Church Revitalization Initiative (CRI)

About the CRI

The Church Revitalization Initiative is designed to come beside committed pastors and church leaders who are willing to do what it takes to revitalize their church. We know that we are living in difficult times; that is why we want to be of assistance to you. The regional staff and the CRI Coordinator have put together a process that we think will help you and we have also put together a team of qualified people to assist you in your area(s) of need. We don’t have all the answers, but we do have people who are willing to assist you.

 

The Church Revitalization Initiative (CRI) is designed to support pastors and lay leaders to use prayer, the gifts of the Spirit, written resources, and personal coaching to strengthen and revitalize churches seeking guided direction. There is no cost whatsoever to churches who choose to take part in CRI.

CRI Report

July 2025

The Bible says in Judges 6:39-40 (NLT) 39 Then Gideon said to God,
“Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request.
Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain
dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God
did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the
ground was covered with dew. The life of Gideon makes it clear that
God can tum any scaredy-cat into a mighty warrior. As the story
opens, Gideon is hiding from the Midianites. When the angel of the
Lord taps him on the shoulder and calls him to lead God’s people, the
angel ignores the sound of Gideon’s knocking knees. Instead, he sees
Gideon’s future and calls him “mighty hero.” When Gideon starts piling
on excuses about why he’s the wrong guy, God shows him a morningdew
miracle to make his faith strong. But one miracle wasn’t enough.
Gideon needs two more. God very kindly gave Gideon his morning dew.
What about you? Do you need proof that God will do what he says
before you will obey him? Sometimes he gives it, and sometimes he
doesn’t. Either way, you must decide: Are you going to obey God or
not? Here is an excellent example of a pastor and his leaders who are
obeying God.
Pastor Steve Robinson says that Bethel Baptist Church in Taylorville IL
has been making some wonderful strides with our church
revitalization initiative with prayer, preparation, planning. We began
the process just after the first of the year as our team studied the steps
toward revitalization. I must admit that my largest task was keeping the
team from moving too fast in these early stages.
As we began, we immediately jumped into trying to plan events without
prayer and quickly learned our mistakes. As we reset and began to pray,
ideas and momentum began to build for the team. We decided to launch
Easter with a community sunrise service. Even though the weather didn’t
cooperate for an outside event we had great success.