5 Things Bruce Taught Me

Laborers’ Church

I edited my interview with Bruce Hackett down to just 18 minutes of pure gold. Don’t miss it. Here are my takeaways.

1. A movement of God

Like Peter on the rooftop in Joppa, Bruce was clueless until God stepped in and confronted him. Bruce didn’t come up with this vision for NoPlaceLeft on the campus; it was God’s idea. When God intervened, all Bruce had to do was repent and get to work. It’s not Bruce's movement.

2. A chain reaction

Years ago, God led a guy named Steve Parlato to invest in a young youth pastor named Troy Cooper. Troy was a slow learner, but Steve persisted. Years later, Troy was at the skatepark when a guy called Max Doty tried to share the gospel with him. Max was an evangelist. Troy trained him to become an evangelist who multiplies. Years later, Bruce and his son walk into Max and Sydnie’s house church and are blown away. Max trains Bruce, and three years later, there are 30 churches with leaders Bruce is investing in. Sometimes the work progresses slowly, but if you keep investing in the people God sends your way, it will multiply. You may not get any credit. I wonder who got Steve Parlato started?

 3. Full strength revival

There’s a lot of talk about revival these days. Maybe GenZ is turning back to God. Maybe people are returning to church. So what? Social trends come and go. At Pentecost, the Word went out in the power of the Spirit through ordinary people, but it didn’t end with a packed stadium, a band, and some smoke machines. The movement of God doesn’t stop until there are disciples and churches to the glory of God. Everywhere.

It doesn’t stop with the Spirit. It doesn’t stop with the gospel. It doesn’t stop with 3,000 decisions. It keeps going until disciples gather in community to learn to follow Jesus and to go to the ends of the earth. That’s revival.

And that’s what they’re doing at Grand Canyon University. And it’s spreading.

4. No secret sauce

These guys are “just” doing the basics. Going out every week looking for people of peace. Sharing the gospel with the people they know. Gathering for discipleship around the Word. Encountering God in prayer and worship. Forming disciples in healthy churches (Acts 2:36-47). Multiplying workers.

There’s no secret sauce. They train and do the basics again and again.

5. This has happened before

Back in the late 1800s, there was a move of God at Cambridge University, England, through the American evangelist, DL Moody. Scores of students were converted, and seven enlisted to join the unknown China Inland Mission led by Hudson Taylor.

A movement was born with a vision for “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” The Student Volunteer Movement spread across British and American university campuses and led to 20,000 volunteers going to the nations with the gospel.

It can happen again.

The interview: 365-NoPlaceLeft on Campus