May 29, 2000
Northeast Texas churches unite for large-scale revival
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___MOUNT PLEASANT--The football stadium is now empty, but the churches are filling up.
___The Northeast Texas Rick Gage Crusade held at Mount Pleasant High School Stadium May 14-18 has left a large, but joyous, task for the churches of the community and area.
EVANGELIST Rick Gage preaches at the Mount Pleasant crusade. (Photo by Ron Barker)
___More than 9,000 attended the crusade during its four evenings, with 478 registered professions of faith in Jesus Christ and 782 total decisions accounted for.
___"We exceeded our expectations by a wide margin," said Cliff Butler, chairman of the executive committee that organized the event. "That rate of decision is phenomenal. That's almost 9 percent of the attendance recording a decision."
___The crusade not only featured Gage, but also Rick Stanley, stepbrother of Elvis Presley; Dallas Cowboys coach and former All-Pro Bill Bates; and other musical guests to compliment crusade vocalist Chuck Sullivan of Atlanta.
___All those recording decisions were given an opportunity to denote a church they would prefer to follow up on their decision, and those who did not list a preference were divided up among the 43 churches which helped organize the rally.
___Those churches not only included Southern Baptist congregations, but also Methodist, Lutheran, Assembly of God, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Church of the Nazarene and independent churches.
___The volunteers from those churches totaled more than 600 as they served in preparation for the event as well as counselors, ushers, choir members and prayer warriors.
___Butler, who attends Trinity Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, said the coming together of the Christian community has been a good experience.
___"It's had a tremendous effect on the community," he said. "After the meetings, the people from the different churches would stay around and talk on the football field just like they do after church on Sundays."
___Steve Packer, pastor of First Baptist Church in neighboring Pittsburg, said one man told him that was one of the rally's biggest blessings. "He told me one of the best parts of the crusade was meeting so many other Christians he had never met before."
___Packer said his experience has been that churches working together have a lasting positive effect.
___The Southern Baptist churches in the association have a history of working together, and an event like this can only help, said Harmony-Pittsburg Association Director of Missions Randel Trull.
___Trull also was impressed with evangelist Rick Gage's work ethic.
___"I was really impressed by how hard-working Rick Gage is," Trull said. "I don't know how he does it, or how long he can continue to do it, but he was in schools speaking every day and did lunch speaking engagements and never seemed to tire."
___Those people who came to know Christ during the crusade already have started to make their way to the community's churches.
___"We have 12 people who we will follow up on here in Pittsburg," Packer said, "but the churches in Mount Pleasant are seeing many more than that."
___Clint Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, said the Sunday after the crusade was a good day for the community's churches.
___"I've talked with some of the other pastors, and there was a goodly number of people across the community who made professions of faith, and others who attended the crusade who felt a need to be in church Sunday," Davis said. "I think it's going to take us a while to work through the follow-up on those who made decisions at the crusade and to help those people understand just what it is that they did."
___Butler said the football field was chosen as the site of the crusade because it was a more comfortable setting for some. "We were hoping to attract some folks who might not want to come into a church."
___Now, some of them are finding a pew isn't so uncomfortable either.
___
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