By Message Staff
COUSHATTA – Richard Kaufman values the power of prayer so strongly that he is joining other churches Saturday, May 20, for a prayer walk the day before the Red River Association Crusade begins.
By gathering for corporate prayer, Kaufman believes God can use the seven-day crusade to unify the churches and change the parish forever.
“We don’t work revival up,” said Kaufman, pastor of Martin Baptist Church in Coushatta. “He sends it down. We’re praying not only for folks to be saved but for people to get involved in evangelism and people to get revived.
“The two greatest needs in churches today beside revival are repentance and evangelism,” he continued. “There is no time like the present.”
Scheduled for May 21 at Social Springs Baptist Church in Ringgold and May 22-27 at the Red River Parish fairgrounds in Coushatta, the crusade will feature evangelist Sam Moore of Bentonville, Ark., and musical guest Donna Weaver of Tuscaloosa, Ala. A meal will be served at 5:30 p.m., followed by the service at 6:30 p.m.
For several months, a team from six churches has worked to bring together the crusade. In addition to three planning meetings, the team has scheduled a prayer walk for 10 a.m. May 20 at the Red River Parish fairgrounds, as well as a training session on how to share one’s faith at 5 p.m. May 21 at Social Springs Baptist Church.
Following the crusade, churches will follow up with those who made decision. Moore will return to the area June 4 to preach on evangelism during the 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. services at Martin Baptist Church, with an evangelism training session 2-4 p.m.
“If we get one person saved, it would be worth everything we have done,” Kaufman said. “Hopefully we will get folks involved in evangelism that haven’t in the past.”
Ron Thompson, director of missions for the District 8 Convention of churches that includes Red River Baptist Association, is expecting God to do something unexpected during the crusade.
“It is a blessing to see the churches of Red River Association work together to reach the community,” he said. “I truly believe God can do something big through the collective effort.”
The revival is one of several Harvest events planned in 2017. Harvest officially launched Louisiana Baptists’ campaign to “pray for every home and share Christ with every person” in Louisiana.
Harvest events that have taken place this year include Student Night Jan. 24 at the Louisiana Baptists Evangelism Conference at Temple Baptist Church in Ruston, a Hope, Love and Freedom crusade April 3-5 at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and the Real Hope crusade April 30-May 3 at Jonesboro-Hodge High School and Winnfield Middle School.
