During the early 1990s, a revival, or reawakening of Christian faith, became evident in many parts of the world. Receiving its initial impetus from the ministries of many people, including Claudio Freidzon of Buenos Aries, Argentina, Rodney M. Howard-Browne, a South African evangelist ministering in the United States, Mahesh Chavda of Charlotte, North Carolina and Cindy Jacobs of Colorado Springs, Colorado, this outpouring of God's Spirit touched a large number of people in many places. An unusual visitation among the Vineyard Churches which originated in Mississauga, Ontario, outside of Toronto, on January 20, 1994 also brought this new anointing to many people in mainline denominational and non-denominational churches throughout the world.
At all of the meetings associated with this fresh outpouring, there have been many emotional and physical healings. Many people have encountered God anew or afresh, and have been brought to a place of repentance and brokenness. People have often fallen down under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, become "drunk" in the Spirit, and become filled with the joy of the Lord, laughing almost uncontrollably, or weeping or shaking. Large numbers of children have been affected, many of whom have reported seeing visions of heavenly things. Phenomena of this kind characterized a revival that began in 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina under Claudio Freidzon. According to a publication of the Assemblies of God, Mountain Movers (October 1993, p. 6), at Freidzon's meetings, "as people entered into adoration and worship, some became 'drunk' on the Spirit and could not stand up. Others laughed in the Spirit or fell under the power of God. Each service lasted six or seven hours. Outside, hundreds waited in lines that stretched around the block to get into the church."
Some of the components of the revival were evident for several years in many places. A. L. Gill, a prominent missionary from California, saw the "holy laughter" in his meetings throughout the world beginning in 1983, culminating with the summer of 1993, when he led a praise and worship seminar at Doug Girard's Vision Christian Center on Chestnut Street in Lawrenceville, Georgia, near Atlanta. This seminar exploded into healing after a woman was dramatically healed of cancer of the tongue. The meetings were extended over a period of many days, and became known as the Chestnut Street Revival.
Tony and Marj Abram, missionaries from Arkansas, also saw drunkenness in the Spirit and the "holy laughter" in many places for several years. They first observed it in 1986 at an Assemblies of God church pastored by John Lipton, currently of Dover, in England.
A church in Riverside, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, East Coast For Jesus Ministries, pastored by Louis Halcomb, was at the center of a worldwide sovereign move of the Spirit beginning in the late 1980s. Particularly after Operation Desert Storm in early 1991, Halcomb began seeing God move in unusual ways wherever he ministered. Local newspapers in Paris, France, Geneva, Switzerland, the Philippines, reported on the revivals in these places in the wake of his ministry. Halcomb saw many people slain in the Spirit, laughing in the Spirit, drunken in the Spirit, and experiencing deliverances.
In one case, when Aleen Backsly was at Halcomb's church, people were slain in the Spirit everywhere. She would hug people in the foyer, and they would fall down. At the same time, outside, people who were getting out of their cars were falling down under the power of the Spirit as their feet hit the pavement, and it caused problems for those who were trying to park cars in the church parking lot.
East Coast For Jesus Ministries became influential to a number of other churches, including Calvary Worship Center in Port St. Lucy, Florida, pastored by Thomas E. Smith and Bob Roach. Calvary Worship Center experienced a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit beginning in the late 1980s which reached new heights during its building dedication in July of 1994, which was preceded by a week of prayer and fasting. In this case, the revival wasn't the result of any special visitors, but there was a spontaneous outbreak of revival and its associated phenomena, including holy laughter, drunkenness in the Spirit, and other manifestations. As a result of this new outbreak of revival, they began twelve services a week. Their new building seated 550 people, but they found it necessary to have two services on Sunday mornings in order to accommodate everyone.
According to Bob Roach, prior to the awakening associated with Rodney Howard-Browne's ministry and that of the Toronto Airport Vineyard, when LaVerne and Edith Tripp visited Calvary Worship Center, LaVerne was slain in the Spirit as soon as he arrived, and had to be carried into the sanctuary to preach. At the time he said, "your church is the best kept secret in America."
Bob Roach said that "there has been a move across the United States in smaller churches that nobody really knows anything about that has preceded the more visible signs of awakenings. In one case, Stan Johnson, formerly a professional ball player with the New York Yankees, visited and taught on the anointing for a 6 or 7 hour service. People came in stretchers and were raised up, and this was recorded on video. Many prophets come in and out of that church, including Ed Corley, whose ministry is very similar to that of Derek Prince, and Mike Connors, who was at one time A. A. Allen's associate, and who is also a friend of Wade Taylor's at Pinecrest. We want to make sure that it's God working in our midst, and we're seeing so many lives change and marriages put back together, and pastors going back to their churches restored and refreshed. In 1991 or 1992, Dr. Ron Shaw brought in Reinhardt Bonnke (Shaw's brother-in-law), and there was a tremendous impartation given to the pastors who were there, including Rodney Howard-Browne, who was visiting from Karl Strader's Church (the first time he was there). Rodney did the offering at that time, and was one of many, many pastors and leaders who received a real impartation from Bonnke."