By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
DEQUINCY – Revival has come to New Hope Baptist Church in Dequincy and all signs point to the spiritual renewal continuing for the foresee-able future.
Since February, 22 people have professed faith in Christ, with 16 coming forward during the revival, March 24-27.
Many have been baptized already.
Pastor Roland Hebert said a mighty move of the Holy Spirit has been an unexpected blessing.
“It thrills me,” he said. “That’s what preachers live for. I can’t tell you anything we did to cause it to happen. It was a God thing. God opened the doors of Heaven and poured out a blessing.”
During recent revival services, the worship center was filled to capacity each evening. A men’s wild game supper in the family life center the day before the revival was a catalyst for 12 people turning to Christ. Four more people repented during the nightly services and committed to live for Christ, and another person surrendered to the ministry.
Evangelist Sam Moore, who shared the Gospel each evening, said the church embraced the effort.
“The Gospel was preached with a lot of hunting illustrations, and a Gospel invitation given after each message,” Moore said. “The Spirit moved and 12 men surrendered their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior. This helped set the tone for the revival for the rest of the week.”
Since the revival ended, Hebert has talked with many who attended, including some who expressed a desire to follow Christ.
“Seeing God move you are in awe of what He did,” Hebert said. “We saw many make decisions, from teens to a 73-year-old woman. When that happens, you know it’s not anyone in your church who was responsible but that it was all God.”
Hebert said prayer was the catalyst for spiritual renewal among the congregation that averages 120-140 on Sunday mornings.
The church began praying 40 days before the start of the revival, which led to six people turning to Christ and following through with obedience through baptism. Members also were encouraged to pray for one person who was not a Christ follower.
“God is continuing to bless,” Hebert said. “We will keep asking the Lord of the harvest to send harvesters and we will do our part to continue to bring in the harvest.”
