By Brian Blackwell, Message staff writer
COUSHATTA, La. (LBM) – A season of prayer preceded a recent four-night crusade at Red River High School in Coushatta that saw 10 people come to Christ and many more seek personal revival.
Held July 11-14, the Red River Crusade and Concert featured messages by Bill Britt, founder of Compel Outreach in Haughton, and music by the Jason Lovins Band and the New Hope No. 3 praise and worship team. Leading up to the crusade, Red River Parish congregations, representing multiple denominations, took part in coordinated individual times of prayer.
Crusade organizer Shawn Beard, a member of Martin Baptist Church in Coushatta, said prayer was a solid foundation for a mighty movement of God during the course of the event.
“I personally think without prayer we are spinning our wheels and not really headed in the right direction,” Beard told the Baptist Message. “Prayer also guided us to put our feet to the ground as we planned and prepared for what God had for us.”
Even before he preached his first message of the crusade, Britt said he could feel a spirit of unity among those gathered.
“It was a blessing to see different races, denominations, churches all come together,” Britt said. “There were many decisions for the Lord, and we give Him all the glory.”
Now that the crusade has ended, organizers said the real work has begun with follow up calls and visits with those who made decisions. Beard believes many seeds were sown that are not yet evident and is confident more decisions will result in the months ahead.
“During the final night, I told the crowd that I had awakened that morning and thought, ‘It is sad to see this come to an end,’” he said. “But I shared with them that just a second later I realized this is not coming to an end. This is just the beginning of revival. I hope this is the start of area churches coming together for the glory of God. We are on the same team. I hope to see salvations for the weeks ahead. We don’t know the full extent of what happened, but the Lord called us to plant the seed. The seed was planted, and He will take care of the rest in the months and years to come.”
