Crowds without Conversion - by Ethan Jago

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Crowds don't equal revival. We agree. This article is built on those four words, with John chapter 6 providing Scriptural cover for the author. But John chapter six isn't about revival or the possibility of crowds not meaning revival.

It takes a long time for the author to get to his solution, which he equates with evaluating a church. That is, he wants all the elements of a church expressed in a revival. 

But ultimately the author is skeptical. His skepticism is based on semantics, tradition, and preconceptions. We can't call it revival because we don't know if anyone is being revived. We can't call it revival because revival must look the a certain way. We can't call it revival because revivals are like churches. It can't be revival because the Gospel wasn't preached.

However, it seems to us that revival is whatever God wants it to be. It looks however God wants it to look. God can use any sermon, any setting, and any group of people to bring revival. And every church and every supposed revival is a mix of Holy Spirit and flesh. That does not determine whether not God uses them.

Revival is chayah:

3. quicken, revive, refresh:

a. restore to life, the dead 1 Samuel 2:6; Deuteronomy 32:39; Hosea 6:2; the dying Psalm 71:20.

b. cause to grow, grain Hosea 14:8.

c. restore, a ruined city 1 Chronicles 11:8, stones destroyed by fire Nehemiah 3:34.

d. revive, the people by himself with fulness of life in his favor Psalm 80:19; Psalm 85:7; Psalm 119:25,37,40,50,88,93,107,149,154,156,159; Psalm 143:11; Ecclesiastes 7:12.

Some OT verses that speak of revival:

Ps. 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.

Is. 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says — he who lives for ever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

What the NT has to say:

Ac. 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Acts 3:19-21 ESV Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Ro. 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Ephesians 5:14 ESV For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Surely the Church, this nation, and the world needs revival. Revival in a rekindling of flagging faith, revival via new salvations, and revival of the preaching of the Gospel. We need revival in every facet of the faith, revival that invades godless structures, cold, dead churches, and revival in evil strongholds for the sake of the Kingdom. 

It's God's purpose and desire in these Last Days: 

Ac. 2:17-18 In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

Does the author want this? Then he might want to abandon his skepticism. It isn't useful. In fact, the author ought to be praising God for the possibility that it might be revival. And he might want to check out what actual witnesses have written about Asbury. Nearly every criticism the author makes gets negated. 

Crowds don't mean revival, but revival means crowds. If maybe it's not revival, we yet rejoice over a taste of a greater thing to come.

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There is a kind of spiritual excitement that feels like oxygen. You walk into a room packed wall-to-wall, voices lifted, hands raised, tears flowing, stories spreading, and you can almost taste the momentum. Someone says, “God is doing something.” Another says, “This is revival.” And if you hesitate, you risk being labeled quenching, skeptical, or dead inside. This happened to me when I raised a few concerns during the Asbury “revival” in 2023, which immediately met with retaliatory criticism of “quenching the Spirit” and other spiritual slogans turned into bullets for anyone who exercised caution. (It is inexplicable why people seem to think it's their job to evaluate whether or not it's a "real" revival.)

I want to be careful here. I am not writing to sneer at what others love. I am not denying that definitive truth may be taught in some of these settings, nor am I denying that some may genuinely be converted in the gathering spaces. God saves whom He wills, when He wills, through His Word. He can draw a sinner to Christ in a living room, a stadium, a prison, or a loud and chaotic gathering. (The author can end his article here.)

But it is precisely because God truly saves that we must not confuse crowds with conversion. (Who does this, and why must it not happen?)

Scripture will not let us. John 6 will not let us. (How so?)

And if we are going to be faithful shepherds of our own souls, and faithful members of Christ’s church, we must learn the difference between a moment of mass enthusiasm and a movement of deep discipleship. (Why must we? And these are our choices? Are they mutually exclusive?)

The chapter that begins with a miracle ends with a warning:

“As a result of this, many of His disciples went away and were not walking with Him anymore.” (John 6:66, LSB)

That is not a footnote. That is the point John is making throughout this chapter, as a caution for us today. (John makes an observation about certain disciples getting offended and abandoning Him. This is certainly a matter to consider, but evaluating revival comes to bear on this? How?)

One of the biggest mistakes modern Christians make is categorizing the response into two options.

Either:

• Nothing real is happening; it is all fake.
• Everything is revival, and anyone cautious is resisting the Spirit. (The author himself is predicating his article on a false choice.)

The Bible gives us a third category: God can do real work in the midst of mixed motives, even when the crowd is largely unconverted. (Yes, something we can agree with. But the author will go on to take the position that "the crowd," i.e., larger gatherings that are regarded as revivals, are all appealing to the flesh, are all comprised of deceived unconverted souls, and the crowds are empty of spiritual content.)

In John’s gospel, he selects events and arranges them to show us who Christ is and what true faith looks like. He tells you what he is doing at the end: “these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John is not primarily interested in giving you a scrapbook of spiritual highs. (??Who has claimed this?)

His goal is to reveal the Son of God and expose counterfeit faith. (These are our only choices? They are mutually exclusive?)

That theme shows up early. “Many believed in His name, when they were seeing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them. . . . for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23–25). That is one of the most sobering lines in the Gospel. It tells us that there is a kind of belief Jesus does not recognize as saving. (What does this have to do with revival.?)

John 6 is where that reality becomes undeniable.

Why Crowds Form: A Simple John 6 Diagnosis

In John 6, Jesus feeds a massive crowd. The miracle is real. The provision is undeniable. The excitement is understandable. But John tells us why they followed Him: “because they were seeing the signs which He was doing” (John 6:2). Later, Jesus looks them in the eye and exposes their motive for following Him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me . . . because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). This is the danger: the crowd wanted Jesus as a means to an end. Bread meant survival and security. A miracle-worker who can feed thousands looks like a political asset, a revolutionary advantage, a Moses-like deliverer (John 6:14). They were ready to take Him by force to make Him king (John 6:15). The crowd wanted a kingdom they could control, not the King they must obey.

(The author thinks that this has something to do with revival, but we need to understand the context of this time in history. The Jews were oppressed by the occupying Roman government and were looking for a deliverer. Their view of the Messiah was a human conqueror/king, not a savior from sin:

Jn. 6:15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Ironically, though He fed the crowd, and they recognized Him as "the prophet" [John 6:14], they still demanded a sign: 

Jn. 6:30 So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?"

Jesus meticulously lays out His credentials as Messiah, then tells them they must eat His flesh and drink His blood [John 6:53]. This is what turned them away, the realization that He wasn't talking about driving out their enemies.)

John 6 teaches us at least two principles that remain painfully relevant.

First, false disciples are drawn to crowds. (These are not described as false disciples. They were attracted by the miracles, not by the crowds.)

Crowds offer validation without conviction and belonging without accountability. (A crowd "offers" nothing. It's simply an assemblage of people. Further, nature of crowds are never presented as being an issue for Jesus. These disciples did not follow Jesus or turn away from Him because of anything about the crowds, but because of His teaching.)

In a crowd, the conscience is diluted, (No, it's not.)

truth is measured by momentum, (No, it's not.)

and a person can feel spiritual without being holy. (Or, a person can feel spiritual because it is holy.)

A full room is often mistaken for a faithful church or a revival. (Or not...)

Attendance becomes proof of life. (Or not...)

But crowds do not produce disciples. (No one expects crowds to do this.)

The Word produces disciples. (The Holy Spirit does this.)

Second, false disciples are drawn to signs. (As are true disciples. Only some of the disciples turned away.)

The modern-day “signs” we see are different from those of the first century. (Chapter, verse?)

When people chase experiences, they begin to treat Christ as an instrument. The sign becomes the attraction. The Savior becomes the accessory. And when the experience fades, so does the so-called faith. (The author just keeps going on and on, making undocumented assertions.)

That is not me being gloomy. That is Jesus explaining the human heart. (What? Did will miss something? Where did the author cite Jesus about this?)

Why Are Young Adults Drawn To These Gatherings?

We should not pretend we are living in a normal cultural moment. Young adults are growing up in a spiritual environment that is at once starving and overstimulating.

They are lonely. They are anxious. They are inundated with information but starving for wisdom. They have been trained by algorithms to interpret intensity as authenticity. They are used to “viral” as a measure of truth because the modern world rewards what spreads, not what is sound.

A large gathering offers what this generation desperately craves. (Sigh... No, it doesn't.)

• It offers community without cost.
• It offers meaning without long obedience.
• It offers identity without submission.
• It offers “transcendence” without slow, discipleship-based growth.

(The author is doing his best to negate anything positive about "crowds," as if this negates revival. We have yet to discover what the author is so offended about.)

And to be fair, young adults are not the only ones. (The author walks back his claim.)

Many of their parents are exhausted, disillusioned, and hungry for something hopeful. Many grown adults are tired of political chaos, cultural decay, and the coldness of secular life. A packed room, filled with spiritual energy, feels like a lifeboat. (The author keeps blaming the crowded room, over and over, as if it was a thing with a will.)

People want to believe a monster revival is here because they want relief, and I believe it is from a genuinely Godly desire. (The author is doing his level best to negate the possibility of revival.)

But hunger does not guarantee discernment. (No one claims this.)

A starving man will eat whatever is set in front of him. That is why churches must not feed people cotton candy and call it bread. (What does this have to do with false revival?)

Why Grown Adults Are Drawn, Too

Older generations have their own vulnerabilities.

• Some are desperate to see a “return” to something they remember.
• Some want their children to be “on fire” for God, and any fire looks like the Spirit.
• Some have been in churches that are dry, dead, or doctrinally compromised, and they assume the opposite must be true.
• Some are simply tired, and emotional uplift feels like spiritual renewal. (Endless false choices.)

Add to that a modern evangelical habit of measuring success by numbers, (Sometimes numbers is success.)

and the recipe is complete. A crowd becomes a scoreboard. A movement becomes a brand. A testimony becomes marketing. And once that machine starts moving, nobody wants to be the guy who asks whether the engine is actually running on Scripture or in a God-honouring direction. (The author is happy to be that guy, throwing cold water on what may be genuine, for no other reason than to satisfy the author's skepticism.)

John 6 stands in the doorway and refuses to let us confuse volume with vitality. (This is simply false.)

Jesus’ Method: He Attracts Crowds and Then Withdraws from Them

One of the most revealing patterns in the Gospels is how often Jesus withdraws from crowds. (Which has nothing to do with revival.)

He refuses to be reduced to a political deliverer (True. Which has nothing to do with revival.)

or a miracle vending machine. (Jesus healed everyone He wanted to heal, and frequently healed everyone. Which has nothing to do with revival.)

He does not let popularity define His mission. Luke records the crowds trying to keep Him from leaving, and Jesus responds, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43).

Do you see the priority of Christ in His ministry?

• Not spectacle. (It was a spectacle.)
• Not a never-ending healing line. (Jesus was always healing people.)
• Not crowd maintenance. (???)
• Proclamation of the kingdom.

Now contrast that with much of modern “revival culture.” The unspoken goal is often to keep the crowd, grow the crowd, and protect the atmosphere that sustains the crowd. (Any proof for that claim, sir?)

Hard truths get delayed. Doctrinal edges get sanded down. Warnings get softened. Boundaries get avoided because boundaries thin crowds, (None of this is true, informative, or relevant.)

and that isn’t “loving” in the manner in which we would choose to be loved. (Is the author expecting that a revival [or whatever it is he's describing], is supposed to act like a church service?)

Jesus did the opposite. He spoke the truth that drove many away, (The "proclamation of the Kingdom" was not why many disciples left.)

and then asked the Twelve, “Do you want to go away also?” (John 6:67). Christ is not afraid of a smaller church if it is a truer church. (This has nothing to do with church. It has nothing to do with Jesus' attitude about crowds. The crowds aren't even a concern of the apostle's narrative. 

The author is making the whole thing up.)

Jesus wanted truly committed followers who had counted and knew the cost of following Him. (Finally we can agree with the author.)

The Worship Test: Wow Versus Worship

Matthew gives us a helpful contrast. Earlier in his Gospel, the disciples marvel after He calms the sea, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matt 8:27). Later, after another display of Christ’s authority on the sea, “those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are truly God’s Son!’” (Matt 14:33).

That shift matters and is critical to understand.

Marveling is not worship.
Awe is not adoration.
Tears are not repentance. 

True worship confesses who Christ is and submits to what He says.

A movement can produce many “wow” moments while producing very few worshipers. (Sigh. Which means the opposite can occur as well. We are tiring of these endless pronouncements.)

The Judas Factor: The Category Nobody Wants To Talk About

John 6 ends with Judas. Not an outsider. Not a critic. One of the Twelve. A man near Jesus, hearing everything, seeing everything, participating in ministry activity, and still unconverted (John 6:70–71). This is why the New Testament repeatedly warns the church about false assurance.

“Enter through the narrow gate . . . few who find it” (Matt 7:13–14).
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter” (Matt 7:21–23).
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Cor 13:5).

If we refuse this category, we will misread the entire spiritual landscape. We will assume every spiritual experience is saving faith. (We will?)

We will assume every testimony is conversion. (We will?)

We will treat skepticism as sin and caution as unbelief. (Maybe they are.)

Meanwhile, people will be inoculated with religious emotion and never actually come to Christ. (This happens all the time, crowd or not.)

I believe this is the most concerning underlying issue with all of this, the creation of self-deceived people. (This happens all the time, crowd or not.)

They assume they are Christians because of what they do, and do not realize that it is not who they are. (This happens all the time, crowd or not.)

 They are worshipping themselves and their spiritual experience appetites, and not the Creator of the universe. (This happens all the time, crowd or not.)

That is not a small danger. That is an eternal danger. (So if we stop having crowds we've fixed the problem?)

So, How Do We Evaluate Our Church Or A Movement?

We do not start with cynicism. (Cynicism has been the primary tool of the author.)

We start with Scripture.(What about the spiritual gift of discernment? The author will never mention this.)

And we apply tests that are difficult to fake. (?? So now we have moved into faking revival? Before the author was concerned with claiming what the motives of the crowd were.)

Jesus gives us a parable for this: the sower (Matthew 13). Some hear, and the word is snatched away. Some receive with joy and fall away under affliction. Some are choked by worries and wealth. Only the good soil bears fruit. The key is not the initial response. The key is durable, lasting fruit.

Romans 12:1 describes true worship as a life offered to God: “to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

That is not an event. That is a lifelong pursuit of Christ, not entertainment or self-affirming crowds.

A Practical Diagnostic Checklist

Use this to evaluate your church, or any movement, regardless of your age. This is not a weapon to beat others. It is a tool to protect your soul.

Is Scripture central or supplemental?

Do they preach the text with context, authorial intent, and doctrinal clarity, or do they use verses as seasoning for stories and experiences? (2 Tim 4:1–5; Acts 20:26–27)
Is the gospel defined or assumed?
Do you regularly hear about sin, repentance, the cross, substitution, resurrection, and lordship, or do you hear vague language about “encounter” and “purpose”? (1 Cor 15:1–4)
Does truth thin the crowd?
Are hard teachings addressed plainly, or avoided to preserve momentum? In John 6, truth scattered the crowd. If a ministry never loses people over doctrine, ask what kind of doctrine it preaches.
Is repentance normal or rare?
Are people confronted about sin and called to turn, or mainly affirmed and comforted? (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30)
Is holiness expected or optional?
Do leaders speak about purity, self-denial, and obedience as essential fruits of faith, or as “extra credit”? (1 Pet 1:14–16; Heb 12:14)
Is the church treated as a body or a product?
Is membership, accountability, and shepherding emphasized, or is the goal to keep people anonymous and entertained? (Heb 13:17; Acts 2:42)
Is worship aimed at God or at experience?
Do songs and services point to the glory of Christ and the truth of the gospel, or do they aim mainly at creating a mood and elevating the self? The question is not whether emotions happen. The question is whether truth governs them. (John 4:23–24)
Are leaders qualified and accountable?
Is there biblical plurality, character qualification, and real oversight, or celebrity branding and platform protection? (1 Tim 3; Titus 1)
Are warnings preached with love?
Do you hear Matthew 7, Hebrews 6, 1 John, and 2 Corinthians 13:5 preached as pastoral protections, or are warnings treated as negativity?
What kind of people does it produce over time?
After the music fades and the moment passes, do people plant in a local church, submit to Scripture, grow in doctrine, and endure suffering? Or do they drift to the next experience?

If those questions feel too strict, remember: Jesus was stricter. (The author supplies an extensive list to ascertain the legitimacy of a revival, as if a revival is a church.)

A Sober Conclusion, and a Hopeful One

Here is the posture I am commending.

• Rejoice where Christ is truly preached.
• Pray for genuine conversions.
• Refuse to mock spiritual hunger.
• But do not outpace Scripture with your declarations.

If this is a revival, it will not merely gather crowds. It will produce worshipers. It will produce repentance. It will produce churchmen and churchwomen who love the truth, submit to shepherds, and endure when obedience is costly.

And if it is primarily crowd momentum, it will eventually reveal itself. Jesus taught us that.

Do not let the size of the crowd give you spiritual legitimacy without submission to Christ’s lordship. Do not let a room full of people replace a heart full of repentance. Do not let excitement become your assurance.

Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. And remember the lesson John 6 presses into the conscience of the church:

• Many will follow for bread.
• Few will remain for truth.

And Christ is worthy of the few.

Dr. Ethan Jago serves as Lead Pastor and Elder at 5 Bridges Church in Panama City Beach, Florida. He is one of the G3 Pastor-Theologians. He previously served as Young Adults Pastor at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.

Ethan served 16 years in the United States Air Force as a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) Specialist before transitioning to full-time ministry. He earned an Associate Degree in Survival Instruction from the Community College of the Air Force, a Bachelor of Science in Workforce Education from Southern Illinois University, a Master of Divinity in Apologetics from Liberty University, and a Doctor of Ministry in Theology and Apologetics from Liberty University.

Ethan and his wife Dianne have three children — Kaiden, Skye, and Cora. Together, they founded Deeply Rooted.