April 29, 2002
Nocona revival reaps 150 decisions
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___NOCONA--Pastor's secretary Charlotte Coats has heard a common refrain from older members of First Baptist Church of Nocona in recent days: "In all my years, I have never seen this."
___They're talking about a four-day revival in mid-April that resulted in 150 professions of faith in Christ. Eleven already have been baptized, and others are lining up, said Pastor Bryan Parks.
___Prior to the revival, the North Central Texas church averaged 200 in Sunday worship attendance.
___"It's so wonderful to see God move in a mighty way, and it hasn't stopped," Coats said. "God's really moved."
___Many children and youth made professions of faith, but adults also made decisions, the pastor said. And more conversions have occurred since the revival. Almost all the decisions have been first-time commitments by unchurched people.
___"I'm just overwhelmed," Parks said. "It just has to be from God. ... It's real hard for me to grasp still."
___Parks, 38, has spent almost 20 years in the ministry but has been at Nocona, located between Wichita Falls and Gainesville, a little less than two years. The foundation for the revival, he said, was built in a couple of ways, one before he came and one after.
___First, the church called C.A. Johnson as interim pastor. He had been trained as part of the Baptist General Convention of Texas intentional interim program.
___Second, last year the church started Houses of Prayer Everywhere, a neighborhood prayer effort also known as Lighthouses of Prayer. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is among various national and state organizations supporting the prayer movement.
___Prior to the intentional interim, First Baptist "had some problems," the pastor said. But Johnson "did marvelous work, taught them how to deal with problems, ... be united."
___"When I came, it was like a dream situation" because through the intentional interim process the church had "dealt with everything" that needed to be resolved before a new pastor came, Parks said. "That was really the road to where we are right now."
___For the prayer effort, the church blocked off the whole town into sections. Small groups meeting in homes used those specific sections to pray for their neighbors. Church members contacted neighbors to build relationships and to find out their needs. Then they prayed for those needs. Some of the groups still are meeting, while others have stopped.
___A men's prayer group started meeting at the local Dairy Queen each Monday morning, and other prayer teams formed.
___"Prayer became the real emphasis of the church at that time," Parks said.
___On the heels of the intentional interim and the prayer emphasis, "we've gone through some huge transitions in the last three months," the pastor said. "It's stretching everybody quite a ways."
___First Baptist has added a ceiling-mounted projection unit in the auditorium, redone the sound system, adopted a more contemporary worship format and called a new music and youth minister, Dave Woodbury.
___In the midst of the changes, there has been "an environment of unity where everybody's willing to change," Parks said.
___For the revival, the church specifically sought an evangelist who preached a "simple, plain gospel" message and had great "rapport with youth and children." They found that in Ronnie Hill, a full-time evangelist from Fort Worth. Woodbury led the music.
___Hill was allowed to present programs on drugs and alcohol in local schools. And the church provided big doses of food each weeknight of the Sunday-through-Wednesday effort to attract unchurched people.
___"Our church put a whole lot of money" into the revival, Parks said. "We spent quite a bit on pizza."
___Tuesday was "Steak Night," at which church members paid, but visitors didn't. Some businesses in town brought all their employees, and baseball teams brought their players. Two hundred adults came to eat steak. Children got hot dogs.
___During the four days of the revival meetings, the church recorded 152 decisions--two for rededication, 150 for salvation.
___"The flood gates opened," Parks said. "Once it started, it kept going."
___And it's still going.
___Since the revival, "people have been stopping me saying, 'I'm not sure I'm saved,'" Parks said. Those questions are coming from people who don't go to church anywhere.
___As a result, "people are getting saved still," he said.
___First Baptist has created 15 teams to visit, in the two weeks after the revival, all the people who made decisions.
___One night last week, Parks visited seven homes, and everyone was home despite all the springtime activities. "We started early, finished late," he said.
___The revival has changed the "whole attitude" of the church, the pastor said. "I think they thought revivals are antiquated, visitation is antiquated."
___Now the Baptists in Nocona believe otherwise.
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