Submitted by philip on
By Holly Jo Linzay, Special to the Message
KENTWOOD – A fire of revival breaking out in East Fork Baptist Church brought in 47 new members during the last three months.
“God is up to something at our church,” said Mike Shumock, the pastor of East Fork Baptist Church, located in a rural community just outside of Kentwood.
“The Lord is moving in a mighty way,” the pastor continued. “Of the 47 people He has added to our church, 25 of them got saved and baptized. Things are really hopping at our church. There’s been an explosion.”
Recently, the pastor baptized 18 people, all dressed in white robes, in the Tangipahoa River in the East Fork community. The baptism drew a large crowd, with one little girl telling her mother it looked like “angels were in the river,” Shumock noted.
The spark of revival at his church flamed to life in late June, shortly after Vacation Bible School. The church members had been praying for revival for months.
“We even had a prayer vigil asking the Lord to send revival no matter what the cost. We were asking the Lord to pour out a blessing on us, and we were really seeking His face,” Shumock said.
East Fork then held a revival service, and the people were packing out the church every night. After the revival service, Shumock began preaching on having an authentic relationship with the Lord. It was at a church worship service in late June when a 23-year-old woman seemed to ignite the passion of Christ in the church body with her testimony.
“She was under conviction of the Lord and said she had been baptized at 8 years old, but knew she was ‘lost,’ and said she wanted to get saved and take care of it right then,” Shumock explained.
Because of VBS decorations covering the baptistry, the pastor baptized her that day in the Tangipahoa River.
“She had a life-changing experience,” Shumock said, adding that her profession of faith touched the hearts of many and people started walking down the aisle expressing the need for God to change their lives.
In July, the church’s youth group attended camp at Tall Timbers and 10 made a profession of faith.
“The youth came back from camp so pumped up and so on fire,” said Dana Hendry, a Sunday School teacher and children’s choir director at East Fork Baptist Church.
She said the youth group has grown and has not let the “fire” go out either.
“The youth didn’t burn out just after a few weeks. There has been a revival among them, some eye-opening experiences. They even started a youth praise band,” Hendry added.
The “fire of revival blazing” in the youth group caught on in the children, the pastor said. They conducted their own RA and GA camp, and six children asked Jesus into their hearts during the camp.
“After that, things have kind of exploded. Adults in the community started hearing about what’s been happening here at our church and have been coming,” Shumock said.
The Lord is being lifted up at East Fork Baptist, Hendry said, and He is drawing people to the church.
“The Holy Spirit has definitely been moving. You can feel the Holy Spirit on you. You can feel the fire,” Hendry said, adding that the Spirit is manifesting within the church body by reaching out to the community in a number of ways.
The youth group has cleaned up the yards of several widows and shut-ins, the RA boys have washed the cars of widows, the adult groups of the church have been involved in many aspects of disaster relief and the children’s choir has started singing at the local nursing homes. The youth band has started leading worship on Sunday nights.
Michael Bracy, who had not gone to church since the early 1970s, said he met Hendry when he was giving out vegetables from his garden to the community.
“I realized there was something different about Dana. She just seemed to have this inner glow. I wanted that,” Bracy said, adding that he joined the church about two months ago.
Bracy was one of the 18 who was recently baptized in the Tangipahoa River.
“I have an inner peace now within myself,” he said. “I feel like I have found my home after being out of church for more than 40 years. Everyone there is warm, welcoming and full of the Spirit. You can see the light of the Lord in their lives.”