Note: This story originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Charisma and on charismamag.com. It is the sixth in a series of six.

When African-Americans came out of slavery, nearly all were uneducated and living in poverty. In 2004, only 25 percent of blacks in the U.S. lived beneath the poverty line.

Home ownership among African-Americans has increased from 42 percent in 1990 to 48 percent in 2003. The percentage of African-Americans investing in the stock market increased from 57 to 74 percent between 1998 and 2002.

We've witnessed significant gains in politics, business, education and household incomes. The number of black-owned businesses rose 45 percent between 1997 and 2002. And in 2005, more than 1 million African-Americans over age 25 had earned advanced degrees, compared with about 677,000 in 1995.

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Yet not all the trends are positive. Nearly 70 percent of all black children in the U.S. are born into single-parent homes. In 1960, 80 percent of black families had two parents at home. African-Americans make up nearly 50 percent of the prison population, though we account for 12 percent of the population. Back in 1950, there were twice as many white people in prison as black.

Even in our churches we're seeing an increase in crime, drug addiction and divorce. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, cohabitation, pride and prayerlessness are prevalent from the pulpit to the pews. And although some denominations have made progress in fighting racism, the highest-ranking African-American employed in the executive committee office building for the Southern Baptist Convention is the head custodian.

Perhaps it is as novelist Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities: "We are in the best of times and the worst of times."

If the black community is to rise from this decline, our hope cannot be in another civil rights movement. Our hope must be in a move of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Zechariah declared, "'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of Hosts" (Zech. 4:6). The problems of the African-American community are so intense that nothing short of a fresh Pentecost can restore holiness to our community.

God said that in the last days He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh (see Acts 2:17). That inevitably includes African-American flesh. My prayer is simple: "Lord, do it again, and do it now!"

We don't have time to debate the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We need His delivering power, His sanctifying power and His anointing. We need Him to break yokes, lift burdens and set captives free. We need to embrace the Holy Spirit in His fullness, including the fruits of the Spirit, so that our gifts and anointing will not elevate us to heights that our character cannot sustain.

In the past the Lord raised up black men and women to lead the civil rights movement because that was our pressing need. What we need now is anointed men and women who can lead us to a fresh encounter with the person, power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

My prayer is that God would burden the hearts of at least 3,000 African-American believers who will join me in giving God one day in prayer when we can confess the sins of our nation and of our race. We must seek His face for revival and restoration.

By exercising the privilege and power of prayer, we can effect change. We must embrace the Holy Spirit now, knowing that the effectual and fervent prayers of the righteous will accomplish much.

William Dwight McKissic Sr. is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas (cbcarlington.org). He stirred a national debate among Southern Baptists in 2006 when he shared his experience of speaking in tongues with students at Southwestern Baptist Seminary.

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