End Times Visionaries: Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994) was an English Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church and his most notable book is Why Revival Tarries. 

Born in Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, Ravenhill was educated at Cliff College in England and sat under the ministry of Samuel Chadwick. He was a student of church history and an expert in the field of revival. His meetings during the war years drew large crowds in Britain, and as a result many converts devoted themselves to Christian ministry and the world's mission fields.

In 1939, he married an Irish nurse, Martha. The Ravenhills had three sons: Paul, David, and Philip. Paul and David are themselves ministers of the Gospel, and Philip is a teacher.

In 1959, Ravenhill and his family moved from Great Britain to the United States. In the 1960s they traveled within the United States, holding tent revivals and evangelistic meetings. 

In the 1980s, Ravenhill moved to a home near Lindale, Texas, a short distance from Last Days Ministries Ranch. He regularly taught classes at LDM and was a mentor to the late Keith Green. He also spent some time teaching at Bethany College of Missions in Minnesota, and some time in Seguin, Texas.

Among others influenced by Ravenhill were Ravi Zacharias, Tommy Tenney, Steve Hill, Charles Stanley, Bill Gothard, Paul Washer, Dan Brodeur, Sean Cabral Myers, Brett Mullett, and David Wilkerson.

He was a close friend of pastor and writer A. W. Tozer and a prolific writer himself.

Through his teaching and books, Ravenhill addressed the disparities he perceived between the New Testament Church and the Church in his time and called for adherence to the principles of biblical revival.

Tozer said of Ravenhill:

To such men as this, the church owes a debt too heavy to pay. The curious thing is that she seldom tries to pay him while he lives. Rather, the next generation builds his sepulchre and writes his biography – as if instinctively and awkwardly to discharge an obligation the previous generation to a large extent ignored.

Quotes:

• "If we are weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere."
• "Men give advice; God gives guidance."
• "Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?"
• "A sinning man stops praying, a praying man stops sinning"
• "The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"
• "God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost."
• "The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."
• "The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity."
• "My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."
• "If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."
• "Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy"