Thousands of people swarm to Pensacola to participate in the revival, led primarily by evangelist Steve Hill. Drawing 3000-6000 people a night, this is the longest running revival since the great Azuza Street revival in 1906, which ran for about 3 years. It involves often bizarre behavior like shaking, falling on the floor, weeping, shouting and fainting. Revival is something sent from God and involves a degree of spontaneity. It is not contrived and is not man-centered.
Revivalism is something that is often manipulative, forced and contrived.
Iain Murray's book, Revivals and Revivalism , is central to understanding the difference between the two key terms. Murray reviews all the major revivals in American history as he presents his argument. True revival involves primarily the confronting with and the repenting from sin. But I think that true revival will come through searing, heart-piercing, convicting preaching where people are driven to their knees to repent. Each one of us is going need to evaluate whether what is happening in Brownsville is genuine revival.