things that we would lovingly ask you to do in joining us in this mission. We are always looking for people to join us through prayer and giving. We would love to undergird this movement with prayer. We have a group of women we call them the war council. They're our prayer warriors. They join us by praying for revival, praying for our missionaries, praying for those we are serving, asking God to continue to send more workers. 

It is our daily prayer at Milspo Co that we would pray to the Lord of the harvest, asking Him to raise up more indigenous leaders inside of our military community, to lead others in mission toward our Father. 

And then second, giving is huge. We have a goal this year to raise 100 new partners. We are looking to expand all over the southeast right now. So we have an app in the Apple iTunes Store, or the Google Play app store. You can find our app, it's the Milspo Co app. You can set up monthly giving there or a one-time gift. It would bless us so much. 

And then, finally, just sharing awareness and really understanding that if there's a military community within your neighborhood, or your city, even if it's far away, to be praying that they would find connection. 

Many times we are offered inclusion but not really relationship. There will be an open seat. But it's in a space not really made for us. We would ask that you would see us and that you would serve us and then ultimately that churches would send us because we really believe that this community can carry the gospel well.

Erin: I love it. Thank you so much Megan. You've written a book, Know What You Signed Up For. It is for military wives little play on I'm sure that phrase, “I didn't sign up for this.”

So if you're a military spouse, we want to point you to that. And if your heart has been stirred to partner in prayer with the work that Megan is doing, Megan, where do you want to send them to do that?

Megan: Please get our app. Our app is where we have our most recent updates. We are going to be talking a lot in the coming months about where we're working and how people get in, get involved. We would love for you to download our app in the Apple Store or in Google Play. Join us there.

Erin: Yeah, thank you. You can also go to MilspoCo.com. Our social media team is going to drop the link right now so you have it at your fingertips. Megan, I promised you'd get us fired up for revival, and you did it. I knew you would. Thank you so much for being on Grounded.

Megan: Thank you so much for having me.

Erin: Portia, I'm gonna toss the ball to you.

Portia: I'm ready to catch it. That was such a good interview. That was great. I love Megan. I love you. So yeah, it was great.

Erin: Thank you. We love you too.

Portia: Well, military or civilian in the United States or around the world, one thing we can all agree on is that we are living in a culture that has abandoned a love for God and His Word. 

28:06 - Revival Video (Bill and Holly Elliff)

And so, I guess the question is, how does that happen? Erin Davis recently interviewed Bill and Holly Eliff on Grounded, and Bill said this, that what we're seeing in our world happens when the church is asleep. I agree Bill. 

And so we want to continue to invite you to wake up to wake up and ask the Lord to sin revival. So watch this short, two minute clip, and Erin will then come and help us get grounded in God's Word together.

Erin: Bill, help us understand why God's people need revival in these days.

Bill Elliff: Well, I often say, Erin that what we're seeing in our nation is the third level of Romans 1, where it says that when we ignore God, God gives us up to a reprobate mind. That word literally means that your mind has lost the ability to make moral judgments. In other words, right is wrong to you, and wrong is right, and you'll fight each other about it. I used to hear that in our culture every once in a while and hear somebody and think, How in the world could they possibly think that? 

Now, it is the common consciousness of our nation that you hear it everywhere. And you say, “Well, why? Why does that happen?” It happens when the Church goes to sleep. And the light of God is under a bushel. And as the salt of the Church, we are the salt that loses its savor, and is not preserving moral morality and a nation. So you can't point the finger at the loss. People say, Well, that's the problem. No, it's always the Church. 

And that's why God, revival, which is this reviving of God's people happens before. Another term we'd use is spiritual awakening. 

And spiritual awakening is when God begins to just supernaturally, in a very accelerated way, bring lost people to Christ. In the first Great Awakening, 15% of the population came to faith in Christ. And if you want to wrap your arms around that, the Dallas Fort Worth area has 8 million people. If that same measure would come there, we would see 1.2 million people come to Christ in the next two years. And that's happened in our history five times. And every 30 to 60 years. And it's been 53 years since the last great movement of God. 

So it's on our watch. God in His mercy has got a big mission. And that's to seek and save people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. He's bringing the Church back. That mission can be accomplished in His timing.

31:44 - Grounded in God's Word (with Erin Davis)

Erin: I hope you connected the dots between the number Megan shared and the number Bill shared—very close numbers 1.4 million and 1.2 million. And that means there's this whole group of people that if they were to come to the Lord, we would see something radical in our culture, but we need to be awake. 

So I hope you are awake this morning, Church, as we open our Bibles and get grounded in God's Word. 

One of the unique things I was thinking about this episode and praying through what God's Word would have to say to us this morning. I was considering that one of the unique things about modern life, at least here in the first world, is that we try to keep the military totally separate from civilian life.

Maybe other than a 4th of July parade or a social media post on Memorial Day. It's easy to think that wars are something happening in a far off place to someone else. But that's not actually how the Bible describes it. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, I hope you always have your Bible handy. I've got mine, I'm going to turn to what's probably a pretty obvious place for this conversation. And that is the book of Ephesians. 

I'm going to read to us Ephesians 6:10 through 12. “A final word” this is Paul writing, of course, 

A final word be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God's armor, so that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 

This is Battle language, friends. And if you know the book of Ephesians, you know that it's all about the battle in many ways. When we agree to live for Jesus, we're enlisting in a fight with an enemy who hates us and with our flesh that's always trying to pull us away from the things of God. And so Paul, after calling the people have gotten to the united front and chapter 4, and the living in the light and building honor cultures, Megan mentioned that honor culture in our families in Ephesians 5 and 6. We're all commanding His army, Paul wrote a final word before we charged the hill for the glory of our King, be strong in the Lord, get your armor on. We've got a fight coming. 

And what is that fight? He tells us what it is in verse 12. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 

Do you know that 25% of Jesus's teaching was about evil, about the demonic, about the powers of darkness. And mostly what He said was be ready and fight. And like we like to keep our human military a little bit hidden, so we don't have to think about the realities of the things that they have to do to keep us safe and free. I think that's true about the spiritual battle, too. We'd rather not think about it. We certainly don't feel super comfortable talking about it. 

I don't like to give Satan any glory. He's most certainly is a defeated foe. But we do have a fight on our hands. 

I'll say it again. There's an ongoing war inside each of us against the flesh. Paul wrote about this too. And he said, “Why do I do the things I don't want to do? And why do I do the things I don't want to do?” That's a battle. And it's a daily battle. 

Unfortunately, when we came to Jesus, the flesh wasn't crucified in us once and for all, at least not yet. 

And Megan also mentioned the Great Commission. I love to say this the called the Great Commission, because we are on co-mission with Christ. Megan was inviting us to be on co-mission with her for winning of the lost inside the military. But that's just an extension of Jesus saying, “Hey, I've got a mission in the world.” And that mission is to seek and save those sheep who are outside. “Join Me Join the fight with me.” 

And so, every single day, we are called to join Jesus in pushing back the line of darkness. And doesn't it feel like the front of darkness, the front of evil, is moving towards us at an alarming pace? We're supposed to be a part of the battle that pushes back against that. 

I like to think about a Grounded groundswell. That's when there is a surge in military activity, a surge in victory. And often, once an army gains traction, they can really begin to push back against their enemies. 

I love to think about what would happen if the grounded army began to really push back against the powers of darkness, and stand in the light as children of the light by extension of Jesus, who is the Light of the world. So as you head into your week, this week, let me give us a battle cry. It's still in Ephesians, Ephesians 6:13–14. This is a continuation of what Paul just said. Remember, he said a final word. He told us to be strong and to put on our armor. Then he gave us some marching orders. 

Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then, after the battle, you will still be standing firm.

You got the picture. There's a battle raging and we're fighting. And when the battle is over and the smoke clears, they find us the women of God still standing firm on two feet, not because of our strength, but because of the Lord strengthening us. 

I love this verse, Ephesians 6:14. Here's your mission this week, “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth, and the body armor of God's righteousness.” 

Of course, there he goes into the very famous armor of God passage where he's describing the helmet of salvation and feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of the gospel and the sword of truth. 

But it's all in the context of saying, “Hey, remember, we’ve got a fight on our hands, and we don't want to buckle. We don't want to turn and run. We want to continue to stand firm in God's truth.” You probably sang this song as a little girl. I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. Right? 

Well, I think for a lot of us, it's time to re-enlist. It's time for us to remember that we’ve got a fight on our hands, and that God has called us to participate by wearing the armor He has given, and pushing back against the enemy. I hope you'll accept the challenge. 

I can just see the banner of God's people in my mind's eye leading the charge. You know what? No matter what happens this week, your fight isn't ultimately against other people. Your fight is against the powers of darkness. And it's a fight we're guaranteed to win. So I hope you'll sign up and fight. Portia, we've been waiting for that guy. Good news. I'm all fired up. It's time for you to bring us the sunshine.

39:27 - Good News (Leslie Bennett)

Portia: I'm ready to sign up. I'm ready to sign up. And listen, I'll have you open those arms wide, because we're gonna keep equipping you and training you up. You know that we love to equip you here on Grounded. Today, we specifically want to point you to a tool for anybody who leads other women. So it could be a Bible study leader, a Sunday school teacher, or women's ministry director. If that is you, we've got something just for you. And I know just the person to help me tell you about it. Welcome to Grounded, Leslie Bennett.

Leslie Bennett: Good morning. I'm in, Portia and Erin. Sign me up. I’m ready. We are ready for the battle. 

Portia: Yes. Tell me, I've been hearing good things. I know that you run the women's ministry initiatives, this particular area here at Revive Our Hearts. And so first, before we get into our special surprise, tell us a little bit about your passion for those who lead other women.

Leslie: Well, we have the real privilege here at Revive Our Hearts through women's ministry initiatives, to build up women's ministry leaders and to serve the local church. 

And so our heart is to come alongside these faithful servants of God who are tirelessly day after day serving the women in their churches, and even outside of their churches, and equip them and encourage them. We create tools for them and content that is unique for them to strengthen them so they can run their race for God's glory. 

So that looks a lot of different ways. We have a women's ministry leader Facebook group with almost 7,000 members. And we have at Revive Our Hearts the Leader Connection, which is actually a page that is on Revive Our Hearts. Just go to ReviveOurHearts.com/Leaders. You'll see it's our hub for leaders to go into find content that they need, tools that they need. They're easily accessible. It's all free. It's just us coming alongside to support them to pray for them and encourage them in their calling.

Portia: I love it. I love it. Well, you've got something special coming up. Tell me a little bit about “Mentor Me.”

Leslie: Yes, yes, we have an online leader training coming up on Tuesday, August 1, and it's “Mentor Me: Mobilizing A New Generation of Mentors” . . . and the new generation is really key. Because so much about what we have, what we talk about here on Grounded is how women need each other. We need to be in community with each other. The needs are so deep, only God can meet those. 

But women are lonely and isolated. They're just longing and waiting for that godly, more mature woman to come alongside them and to point them to Christ, to open the Word of God with them, to show them His truth, to clear up that confusion and deception that the enemy is throwing at us, and pray for them and just be willing to be a part of her story. 

And so that's what we hope to do at this event is, to reach out and equip leaders to mentor maybe for the first time. Maybe they've tried mentoring and they felt like a failure. Or they really have a heart to see a culture of women just doing life together in their local church. Or maybe they've even tried a program before and it fizzled. We know all those women are out there, and we want to serve them through this event.

Portia: Yeah, so tell us how do women sign up? 

Leslie: Okay, it's easy. Just go to ReviveOurHearts.com/MentorMe, and you can find out more about the benefits and the premiums that we're offering with your registration. 

I didn't even mention who is going to be. I'm hosting the event along with my good friend Nancy Lundgren, who's the CEO and the founder of More Mentoring. She has over 20 years experience in mentoring. Then, of course, our Grounded friends, Dannah Gresh and Staci Rudolph. They're going to be joining us as well. 

And, we have a surprise guest. But if I tell you, it won't be a surprise. You will have to just come to the event to find out. But she is a teacher that we all know and love. So, we're super excited about having that special guest as well. You can sign up there. It's a two-hour event. 

And one of the things I am especially excited about this year is we're offering a cohort after the event, it's a post-event cohort, where leaders can connect for one hour with a smaller group of women of like-minded leaders. They can share the ideas, their takeaways, maybe share some of the challenges that we're having and really connect on a personal level. 

We have limited spaces for that. But women can sign up after the event to participate in that as well. And, we give them a digital notebook. It is packed with resources, brand-new content, and tools. 

So it's so much more beyond the two-hour event itself. And the good news is, if you can't make it on Tuesday, August 1 from 7–9 Eastern Daylight Time, it's okay, because the event is recorded. You will be able to streamMentor Me as often as you want or whenever you want. You can still have that content.

Portia: Don't we love a recorded event? There have been many times where I have gone back and rewatched something. It's just been a blessing that it's available to me to do that. So I love it. Love it. Love it. 

Well, Leslie, you are our good news this morning. I'd love for you to tell us what's the good news about what God is doing through the local church.

Leslie: You know, revival has been a theme this morning, as even from the very beginning with Megan and then Erin's teaching. I believe that revival is coming to the local church.

Some of our Grounded friends may be in churches that are in the midst of a revival. One of the reasons why I'm so passionate about this Mentor Me event is because so many of us women are suffering in a fallen world with the effects of sin and evil. We're settling for just survival in life instead of revival. 

My hope for mentoring is that someone will come alongside another woman and teach her and take her to Christ and explain to her what it means to experience personal revival. As that happens individually, that's a little “r” revival. But that we will see in our churches a corporate revival, like we're already seeing, but we want women and leaders to get ready to get ready. 

How we hope that the Lord will sweep into our churches and that they will come in just by the thousands. That there will be new believers asking, “Show me Jesus. Teach me about Jesus.” We want to be ready to disciple those people. So many exciting things are happening in our churches. But it's time to wake up. It's time for that church to wake up and to be on mission with the Lord

Portia: Yes, amen. You taking us to church this morning, Leslie. I am absolutely here for it. I am here for it. Tell us one more time where our friends can learn more about Mentor Me. 

Leslie: Just go to ReviveOurHearts.com. If you just go to our homepage you'll see it there as well. Click on that and then that will take you to more information about what you can expect and what your registration will provide and how you can experience revival, not just survival—ReviveOurHearts.com/MentorMe.

Portia: I love it. How you can experience revival not just survive survival. I think I'm gonna hold on to that. That's my nugget for today. I'm gonna hold on to that. Thank you so much for joining us, Leslie. It's always a delight to be with you.

Leslie: Oh, it's great to be with you and our Grounded friends. Thanks so much. Happy Monday.

Portia: Happy Monday.

Erin: Happy Monday. What a great couple of guests you've heard from. I hope your tank is full. I hope you're excited and eager to see revival, but not from the sidelines to participate in what God is doing. We love reading your comments. 

Portia, can I read you just a couple that have come in while you guys were talking? And Janelle, who we adore, said, “This is so exciting to hear about. Thank you Grounded for opening our eyes to so many amazing things happening around the world.” 

That is a cool thing we get to do here on Grounded. We get to say, “Look what God's doing here. Look what God's doing here. Look what God's doing there.” And so, thanks for noticing that. 

But this is an interesting comment from Muthoni. First, she said that she lives near some military bases and that there's a general fear about military members because of some of the things Megan was talking about suicides and more happening within those communities. But then she said that she was encouraged to pray for those soldiers. 

So at a minimum Grounded sisters, you now know the need: 1.4 million enlisted, more than double that if you include families, very low rates of those people being followers of Jesus, whose means very high rates of hopelessness. And so there is absolutely a need to pray.

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. Pray, pray, pray, and pray some more. 

Erin: Keep praying. 

Portia: Yeah. Well, I am I think we're going to hear a little bit more about that, keep on praying next week. You know what happens when someone else's singing turns your world upside down? Have you ever thought about that? I know I've experienced that. Laurie Apon will be with us next week to tell her story. She's going to share how she found hope and perspective when her identity was rocked to the core. 

Erin: It’s a powerful story, at moments a heartbreaking story, but it's full of hope and perspective. Another can't miss episode. I hope every episode of Grounded is a can't miss. So let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded. We love you sisters.

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