Introduction
Many cite Evangelist Tommy Hicks (1909 – 1973) as being the spark for the 1954 Argentine Revival. But from this story, you will see that there were others that appear to have laid the foundation for that revival with intense intercession.
Conditions Prior to the Revival
► Argentina was considered by mission boards to be the least fruitful mission field in the Western Hemisphere.
► The Assemblies of God, after 40 years of hard work, could only account for 174 adult church members by 1951.
► In 1949, a census of the three most successful denominations in Argentina totaled 574 members. Large churches at the time were made up of but seven members.
► Spiritism was dominant in many cities and towns, with churches being unable to get a foothold in those communities.
► The occult had a grip on millions, and had influence in every level of society. Christians often frequented witch doctors for remedies to their sicknesses when they didn’t have the money for modern medicine.
► Roman Catholicism, being the official state religion, discriminated severely against Protestant churches. Protestants were often forbidden to use radio and television, as well as to gain permission to conduct large evangelistic campaigns.
Extraordinary Prayer
Missionary R. Edward Miller and Wife
In 1948, a missionary from Oregon, R. Edward Miller, at 31 years of age, accepted the assignment to take over a seven-year-old mission church in the city of Mendoza. The church only had eight members. That was the typical attendance for most of the churches throughout Argentina at that time.
In January of 1949, Miller and another missionary partner went to the town of Lavalle where the Gospel had never been preached before. They were to conduct a two-week evangelistic campaign, but in Miller’s words, it was a “failed enterprise.” Even with faithfulness in prayer and canvassing of the community, not a single person attended their services.
Miller contemplated leaving his missionary work and returning to the United States, but prior to doing that, he decided to give himself to prayer. He sensed God’s terms were “a minimum of eight consecutive hours daily with Him in prayer and His Word.”
Miller kept up that level of prayer for two months. He then began to experience the presence of God during his times of prayer. After another six weeks in prayer, at the same intense level of commitment, God spoke to him and promised that a revival was coming.
Mendoza, Argentina, vineyard at the base of the Andes mountains
Call a Prayer Meeting
God gave Miller very clear directions for his next steps:
Go tell the people [of his small congregation in Mendoza] to begin prayer meetings. Tell them to begin on Monday night and to come prepared to stay from eight o’clock until midnight. If they are not prepared to stay the entire four hours, they must not come at all.
Three people came that Monday night to join Miller and his wife for prayer. It appeared to be an unprofitable time, as the three that united with them sat silently during the entire four hours. This continued daily with the same group through Thursday evening. On this night, at about eleven p.m., as they stood and were united around a table, one of the ladies, who had been given the impression, beginning on the first night of the prayer meetings, that she was supposed to bang on the table with her hand, did so, and when she did,
It was like a rushing wind swept through the room from one corner to the opposite corner.
Within moments they were all engulfed by the presence of God and a new fountain was opened for the moving of the Holy Spirit through Argentina.
It was in early June, 1949, when the “River from Heaven” began to flow out into the city of Mendoza and Argentina. News of that visitation of the Holy Spirit spread rapidly and the attendance at these nightly prayer meetings increased swiftly. For nearly one year this prayer meeting continued, “from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. every night without fail”.
What Happened
Following the initial visitation of the Holy Spirit, the congregation in the city of Mendoza multiplied rapidly, and then formed themselves into teams and went out in the streets testifying and seeing God perform healing miracles, which led to many being saved.
►Two teenage girls from the church were weeping for souls as they walked down the street. They encountered two doctors who began to mock them, but then listened to their testimonies, were convicted, and knelt asking for prayer.
►Two young people visited a lady whose mother was paralyzed and had been in bed for 5 years. They prayed for her, and she got up and drank tea with them.
►Two elderly people visited a man in a coma. That man was also crippled and his liver had been damaged from excessive drinking. They prayed for him and he was healed.
►After two months the revival at the Mendoza church began to spread to churches in other cities.
►The news of the revival spread throughout Argentina, and Miller began receiving invitations to come and speak at other churches.
Immigrants Experience a Visitation of the Holy Spirit
There was a Slavic-speaking group of immigrants from Europe living in the Chaco Province. They had heard of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the Slavic-speaking churches in Buenos Aires, and believers in Chaco began seeking God for the same.
In due time the Holy Spirit was poured out on that group, and the pastor’s son, Alexander, who was extremely rebellious, came to the church’s revival services to mock, ridicule, and cause a disruption. It was at that time when the Holy Spirit arrested that young man, and within a few months he became a student at the River Plate Bible Institute (Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata – IBRP) in City Bell, a town just outside of Buenos Aires.
While Alexander was attending IBRP, he had spent several months of sleepless nights, interceding, for what, he was not sure of at that time, but his times of intercession were accompanied by deep heart-burning and intense longings for God.
It was in the late evening hours on June 4, 1951, while out praying in an open field, that Alexander had an overwhelming experience with the presence of God, and it terrified him. R. Edward Miller, who was a teacher at IBRP at the time, indicated that it was an “angel of the Lord”, or a “Heavenly Visitor”.
All the other students were asleep in the dorm at that time. Alexander, experiencing tremendous fear, raced back to the dorm, pounded on the door which was locked, and yelled at the top of his voice for someone to let him in. One of the students opened the door for him, and Alexander rushed in, expecting to get away from that presence, but it followed him inside.
The fear of God fell upon every student at that moment and they were all awake, and under severe conviction of sin, began crying out to God for forgiveness. For many nights after this, the students dreaded to be alone, because of that awe-inspiring presence of God that remained upon the Bible Institute.
On the morning of June 5, 1951, the institute’s regular classes were suspended, and for the next ten weeks, both faculty and students (50 people) spent their entire time—10-20 hours per day, with uncontrollable weeping in deep brokenness as the “Holy Spirit placed upon them the burden of the Lord for deliverance for the vast, dreadful sins of Argentina.”
Prophecies that came during this time of prayer were literally fulfilled in the coming few years. One such prophecy was that the largest stadiums in Argentina would be filled with people seeking God. This took place in 1954 during the ministry of Tommy Hicks.
On a Friday morning in September, a prophecy came forth which stated:
WEEP NO MORE… THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH HATH PREVAILED. I HAVE OVERCOME THE PRINCE OF ARGENTINA.
Great joy and laughter then filled the hearts of the 50 intercessors at the Bible Institute, and then the harvest began.
Some of the locations that were impacted by the revival.
After the Ten Weeks of Intercession
After the conclusion of the school year, the students at IBRP were sent out two by two to different cities to work in churches assigned to them. One pair went to a church in Veinticinco de Mayo, which only had about a dozen people attending after many years of its existence. The two young men spent most of their time in intercession. They didn’t attend services and rarely ate meals.
The Lord directed the two young men to conduct evangelistic services using an old tent. So they put it up and it resulted in many being saved and healed. The church at Veinticinco de Mayo was no longer empty.
This was the typical pattern of the students and faculty as they commenced evangelistic efforts in towns throughout Argentina.
Mar del Plata
The missionary, R. Edward Miller, was then given the orders from the Lord to leave the town of City Bell and “wait and pray.” He was instructed to go 250 miles to the south, to the city of Mar del Plata (where he would start a Bible school). Upon his arrival there with his family, the Christians living there began to mock, scoff, ridicule, and laugh at his vision for Mar del Plata. Miller indicated that this was a tremendous trial of his faith, as they had to wait more than two years for the Lord’s season of revival to come to the town.
In due time revival did come to Mar del Plata, as well as to many of the other towns and cities in the surrounding area. Many phenomenal stories of revival, with its accompanying miracles and people saved, took place in the following towns.
Results of the Revival
► People abandoned their careers to dedicate their lives to the ministry.
► Some started Christian newspapers.
► Hitherto unknown evangelists spread out over the country ministering to thousands.
► Healing ministries were started.
► New churches were started.
► Missionaries were sent out to other nations.
► The nation of Argentina, steeped in idolatry and paganism, began to emerge into one of the greatest mass operations of Divine grace ever recorded in Christian history.
► The intense intercession and faithful ministry of R. Edward Miller, and many others like him, opened the door for Evangelist Tommy Hicks and the subsequent 1954 Argentina Revival that occurred from April to June of that year.
► Five decades later, Argentina was still reaping the benefits from that revival.
Sources
► Evangelical Awakenings in Latin America by J. Edwin Orr
► Operation World by Patrick Johnstone
► Secrets of the Argentine Revival by R. Edward Miller
► Spiritual Power and Church Growth by C. Peter Wagner
Return to List of Revival Stories
Chet & Phyllis Swearingen
(260) 920-8248
romans1015@outlook.com
Beautiful Feet
P.O. Box 915
Auburn, IN 46706
