Cyle Clayton

Tommy Culwell, the pastor at First Baptist, Seymour, had scheduled a revival with a pastor friend. The pastor had to back out but recommended a Ft. Worth evangelist, John Karl Davis. John Karl came to FBC that year and the next. He came back to Calvary in Seymour, where I had pastored.  First Baptist churches in county (or parish) seats, have a unique reputation amongst pastors and evangelists. They're not known for being flexible and excited about the changes that true revival brings. FBC was a typical county-seat Baptist church, which means there were more noteworthy people at that church than at the others in Seymour.  I was told that the evangelist was a little scary because he addressed sin directly, and often personally. I was skeptical about evangelists in general and what I had been told about this one in particular. I was told he was blunt about sin, even personal sin, and that he could "read your mail." (Later, I came to believe he had the gift of discernment.) ...

Did God use the Cross Country Emmaus community and the Walk To Emmaus from 1990-1997 as a tool of revival and renewal in the church in West Central Texas?  God used it to change my Walk with Him radically and, in turn, the trajectory of my life. I know dozens, if not hundreds, of people who faithfully follow Christ and make Him known today who would say the same. My last post gives details about the Walk itself. Let me tell you about what I saw, not what I heard God do in those years.  I was baptized at 8, raised in the church, rebelled against God, became an agnostic, and spent at least 10 years increasing my alcohol intake to deal with the resentment and chaos in my heart and mind. I tried to stop drinking but could not until September 1, 1990, when I sobered up through AA. A year after that, I believed in Christ. 6 months after that, at my mother's and wife's insistence, I went on a Walk to Emmaus. Before the Walk, I was a believer but was scared to read the Bible (because ...