It all started outside Paris, Kentucky, in a hilly countryside called Cane Ridge. The Spirit of God fell there and multitudes were turned to the Lord. Presbyterian minister Barton Stone tells in his autobiography of the incredible experiences of these days, as does evangelist Peter Cartwright of the Methodists.

Following all the fire came heart-felt desire to go on with God and with each other, no longer as Presbyterians and Methodists or any other man-made creed or organization, but as Christians only.

Unknown, it seems, to the present generation of revival descendants, namely the Christian churches and churches of Christ, is the basis upon which this new-found unity was to thrive. Barton Stone, who with Alexander Campbell formed the Restoration Movement that gave birth to these churches, spelled it out very clearly. There were four possible bases, three of which didn't count:

1. Book union. You find a creed or a confession and make everyone sign on. If they can't go by your book, they're out. Stone says these become tests of fellowship that only divide, not unify.

2. Head union. You take the Bible. Everyone must have the same understanding of every verse that you have. If they don't, they're out. But, as people, even leaders, grow in the things of God, their understandings of Scripture will change. Not the best way to have an ongoing unity.

3. Water union. Be sure everyone understands immersion, and has been immersed. Well, that's a great goal, from my perspective, but Stone says it's impossible in practical terms. Lots of confusion out there, lots of people dragging their feet. Some in disobedience. How can you tell what Christ has done in a heart?

4. Fire union! When the Holy Spirit is allowed His way in a church, according to Christian Church founder Barton W. Stone, every form of human impediment can be overcome, and the bond of unity is secure forever.

So when I came to the neighborhood church of Christ well over 50 years ago, I had actually stepped into the outcome of the Cane Ridge revival, a church that was supposed to be run by the fire of God! Didn't know what revival meant in those days. As I grew, we'd call evangelists and singers in for a week or two, and that was revival. Yes, some people came to the Lord, the church was excited for awhile. But nothing like the Ridge.

Then I went to Seminary. We talked about Campbell and Stone and all the rest. As history. Long since departed history. Yes, there was mention of Cane Ridge, and all its extremes and dangers, and how wise we were to have avoided the pitfalls of this kind of experience. We pointed out that our Pentecostal friends [seldom called them brothers in those days] had fallen right into those same traps, and were therefore to be avoided.

How I wish I had been told of Cane Ridge as a real, vital, necessary part of my life history, an ideal to go after! Oh for Founder Stone to be revived and allowed to tell his firsthand experiences to my fellow Restorationists! He would certainly remind them that a church purporting to restore the New Testament pattern cannot long live without the New Testament Power, the Power of the Holy Ghost from heaven.