Revival is Coming to Armenia and I Tasted it.

Sharing about our month in Armenia with folks has been quite an interesting experience for me. For most, if not all of our other countries on the Race, I’ve been able to establish my thoughts and can communicate exactly what it is that I loved and didn’t love about our time. But Armenia’s been different. In my opinion, the country is unimpressive compared to some of the things that I’ve seen this year, but I attribute that to the fact that there was nothing new here. We saw the same dusty mountains that we saw in Turkey, visited a lake that reminded me of some of the lakes that I’ve been to in the states, and the architecture was similar to that which we had seen in Georgia the month before. Nothing new, just the same old same old. And the people. We had incredible hosts that loved us and served us beyond what we could’ve ever asked or imagined, but the people in the city are kind of cold. They’re not enthused by much, especially not the joyful face of an American tourist. Honestly they have plenty of excuse for that and I’ll expand on that in a moment. 

What captured my heart in this country is that God is pursuing revival in this nation and that’s more evident than I even know how to accurately depict on this platform. We saw it all over, in the church we partnered with, in our conversations with people in their homes, and at the worship night one of our teams hosted at a local coffee shop. The Lord is moving with POWER in Armenia and you shouldn’t be surprised when I move back to raise up and disciple local missionaries. That’s all I’m saying for now. (I’ve got a whole spiel about this idea and if you’re actually that interested in why I think every missions organization in the world should have a base here, you’ll just have to facetime me. :P) 

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In my last blog I mentioned a conflict with another country and I’m sure that raised some questions for you, so check this out and if you’re not much into history, skip down past the first horizontal line and pick up there. 

Most people are oblivious to what’s been happening in the caucasus region for hundreds of years, not because they don’t care, but because we just don’t talk about it. Our team wasn’t given a choice when we were rerouted from Uzbek to Armenia. Armenia and it’s northeastern neighbor, Azerbaijan, have been in conflict over a contested zone of land that was inhabited by ethnic Armenians, but geographically fell inside the border of Azerbaijan. They’ve broken into war multiple times since the beginning of the conflict and have both been victorious at one point or another. The conflict has been “frozen” since a ceasefire agreement was signed following an Armenian victory some time in the nineties. Unfortunately, I write frozen in quotation marks because the reality is that Azerbaijan spent the majority of this time, from 2008 to 2019, strengthening their military. In this time frame, they spent something like $24 billion on military reform. That’s six times the amount of money that Armenia had been putting into their forces. The cease fire was abandoned in September of 2020 when Azerbaijan initiated an attack on Armenia, catching them off guard and sending them into turmoil. 

Here’s the thing about the soldiers fighting in the Armenian Military, they’re not there by choice. Every male between the ages of eighteen and twenty seven has to serve in the military for at least one term that lasts two years. The government drafts pursuants twice a year, so men don’t always get to decide when they will serve their term, they only wait to be drafted. In a situation like the attack from Azerbaijan in 2020, they’ll draft from all able bodied men up to fifty years old as they are registered in a military reserve. There are terms for exemption, but they are not often met. 

In addition to their trauma from this, the country may never recuperate from the devastation that they experienced and are still experiencing from the Armenian Genocide that occurred beginning in 1915 and finishing in 1923. This information may be familiar to you as the United States has officially recognized this event as more than a mass killing. President Joe Biden only made the decision in April of 2021 to classify it as a genocide. One of the reasons that this declaration by the United States is so significant is that the oppressors refuse to name this a genocide and move to punish anyone who does, even their own citizens. It’s also notable that some scholars believe this to be the blueprint used for the Holocaust. If ya wanna know more about the details of this historical event, check out this video.

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I’m not going on and on about this to glorify the suffering of this group of people, but to bring awareness to the reality of what’s happening. You wanna know something that also gets me going every time? Armenia is known to be the first nation to declare Christianity as their official religion. So I’m not at all surprised at the suffering that has come to them since they proudly bear the name of our Christ in the middle of a region that worships the false god of Islam.

Giving all of this context is valuable to me because it’s far more than information to digest. This is the reality of life for the people that God allowed us to serve during our time in Armenia. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so connected to a people group and their culture than I did when I was sitting on the floor in the home of a grieving family that had lost and buried their oldest son less than a year before our arrival. When I had no words, I listened as the Holy Spirit shared His heart with them. I felt the restoration of joy to a family who thought it was gone. I saw a brother receive salvation and break the curse of death that was reigning over the men in his family. I experienced the release of a demonic stronghold in the home of a family that had been trying to communicate with their dead ancestors. These people were willing to say yes to the Father even when it meant sacrifice on their behalf. 

All over the world, people are hungry and God is feeding them with Himself, but what I experienced in Armenia was next level. They’re not being fulfilled by the world or by the schemes of the enemy, so they’re surrendering fully to the Lordship of Christ. It’s powerful and we could learn a thing or two from them if you ask me. 

God’s bringing revival to this nation and I tasted it. 

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Pals, thanks for tuning in again! I know it’s been a while, but I’m here and ready to share all that my Pops has been up to out here. I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of Armenia! Next time, I’m stoked for you to read about the salvation of my new brother, Varadzot and his little sister. Make sure you’re subscribed and while you’re at it, say a prayer for Abovyan City Church and their staff. 

I love you!! 

AWM