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.) I didn't go to any of the meetings where he preached but made one of his lunch teaching sessions, found it to be a good teaching, and then went on my way.
After the meetings concluded in a few days, I visited the pastor. He said it was an incredible time, that the evangelist was one of a kind, and God used him to "rattle some cages." Many were saved, and God had started something at FBC in Seymour.
Over the next several months, God continued to work in people's lives. I don't know how widespread it was, but the Walk To Emmaus was being used, and so was that revival meeting at FBC. As I saw people's lives changed, I began to research revivals. I found that one common thread to every great move of God seemed to be that it was preceded by God's people praying. So, I started praying with a few others for true revival.
John Karl was scheduled for a second meeting about a year later, but Tommy had been called to another church. I had already encouraged the church I pastored to be at the meetings, and I just fell into the empty slot left by Tommy's absence, not as pastor of FBC but as part of the revival team.
Here are some of the things that happened in that next week. Many people repented of sin, confessed their habitual sins, believed in Christ, and were born again. Public officials repented of wrongdoing. I repented of bitterness. One night, about 85 people lined up across the front of the church who had been made right with God. It was just a powerful move of God. In a town of about 3,000, there were over 300 decisions for Christ.
The evening meetings usually lasted 2-3 hours, we counseled and prayed with several hundred that week, and then we would leave the church and go and do the same in homes across the community. I didn't get in bed before 2 am any night that week. It was exhausting, but I saw so many lives change.
What about the immediate fruit? I didn't see what happened at FBC firsthand, but the whole town was buzzing about what God was doing. Our church had about 70 people at that time. Within a year, we had doubled in size. Some Sundays, there was barely room to get everyone in our little sanctuary. I baptized many believers, saw marriages restored, relationships reconciled, and people called to ministry.
Was that fruit lasting? That revival meeting was pivotal in my life. God used those days of intense ministry, the visible supernatural working of God in lives, to move me from an intellectual believer to one who desired to abide in Christ. Fruit was also lasting in the lives of many, how many I do not know. I guess that several hundred people were changed by God that week.
These meetings were not the focus of the move of God that was taking place across the rolling plains during those days. These meetings were simply part of it. So, did the meeting go on for months? No, but that wasn't the focus. Christ was the focus, and He continued to do His work. I know many, many people who began following Christ in those days and are still following Him.
Not only was the church I pastored changed, but so was I. I had a disturbing dream that Tuesday night. I saw myself spewing a dark cloud of bitterness as others who loved me looked on. Understand that I thought I had dealt with deep bitterness over abuse and abandonment when I sobered up. The next night, Wednesday, would be the last meeting if no one else responded.
I sat in the pew, deeply disturbed by the dream and desiring that this move of God not stop. I stood and asked for prayer for bitterness. The evangelist invited me to come down for prayer. He asked for any deacon or pastor to come to pray for me. Twenty-four men gathered as I fell on my face in repentance of my bitterness. I felt a weight lift off of me. The revival meetings continued.
Was there fallout or negative results? Well, I lost one church member. She said she didn't want a pastor who would fall on his face for prayer. She said that it embarrassed her. I wished her well as she went to another church. Other people opposed the revival. There were skeptics. Yet, many changed and walked with God until their deaths, and others still living who continue to make Christ known.
God changed so many in such significant ways in those days and years in that part of Texas.
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