#202 Leadership Lessons From The OneCry Movement

So, I just think modeling the very principles of revival personally is the greatest thing any leader can do.

So, humble yourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from your wicked way. And it's that kind of leader in life that people will respond to. Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening. The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.

Welcome to the One Cry podcast. I'm Ben Dishner, and I usually produce the podcast, but today I have the wonderful privilege of interviewing the founder of One Cry, my boss, Byron Paulus, and just to talk about what God has done in this ministry and how he has inspired so many leaders through it. So welcome, Byron. You're on the other end of the interview for once. Well, thank you, Ben. And I guess God's our boss, right?

We at least say that and hopefully we live it, try to live it in the culture here at One Cry. And Ben, I just want to say this One Cry podcast has been just a phenomenal tool and resource. us. You and I both know that just a couple of weeks ago, we heard from somebody in Uganda who said he has listened to all 200 podcasts. I call that a baptism in revival. It is about as saturated as you can get. So, Ben, thank you for all your labors for 200 of these. That's really amazing.

And I am blessed to be able to talk from my heart today. Yeah, about one cry to our audience, which I'm so grateful for. Well, thank you for just your inspiration in that. It's been awesome to get to know you and awesome to be a part of this movement. And I came on a little after One Cry had begun already, but I'd love for you to share with our listeners. They've heard so many stories about revival, and they've heard the words One Cry.

They've even heard a lot of the sayings that we use frequently.

But many of them haven't heard the history. And so could you share a little bit about the beginnings of the One Crime Movement and lead us up to now what God's doing in that? Man, I'd love to, Ben, because it was really in my life, in my heart, my ministry, kind of a divine moment, if you will, because I'm just getting ready to celebrate really 40 years of which many of those years I was leading a revival ministry called Life Action Ministries, which you may be familiar with.

And just getting ready to celebrate 40 years. I got away for a week and just to say, God, what is it you have next? I realized even 40 years all across this nation and thousands really of locations. And we were further away from God as a nation and revival than we were when it started. And I said, there's got to be more God. There's just got to be something different. So here's what I discovered after that week away. I discovered I was pretty much burned out.

That's what I discovered, that I was exhausted and I just ended up chilling the whole week. But then I got an invitation to go to a conference. It was entitled Refresh. And they said, you can just kind of be incognito, sit in the back. I just wanted me to come. And I had no idea that that would be the moment that God would—. Through a series of a couple of things, he was teaching me personally. Birth, one cry.

And it was birth because I had just done extensive study personally through Acts, and particularly Acts 2 and Acts 1, and even Acts 3 there as things began to accelerate. And God just kind of convicted me. Byron, you're looking at maybe the principles of what happened when the pouring out of the Spirit took place there at Pentecost. But what about the people I chose to use? And so it was then, Ben, that God just impressed upon my heart that,

look, there were intercessors. Where are the intercessors today? There were those who, it says clearly, they went and told the mighty acts of God. And hearing it in their own language, they went and told back to their nations to tell the mighty acts of God. Not nation, but nations represented. And then I just thought about Peter. God used Peter to stand up as a leader to bring continuity and context and really community to what God was doing.

So that's when God then put in my heart that look for those people, look for the intercessors, those who are praying and seeking me for my spirit and for a visitation from heaven. And then look for those who will be voices to tell the hope of what God can do and what he did there at Pentecost. And then look for some leaders around the world and around the nation who would just do what Peter did, stand up and put it in context for everybody. That was really the birthing room of One Cry.

And some people say, Byron, your vision was way too small because God just kind of impressed upon my heart, nothing right or wrong about numbers. But that there would be 50,000 people who would pray, 5,000 who would be proclaiming the hope of revival with their voice, and 500 leaders of ministries, organizations that would say, hey, this is our mission. And... But, you know, I don't think it is too small. Not if they're active, identifiable, engaged. And here's the thing, united, connected.

They're together with others. And that's where a lot of the power is, according to John 17 and Psalm 133. So that was kind of the birthing room of one cry.

Yeah, I love that. And I know that you had a lot of friends that were a part of that as well, praying into it with you when you launched. Yeah. And what are some of those names of some of those leaders? Well, yeah, right. There are numerous ones that many of you might know. Michael Kapp, for sure, who just has carried a burden-free Bible for really forever, it seems like.

And other pastors and parachurch ministry leaders, and especially some of those that were tied very closely to and within Life Action Ministries. Nancy DeMoss, Swagamuth now, and just some people that really carried this heart and this vision and this burden. And others across denominational lines. Some were Methodists. Some were Bible church leaders and pastors. Some were even Pentecostal and charismatic that I was dear friends with.

And I love that because one of the core tenets of One Cry is one, that we would be one. As a body of Christ, and we would be urgent, that we wouldn't just whisper, we wouldn't just one talk. It's not just one voice, it's one cry to the Lord, that there would be an urgency. Amen. And that's one of the things I know that's one of our pillars of our ministry is unity. And so I know that we in our last couple of weeks, we had some leadership meetings where we discussed the depth of those.

And also one thing that we had always it was an understood, but we never really put it on our literature or anything of that sort. So you want to just share some of those things? I know we started out with Turn, Pray, Unite. Where did that come from? And then we've just added share. So can you talk about how that's grown? Yeah, I would love to do that. I think we established, if you go to OneCry.com, I encourage you to. This is a very valuable document.

It's called A Declaration of Spiritual Emergency. And it's just very succinctly, but very powerfully and carefully and prayerfully established to be able to declare where we are as a church, frankly, and where we're headed apart from a divine intervention of God. And exactly what would it take for us to see that spiritual emergency tone, if you will, in the hearts of the leaders of God's people today?

Where would it lead if they met certain conditions? And we just kind of, after almost what will now be about 50 years of being a revival ministry, if I had to narrow down what it is throughout all of scripture and history even, and in the last decades, that are most important, I think, to the heart of God, if he's going to move, I think it is repentance that we would turn, turn us again, O Lord God unto thee, and cause your face to shine upon us.

And Isaiah there repeats that three times in that one chapter, increasing intensity as he does that. And so, or Psalm 80, I guess it is. But anyway, the psalmist does that. And so... Turn repentance, and then to pray, and not just pray generally, but really pray. As it says in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, we need to pray, 7, 14, we need to pray if we're going to see God move in revival. And so to turn to pray, to unite the power of unity, the power of one, Jesus's final prayer there in John 17.

But then, especially when God begins to move, when the stories are starting to surface of what God is doing. There is such a truth in history that we should share those mighty acts of God. We should tell the stories. We should spread the testimonies, because when you spread the testimonies, you're spreading the fire.

And the fame of the Bible spreads the fire of revival. So, yeah, so we had turn, pray, unite. It's kind of the culmination of that declaration of spiritual emergency. But then we land now today, God is moving. Ben, you know this, and many of our listeners do. God is moving on campuses. He's moving in churches right now. He's moving in public spaces like sports and entertainment.

He's moving in government buildings from local government buildings to the Capitol building, to the White House, it just seems like right now is maybe a precursor to another Jesus movement. So when that happens, we need to share not only the hope, but the stories of revival, the testimonies of what God is doing.

Amen. Amen. And, you know, even in our time together, the Lord showed me that revival is so closely linked to the Great Commission. And then as the Lord revives his people, that they have a newfound zeal to share the message of the gospel. And so instead of programs, then you have people who are actually propelled by the spirit.

And so it's really exciting in that. So go ahead on that, because I was at a lunch meeting today with somebody and he asked me a question that really no one's really asked me recently. He says, now tell me, would you define revival? Would you tell me what you believe revival is and how does that intersect with evangelism?

And so I was able to say just what you just said, Ben, that there is a connection between the great commandment for believers to the great commission to revive believers, I believe, is the most effective form of evangelism, falls on the heels of them, the wake of what God does in the hearts of his people and revival. It's a natural byproduct.

And then he said, but what about society? And so I just believe, and I replied and just said, revivals in the church will lead to spiritual awakening among the lost, which will lead to cultural transformation. Because you think about if one fifth of the population came to Christ on the heels of what God did in the first great awakening and extrapolate that to today, that'd be like 70 million or more believers, actually about 80 here in the United

States that would come to Christ. Do you think that would change our culture? It has to change our culture when you have that high of a percentage of people that now have changed their value system and are actually beginning to see things from God's point of view through Scripture.

Amen. So can we take a little shift in our conversation and pull some things that you've gleaned from leadership over the years? I just look at what God's done through your life over these decades and how many people have been impacted by what he's called you to do and how you've led so effectively. What are some lessons you've learned over these decades in revival ministry that the Lord put on your heart and maybe some tough lessons he's taught you even?

But what what would you share with others like pastors or leaders who are listening in and saying, OK, what how do I help lead my people toward seeking God for a battle? Well, that's a big topic, extensive topic, and one I've written on in different forms over the years. And so let me try to summarize it by saying, number one, what it takes to personally have revival is what it takes to lead in revival. Humility to me is what is listed first so often when you see God use people.

And humility is what it takes to be able to encounter Christ in revival, really, and the Holy Spirit. And so I think everybody says, hey, leaders, first of all, is humble. But you've got to live it. You've got to model it. You've got to make it clear you aren't out after some position. You aren't out after some recognition or popularity. I mean, authentically, genuinely, you only want one thing. you want to be like Jesus in Philippians 2. You want to be humble yourself.

And as it says in James. And so I think if you're going to lead a revival ministry, you got to be portraying as a leader, the very principles that are necessary to experience revival. So you got to pray, got to humble yourself. You got to pray. You've got to turn from your wicked way. You got to be a repentant spirit. I can't tell you how many times I, over the years, stood up before an entire staff hundreds of times. And I said, I blew it.

I was so wrong and really broken genuinely with a contrite spirit from heaven. I can't produce that, manufacture it, and say, will you please forgive me and help me turn from this and doing wrong? And you say, well, man, they won't trust you anymore. No, they trust you more as a leader because they know you can't get away with anything because you got the police force of the Holy Spirit upon you, and he's also a judge, and you are also exposed for his glory and your benefit.

So I just think modeling the very principles of revival personally is the greatest thing any leader can do. So humble yourselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from your wicked way. And it's that kind of leader in life that people will respond to. And I would also say that to say you're a leader, all you're really saying is you're a follower.

If you are willing to mutually benefit from each other, if you aren't willing to say, I'm just a team member, I'm just one of you, we're all in this together. And I believe for me, that has been a remarkable thing.

And I don't mean this next statement arrogantly. I'm just saying one of the greatest people. One of the greatest things I ever could have done that I did do, whether by choice or not by choice, that I think people garnered respect is I've never taken a penny a salary. I've raised my support as a missionary. So none of the staff over the years, and there's been hundreds and hundreds of staff, none of the staff over the years have ever said Byron's in it for the money.

I was never the highest income person within our organization that I can remember in all my years. Sometimes not even the top 10, but I didn't care. I wanted to be here for the mission. I want to be here to get the message out. And you know what? People will respond and follow a leader that they know their motive in this world of money and sex as two false gods of this world of money and sex.

If they know you're pure and you aren't in it for the money, I think they will follow you in whatever your mission is. I could go on and on in leadership principles. I'm convinced that God doesn't call the equipped as much as he equipped the call. I never asked to be a leader in revival. I never asked to be a leader in the ministry. I never pursued to be the president of a large revival ministry for our nation's size, scope, and whatever.

Context. But man, if God calls you, he'll equip you because I didn't study for this. I didn't go to seminary for this. I didn't go to college for this. I didn't go to anything for this. But God calls you, he'll equip you. Amen. You know, and so much of that, Byron, it's like it goes against the grain of the leadership culture of everyone's go after it, go after it, go after it.

And I think there are some things we can glean from best practices and things of that sort, but the heart of leadership, you can't manufacture. And so orienting ourselves before the Lord to where we're just laying everything out and saying, God, this is yours. You do it to what you want. I think another thing that builds trust, if I may hear quickly, is your staff know you're spending time trying to hear from God.

For probably my first 10, 15 years of leading a ministry, every Friday, I would take a Bible and a hymnal, and I would get away to a quiet place. Somebody offered me a key to their condo over Lake Michigan, which is good about two months out of the year. The rest of the time, you're frozen. But nevertheless, it was a remarkable opportunity. And I think I would just pray. I'd seek the Lord. I'd sing. I would be in the word.

And I think my staff responded to thinking they at least gave God opportunity to hear from God. And therefore, there's a greater trust. And my board today, Ben, you know this, our board of directors said, Byron, we want you to take Mondays every week, whenever possible, every Monday, to be able to just build intimacy with the Lord.

And I think staff respond to that knowing they want a leader that is really taking the steps necessary to be able to have the kind of relationship with the Lord that they can hear from him for the direction of the ministry. Amen. Amen. So you alluded to this earlier of what it takes to experience revival is the same thing it takes to to keep an attitude or an environment of revival. So part of that is keeping in step with the Spirit of God.

And so what are some ways you've seen One Cry and how you've led One Cry as well over these years to keep in step with what the Spirit is doing? What are some specifics there? Yeah, I would just say at the very foundation of that, that I've had a deep longing in my heart forever, really, to have a ministry that cannot be explained apart from God. And so it doesn't mean you don't plan. It doesn't mean you don't strategize.

I sometimes think God's spirit won't speak clearly unless you do all of that. So that you are being responsible with who he made you and the abilities and gifts that he's given you and your team. So I think number one is desiring something only the spirit of God can do. And I had that happen at lunch today. I'm sitting here and I don't want to go into details, but I've been praying for somebody that may be able to come on our staff.

And I shared a little bit today and they looked at each other as a husband and wife and they just said, that's what God's been showing us. And I kind of orchestrated that plan that tried to make it happen. It wasn't that kind of relationship. It's just God's spirit. And I see that happen over and over again. So here's kind of the practical side of that. Yes, I do think getting away on a regular basis and saying, speak, Lord, your servant listens.

When we have a tendency to say, listen, Lord, your servant speaks. And just being quiet and let God impress upon your spirit what it is that he would have. I did that as early as today, this morning. I just took a blank iPad page and I just said, God, would you just, with your spirit, impress upon my spirit something that may be critical right now for our ministry? So I think it's that. But I also think God works in community.

And I'm a big team guy. I'm not a guy that has to be consensus, but I do believe every opportunity for consensus deepens a sense of ownership with your staff. And unitedly, then, we can hear from God speak in the same way. So we were in a recent leadership retreat gathering for extended days here just a few weeks ago. And I said, we got a major decision to make about the future of our organization. And so we discussed what that topic was. And then, Ben, you were there.

I said, let's take a prayer walk. Just go walk the beach, go walk down the street, whatever. But let's take a prayer walk. Come back, briefly discuss it. Then through the night, let God's spirit either confirm what he's showing you or give you further insight. And then come back the next morning. What is God's spirit saying?

And I'm telling you, as a leader, to know every one of your staff heard the same thing from God through the promptings of his spirit was amazing and gives you such confidence and assurance. I'm not missing it because we'd all be missing it if it wasn't accurate. So I do, Ben, there's probably a million things I'm missing there.

I don't consider myself an expert at hearing from God, but I think God has enabled me to take the moments, the time, to be able to give him opportunity to speak clearly to me, whether it's a still small voice or whether it's pretty emphatic voice that comes away. Yeah.

That's amazing. We talk a lot about there's a joke kind of inside we have that we are not building an organization. But could you maybe speak to how God has built the team of One Cry and with the whole mindset of stewarding a movement rather than building an organization? Those are two kind of different concepts. Yeah, it really is. I think somebody yesterday, Ben, they said, I love the model of one cry.

And what they were really saying is what you just said, that we aren't out trying to get more staff and get a larger budget and build buildings and create more ministry. But we are out to say, you know, God's all about partnerships. He's all about raising up. You know, we talk about it internally. We want white hot hearts. And we're wholly discontent with status quo hearts. And if they are white hot, if like Jeremiah, they're a fire in their heart and they can't keep silent, that's who we want.

And so we just look what was just around the United States now globally in a massive way. We look for those with white hot hearts and we say, hey, wouldn't you love the mission of revival, knowing that that produces white-hot hearts? Or can you find other hearts like yours that can't keep silent about the need for the glory of God and for his presence in our day and resource them and then mobilize them to go do what God's called them to do? God sends forth laborers into the harvest.

He's got the hearts out there that are already hot, are eager, are ready to get hot and let them spread the mission, spread the message. And yeah, then it multiplies exponentially. I think I would love to have, you know, 20 more points that we could discuss because we've barely even scratched the surface of leadership discussion. But one last one last question, one last topic. When we talk about keeping in step with the spirit, we talk about building a team.

We talk about honoring God and positioning ourselves to where he can bless and bring him glory. So it's really awesome how in these last few months, God has given us clarity as a ministry in certain areas of ministry, whereas we were trying to figure out where we needed to allocate our time and everything else. The Lord kind of helped us see that in these last few weeks, especially one of those was international. Another is collegiate or the next gen and the church. in the nation, the nations.

And so how God has done that, he also put on our hearts this raising up of the next generation of leaders. So we have a heart to raise up catalysts, people who are catalytic in the environment and they share the message, they unite people together, they spark movement. And so it's really been awesome to watch how God's done that.

What would you say would be some of the main contributing factors to the Lord doing that in and through this ministry of raising up the future leaders and training those future leaders? Yeah, I would just say that God sends forth laborers into the harvest field. We know that. And the harvest field is as wide as we can ever imagine it to be. So I think we got to start with the premise that they're out there. They are out there eager to engage in what God is compelling them to do.

And then I think identifying them, creating opportunities for them to become aware of the mission of revival is critical. But you're right. God is moving, obviously, on university campuses in a remarkable fashion, just remarkable. God is moving internationally. I was talking to another major ministry leader yesterday, and they just said, you cannot imagine the hunger and the thirst and the responsiveness of leaders overseas right now in other countries.

And so I think, Ben, I think just number one, realizing this is God's touching hearts. He's preparing them to get engaged. And now is a moment where they want to get engaged, where he is at work in revival, and then to resource them in understanding the mission and the message. And that's why One Cry website, and I'm not trying to promote an organization, but I am trying to promote resources to help those who want to be involved in the mission of revival.

We have a whole course called Revival Champions. It's 12 a week or 12 months, 12 sessions. And it goes deep in understanding revival and training and preparing you to be a champion, a voice for revival in a big way. And so, yeah, but I just think that now is the moment. There are tons that are wanting to be engaged, and they are just looking at what God is doing and how can I be a part of that stream right now where God is moving. And the Holy Spirit is our best teacher.

I'll say that much. There's no better resource than getting before God and saying, Spirit of God, you are a teacher. Would you teach me on how I can really be used of you and the cause of revival and awakening? Amen. Amen. Well, this has been awesome.

And we could have we could probably do a whole podcast just on Christian leadership just to discuss different topics. But I think just these few things are going to be so helpful for listeners. But can we pray this in? Can we just pray that God would continue to move and stir hearts and that people who even hear these podcasts would be inspired to pursue him even harder? We're praying for movements in communities. We're praying for movements in churches.

We're praying for movements in families and that God would just get a hold of hearts and transform lives. And so, Lord, help us with that. So would you would you close us out in prayer? I would love to. Lord, Ben knows this, and I want every listener to hear this, that just in the past couple of weeks, there have been leaders in Uganda that God has elevated them to be over 5,800 churches. There's a leader in Indonesia whose passion is for one cry to go up from Indonesia for revival.

That, God, you just have put him responsible for 650 missionaries and churches in Indonesia. And then, Lord, in a country I really can't name that's obviously over a billion people that you have raised up at this moment in a one-cry leader, in a one-cry movement that is over as many as 100,000 pastors slash churches, small ones maybe, and big ones.

And in that nation, the government has acknowledged for the first time in its history that this is a legitimate, bona fide, credible group of churches. God, you are doing something right now. And God, something that we cannot explain, we could never manufacture or manipulate or make happen or produce.

But God, you are putting people. And God, there are others who are listening right now, wherever they are, in a small local church, whether they're in the marketplace or wherever they are, you are wanting to put them in the whole stream of what you are doing right now and raising up perhaps another Jesus movement, a movement that could transform our nation for decades to come. So God, we just cry out to you.

We ask you, God, would you send forth those laborers into the field of revival in the church, knowing that the church is on fire? If the church is revived, it will impact their communities and ultimately this nation and the world. So, God, thank you for what you're doing right now. It is after almost five decades of being in revival ministry, I get to be here when others longed to in previous decades.

I get to be here when you're moving with your spirit and getting ready, I believe, to pour out your spirit, perhaps in a latter rain, perhaps in a great end gathering. We don't know for sure, but we know, God, that I believe at least there will be the fulfillment of the great commission just before your return. And revival is the fastest way for that to happen. So we ask you for it, for your kingdom's sake, for your glory's sake. In the name of Jesus, the great reviver, we pray.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you. And thank you, Byron, for opening up yourself to questions like this and letting me tag on you that way. Well, thank you so much. And what a blessing. And hey, all you, if you're still listening here on this podcast, thank you. because I believe God's got something special for you right now as it relates to the whole reason this podcast exists, Revival and Spiritual Awakening.

Amen. And in the coming weeks, be watching for and listening for some updates of movement happenings all across our country and around the world. So we're looking forward to hearing from you as well. If the One Cry podcast has had an impact on your life, please send us a message, email us, go to the website, onecry.com. Music.