Seventeen Souls in a Welsh Chapel

In the autumn of 1904, twenty-six-year-old Evan Roberts was just a coal miner from Loughor, Wales, with no theological degree and no platform. He had spent thirteen years praying for revival — thirteen years of casting nets into seemingly empty waters. At a conference in Blaenannerch, evangelist Seth Joshua prayed aloud, "Lord, bend us." Roberts felt something break open inside him. He wept and cried out, "Lord, bend me."

He went home and asked his pastor a modest favor: could he speak to whoever stayed after the Monday evening prayer meeting? The pastor was skeptical but agreed. Only seventeen people remained — a tiny, tired gathering in a small chapel on a quiet street.

Roberts gave them four simple points: confess all known sin, put away any doubtful habit, obey the Holy Spirit promptly, and confess Christ publicly. That was it. No polished rhetoric. No grand strategy.

But because God said so, he let down his nets.