By MONICA JOSEPH — Kyle Martin had never spent time in Santa Fe, N.M., and he didn’t have any friends or family there, but four months ago, he became committed to reviving the city’s relationship with Christ.
Martin, 29, a Middlebury native who lives in Dallas, is in the midst of planning a seven-day revival in Santa Fe Sept. 15 to 21 — a city he had only driven through a couple times prior to the last four months.
“OK, God, I don’t know anyone in Santa Fe,” Martin said he told the Lord when he felt called in that direction.
Revival has become a huge part of Martin’s life over the last few years. In 2007, he was inspired to spearhead a 40-day tent revival in Dallas with his church, Dallas Bible Church. In April, he released his first book, “Reviving the Church.”
He even has the word “revival” in his job description. Along with pursuing a doctorate at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Martin is an associate pastor at his church with the title of “pastor of discipleship and revival.”
Martin’s path of leading people to Christ began when he was a youngster, according to his former Youth For Christ leader Chris Russell, now youth pastor at Jefferson Brethren Church.
“He’s got that charisma to be a leader,” Russell said, explaining Martin has always been a planner and organizer and always had a business plan or two in the works.
“In junior high, he carried a brief case,” Russell said with a laugh.
But Russell recalls when Martin’s entrepreneurship changed focus.
I remember “seeing that corner turned” where Martin went from “just going to church to living passionately for his faith,” Russell said. “I remember the time when he learned to humble himself and say ‘this is for you (God), this isn’t for me.’ He stopped doing little lemonade stands and started impacting lives for Christ.”
While in high school, Martin started a prayer group of his peers in his basement. The teens would come over to his house before school for breakfast and devotions. The group was called Lamps on a Stand, Russell said.
Martin’s latest endeavor in Santa Fe had its beginnings after a couple who had attended the 40-day Dallas revival sat down to pray on their own.
Mark and Joan Doering, who have homes in Dallas and Santa Fe, felt a need for a revival in Santa Fe as a result of their prayers, Martin said.
The Doerings approached Martin and his senior pastor and the revival effort was launched.
“I said I would go to Santa Fe and check it out,” Martin said. He found the perfect venue for a large gathering in the city’s brand-new convention center. Then he had to convince the city’s residents.
During his five or so trips to Santa Fe to get things rolling, Martin has had support for the revival, but also encountered a lot of doubters.
“I’ve personally been accused of a lot of things,” Martin said, including being asked “What’s in it for you?”
He was told, “It’s going to take a miracle for Santa Fe to be revived.”
He’s been asked why in the world a small church in Dallas would care about reviving a city in another state.
Others have asked: “Who sent you.”
When Martin answers that God sent him, “That tends to freak some people out,” he said with a laugh.
Martin does have a “grassroots” group of 10 volunteers in Santa Fe who are doing much of the legwork. He said it’s an eclectic group that includes a real estate agent, oil businessman and a musician.
He’s had five people — a mix of Dallas and Sante Fe residents — donate a total of $350,000 to underwrite the event, which is free of charge to attend.
Santa Fe Mayor David Coss is on board with the revival, Martin said. The city leader is going to speak the first night of the revival on “the condition of Santa Fe.”
The musical lineup for the event includes such notable acts as the Los Lonely Boys, Salvador, Sheila E. and Collin Ray.
Mike Lewis, known as the “Jesus painter,” will be creating a 5-foot painting of Jesus during worship the last evening.
Worship leader Keith Cooper, originally out of Nashville, will leading worship. Martin himself will be preaching each night. He said he will form his sermons in the manner of “a storyteller.”
Organizers are also using a water theme for prayer and revival. A promotional photo shows Martin standing in the dry river bed of the Santa Fe river.
“We are praying not just for the river to be filled physically, but the body of Christ to flow of living water,” Martin said, quoting John 7: 37-38. Organizers are praying for “rain on Santa Fe” and for “the Lord to reign in Santa Fe.”
Martin said he has been told by the mayor and random people that it has been raining often since the revival efforts began and that it’s been “a wet summer.”
He said he ran into the mayor near City Hall on one visit, and as he shook the mayor’s hand, it started raining.
“He (the mayor) said, ‘I’ve got to stop hanging out with you guys, we’ll need sandbags,’” Martin recalls.
Bringing rain to Santa Fe isn’t the main purpose of the event, Martin said, “but it does get people’s attention.”
As the revival draws nearer to hand, Martin is feeling the pressure.
“A couple times a week I feel sick to my stomach,” he said. “People think we are crazy to try to do this in four months.” But he still trusts in prayer to make the event a success.
“We’ve been praying for 40 days in Dallas and Santa Fe,” Martin said. “We are asking the body of Christ to come together to ask the Lord to bless and renew and encourage the people of Santa Fe.”
He is inspired by the words of Saint Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
