November 19, 2001

Wheeler County revival brings 400 professions of faith, many baptisms
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___WHEELER--Spiritual questions have stoked revival fires in Wheeler County.
___Six hundred forty-eight people made spiritual decisions--almost 400 of them professions of faith in Jesus Christ--during a countywide crusade this fall.
___The results are evident in area churches, reported Pastor Jack Lee of First Baptist Church in Shamrock.
___"We've had more baptisms in the last month than we did all of last year," he said.
___"It's made the biggest impact of anything in the five years I've been here," added Toby Henson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wheeler. His congregation baptized nine people during October, about the same number as it baptized in all of 2000.
___The terrorism of Sept. 11 left many Wheeler County residents with spiritual questions, Lee said. They brought those questions to the crusade, which began less than two weeks later.
___"I really think the crusade was a God-scheduled thing," he stressed.
___Consequently, 2,000 of the county's 5,000 residents attended the final night of the crusade, led by evangelist Rick Gage.
___Fourteen churches from various denominations worked six months to bring the crusade to the eastern Panhandle county. That kind of cooperation bodes well for the future, Henson said.
___"It brought a real spirit of unity among the churches here," he explained.
___All those churches are needed to follow up on the large number of people who made decisions. Wheeler, with a population of about 1,600, and Shamrock, population 2,200, are the largest communities in the county. Many people who made spiritual decisions during the crusade live in the more rural areas, and miles are being put on vehicles in the follow-up effort.
___"That's OK," Lee said. "People out here are used to driving. And if it means getting to follow up on these types of decisions, we don't mind a bit."
___He is glad he's not responsible for doing it all on his own, however.
___"If we hadn't had 22 people in our church sign up to do follow-up, it would have been hard. One or two people couldn't have gotten it done," he said.
___The decisions many made to rededicate their lives to Christ have had an energizing effect on the church, Henson noted.
___"Through the rededications, we've seen a renewed commitment and a desire for deeper discipleship," he said. "To a certain degree, that's opened the eyes of our members to evangelism and the need for it."

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