Charles Finney Making a Comeback?

The Dallas Morning News reports in this article that Dallas area churches are being organized for a Fall 09 event that Sojourners is calling the Dallas Justice Revival.

Sojourners hosted the first Justice Revival meetings in Columbus, Ohio in April 2008. The Dallas meeting will be the second such event that Sojourners will have planned.

After consuming all that I could find online about the Columbus meeting and speaking with people who are organizing the Dallas event, I am very excited about the potential that this has for mobilizing congregations to think and act through a lens of justice for the greater Dallas community. Taking a page from the Billy Graham playbook, these periodic events look to do months of pre-conference work with area church leaders to garner support and volunteerism for the three day Fall 09 event. However, unlike any major crusade or conference that I've heard of...the Dallas Justice Revival seeks to have local Dallas churches mobilized around the idea of treating Dallas like their parish. The goal of the event is to build a platform for ongoing systemic change in Dallas with justice issues.

Jim Wallis had this to say in June 2008...

In Boston, I spoke at the historic Park Street Church, where the premier evangelist of the Second Great Awaken­ing, Charles Finney, preached in 1831. The Billy Graham of his day, Finney called people to faith in Jesus Christ and then to enlist in the anti-slavery campaign. Finney actually pioneered the “altar call” so he could sign up his converts for the anti-slavery campaign.

These Justice Revivals look like Sojourner's attempt to spur along what many have been calling America's next Awakening.

What do you think?