This year, the nation’s attention has been focused intensely on the southern border and the millions of people who have crossed it illegally in the past three years. In December 2023 alone, U.S. Border Patrol agents reported encountering a quarter of a million migrants at the southern border.
It’s a crisis that some have described as a government-facilitated invasion designed to fundamentally change our nation from the inside out and forever house political power in the hands of the Democrat Party — and yet, at its root, says Pastor Tony Suarez of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, it’s a spiritual issue. Therefore, the only way to shift the situation is through spiritual means.
To address those issues, Suarez is hosting two three-day revivals in Texas: The first will be held in El Paso starting today (March 21) and running through March 23, and the second will be in McAllen March 27– 29. (Those who wish to attend, in person or virtually, can get more information here.)
Suarez is the founder and president of Revivalmakers as well as the chief operating officer of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and is a first-generation American: One of his parents immigrated from Colombia.
Why Revival?
“Some years ago,” Suarez said, “I was studying the revivals of old and wondering what it would’ve been like to have been in those tents. I remember saying to the Lord in prayer, ‘I wish I would’ve been alive in those days.’ I felt the Lord say, ‘Tony, I didn’t need you then, I need you now.’ Revival does not belong to yesterday; it’s for today! I made up my mind that revival is not coming — revival is here!”
Attendees in Texas are going to pray for angelic protection over the southern border while bringing under one tent “people who would not come together otherwise,” Suarez said: “border agents, local residents and immigrants.
“At the same time, we will pray for angels to go to those migrants who have been left to die in the desert, to guide them safely out and help them.”
Suarez says revival is the only viable starting point for the change needed because the crisis around immigration is complex and factional, with plenty of blame and finger-pointing from both sides of the political aisle.
However, since the situation is now so dire, with a flood of drugs and potential terrorists also crossing into our nation, we must stop playing the blame game and come up with solutions once and for all.
“Every time the Church deviates from revival and becomes political, division starts to grow among God’s people,” he says. “Through revival, people are unified in the Holy Spirit and superficial differences fall away. It has been through revivals that black and white Americans began worshipping together and that women in the church moved from the position of parishioner to pastor.
“To solve the crisis of immigration, we must come together as a nation. Currently, we are not together — but we could be, under the tent.”
While political and social reforms are part of the solution to our nation’s immigrant crisis, Suarez insists that we must begin with prayer and revival:
“The approach to the border and immigration comes down to this,” Suarez said of his upcoming revival events:
“We are trying to fix our nation from the top down, but that’s not how God works. He starts with an individual, like Abram to Abraham, and through the spiritual awakening of that individual, He starts a ripple of revival, working from the bottom up.”
Dr. Jeff Gardner holds a master’s degree in history and a doctorate in communication and media studies. For over a decade, he has worked in media, writing and taking photographs for various publications and organizations across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. His work has been featured in numerous national and international publications and broadcasts. He teaches courses in media, culture and government at Regent University. You can reach him at jeffgardner.online.