By JAKE ROUDKOVSKI, Director of Supervised Ministry New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Editor’s Note: See parts 1 and 2, and a more complete rendering of part 3, on www.baptistmessage.com. (Search for Dr. Roudkovski’s name.)
Although some have pronounced local church revival meetings “dead,” they are much alive in many churches. It is my conviction that the effectiveness of revival meetings will depend on the stewardship of that methodology by the local church.
The more churches are willing to prepare, the more they place themselves in the position to reach people for Christ.
Let me suggest several practical ways that may help churches benefit from a revival meeting.
Purpose
When church leadership begins to sense that God is leading them to schedule a revival meeting, they need to ask what the purpose of such an event should be. Will it be primarily for evangelism or revitalization of a local congregation?
The purpose will dictate a strategy for preparation. If the primary purpose is evangelism, the strategy may differ from that one if the primary purpose is revitalization. Even though a church selects the primary purpose as evangelism, it may experience a spiritual renewal among the membership.
In turn, a church with the primary purpose as revitalization may reach people for Christ along the way. A clear purpose will enable church leadership to be more pro-active in matching the purpose with a strategy for preparation and resources.
Personalities
Once the primary purpose is established, the church leadership should select prayerfully a revival team. I have to confess for my first 10 years as a pastor, I invited my pastor friends to preach revival meetings.
However, I came to a conclusion that if I really believed that an evangelist was God’s gift to the church, I should be willing to employ vocational evangelists in churches God allowed me to serve.
The Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists is a group of full-time evangelists who serve as an excellent resource for selecting leaders to preach and lead music in revival meetings.
I have used Ron Herrod, the past President of COSBE, among others in four churches that I served as pastor or interim pastor.
The churches benefited greatly from the giftedness of vocational evangelists and the meetings were blessed with people coming to Christ and believers renewed in their faith.
Several considerations should be given in regard to the revival team.
It is my opinion that the church leadership should secure the revival team at least one year before the event.
When the church leadership begins to communicate with the revival team, they should be notified of the primary purpose of the meeting.
Then the church leadership should consider together with the revival team what theme and format may be used in accomplishing the primary purpose.
Many evangelists have developed proven themes and formats and they have used them effectively in many churches. The church leadership should be open to what the revival teams may bring to the table in regard to theme and format.
One year, I was sharing with an evangelist that the main purpose of the meeting would be evangelism when I found out that one of the themes he used frequently was an emphasis on the family.
Further, a format the evangelist employed was a Saturday through Monday meeting.
Previously, the more common formats for me were Sunday through Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday meetings.
After prayerful consideration, we agreed to conduct a revival meeting with a theme Focusing on the Family while employing a Saturday through Monday format. God blessed that event with more than 40 people giving their lives to Christ!
Another consideration in relation to the revival teams should be clarity about finances. It has been my practice as a pastor to initiate the conversation about finances with an evangelist.
Typically, we would budget the money for expenses (travel, food, lodging, and incidentals) and use a love offering to provide honorarium for the revival team.
If you choose this method, make sure the love offering is given to the team in its entirety.
Some churches would budget an entire amount for expenses and honorariums.
Regardless of the approach used, the church leadership and the revival team must be clear about finances at the onset of the process.
If the church decides to use the love offering method to reimburse the revival team, the pastor needs to plan a thoughtful and prayerful love offering.
For full-time evangelists, this money is the way God, provides for their families.
In addition, church leaders should be gracious hosts to the revival team. Church members observe how pastors and staff treat the revival team and in many instances that is how church members learn how to treat their leaders!
Preparation
After the church leadership establishes the purpose and secures a spiritually-gifted revival team, they are ready to develop a strategy for preparation. …
Publicity:
… The most effective way of publicity is personal invitation to attend. A business card with information about the event could be printed and distributed to church members to use in inviting their family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. …
Personal Evangelism:
From my personal experience and observation, personal evangelism is the most productive way of preparation for revival meetings. …
Program for Children:
… When young couples knew that their children were taken care of spiritually, they were more inclined to participate and invite their lost friends and family members to attend.
Possible Meals:
… Church members were more predisposed to invite people to their church when their invitation was accompanied by an invitation to a nice meal before the service during a busy week.
Post-Event
Follow-Up:
… Billy Graham once commented that the most difficult part of his crusades was not what happened before the crusade but what happened after it was conducted. The same is true to local church revival meetings. …
PRAYER:
The most significant aspect of revival meetings must be prayer. Genuine revival can be brought only by God. Only God can save individuals through His Holy Spirit.
As the church leadership and membership engages in prayer, they acknowledge their dependence on God. …
By developing an appreciation for the heritage of revivalism in the SBC, churches become more informed about the tool that God has used to reach many for Christ.
In identifying causes of perceived ineffectiveness of revival meetings, church leaders become more equipped to address challenges.
By employing simple ways such as prayer, purpose, publicity, preparation etc., churches place themselves in the position for God to bring a harvest of souls.
Jake Roudkovski Ph.D., is director of Supervised Ministry and Assistant Professor of Evangelism Occupying the Max and Bonnie Thornhill Chair of Evangelism.