Lyrics
Big Tent Revival
I have nothing left to bring to You
1000 lies, I tried to hide it’s true
The choices I have made I cannot mend
yet grace still wants to be my closest friend
So I come. All undone. In pieces trusting to believe.
My only prayer, Dear Jesus Please, Friend of Sinners
Have mercy on me.
I’m drowning in the sea of “Shameful Debt”
Can blind men see? Can I raise from the dead?
I need a gospel hymn to dance again?
Big tent revival, new day to begin
Now my life is hidden in your heart
An uncompleted pardoned work of art
Applause of man, and trophies I lay down
My reward “I once was lost, now found”
— Andrew Landers
Story
Henri Nouwen’s Big Tent Revival
After our first session on The Leader’s Identity, my thoughts were drawn to the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner.” It’s that posture that leaders need to find themselves in.
As Nouwen reminded us, the only way we can enter into that humility is a deep understanding of God’s loving kindness to us.
That is where our identity must be found.
That’s why the chorus brings us to a confession and surrender “So I come all undone, in pieces trusting to believe” and then ends with dependence “My only prayer — dear Jesus please, friend of sinners, have mercy on me”
All leaders resist this sense of dependence — that’s why we all need a “Big Tent Revival” to bring us alive again, to bring us into the right posture, to bring us into the right identity. As a leader, “I am not what I do. I am not what I control and have power over. I am not what others say I am. I am the Beloved Son or Daughter, in whom God is well pleased. ”
It’s where I long to be everyday! To stand in his mercy and grace. — Andrew Landers