Thousands of people and dozens of churches across the Twin Cities recently took part in the week long Revive Twin Cities, held during the last week of July. Participants spread out across the Twin Cities to interact with residents, pray with and for them, and present the gospel message.

Kyle Martin, who led the effort in the Twin Cities, said he was “blown away” by the response.

“I’ve never seen and heard testimonies like I’ve heard before from the Twin Cities,” he said. “This is our 10th city. We literally had thousands of laborers go out and share the gospel. And to hear the testimonies of lives changed within local churches is what gets me fired up. It’s totally the Lord’s doing.”

The Rev. Bill Goodwin, who is the lead pastor of Lighthouse Christian Church in Rosemount, felt from the start that Revive Twin Cities was something with which he and his church needed to be involved.

“We were sent out in teams of four to all different parts of the Twin Cities,” Goodwin said, referring to what church members did during the weeklong event. “We were just trying to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as to who to begin to start a dialogue with: to love people and then listen to people, ask questions, get to know people, connect with people on a relational level. Not to see them as a project but to love them as a person that the Lord loves.”

The cooperation of dozens of churches and ministries is an example of the power of the universal church—where churches work together and seek to overcome barriers.

The Rev. Daniel McKizzie, pastor of New Creation Baptist Church in Minneapolis, said his church had already decided to devote 2014 to revival, so working with Revive Twin Cities was a natural extension of that effort.

“I really believe it’s important for us to come together because after all, we are the universal body,” he said. “We are one body. I think that we need to tear down the walls of separation, whether it be denominational or whatever …. I think it’s very important because we see the times, and the times are showing us that Christ is coming soon. This is something He mandated for us to do—to go out and make disciples. It’s an event that all of us should take part in.”

That rallying cry seemed to be apparent among numerous pastors, and it’s a cry that hopefully will propel Revive Twin Cities from a one week “event” to a long-term “movement.”

“The week of Revive Twin Cities is over, but what the Lord is doing in the Twin Cities and in the body of Christ is not over,” Goodwin continued. “Of unifying the church, bringing the walls down between denominations and individual congregations and … getting the church from being pew potatoes to being men and women of faith who go out and love people.”

Martin and others at Revive Twin Cities have put in place a template and plan for the movement to continue.

“We have roughly seven people on an executive board,” Martin said. “Some of them are pastors; some of them are lay leaders. They are overseeing the follow up. They are going to oversee 21 Timothys. These Timothys have 500 people. These are the disciple makers. These disciple makers are the ones who are following up with all that we’ve encountered.”

McKizzie said the way churches cooperate on earth is just a precursor for what unity will look like in heaven.

“It’s very important that we as a body—a total body—work together,” he said “After all, when we do get to heaven, it’s going to be a rainbow of people. It’s going to be a melting pot. We might as well start getting ready now. This is a dress rehearsal of things to come.”