Revival -- What a Lift!

We just finished four nights of revival services at Southside, and it was a great time. Dr. Edwin Jenkins and Ryan Leffel from FBC Athens served as our evangelist and music minister. It was great preaching and great music, especially last night. There was an air of expectancy last night as the Celebration Choir from First Baptist came to sing. Dr. Jenkins preached a powerful message on spiritual birth, and at the invitation, one of our young men walked with his friend to the altar where his friend accepted the greatest birthday gift of all time -- eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I honestly cannot tell you what thrilled me more: to see the young man profess faith in Jesus or to see the young man encourage and walk with him down the aisle of the church. That one decision made it all worthwile, but the truth is, the success of the revival is still up in the air.

How do you measure the results of a revival? Some would say by the number of people attending. Others would say it is about the decisions. Perhaps even a few would say that you measure its success by the love offering taken. So how did we fare? Our attendance was not good. We should have done a better job coming out ourselves but also of inviting people. Our love offering was good, but not great. Having been on the receiving end of love offerings, maybe I expect too much. But we did okay. As for decisions, there were several recommitments made for which I am grateful. Most importantly, the young man accepted Christ because of the urging of his friend. But in reality, the success of our revival will not be known for some time as we see if God has truly changed/awakened our spiritual passions at Southside. Are we ready for the fire of God to fall on our lives and on our church? I hope so.