Hueytown Revival involves several churches, ‘energizes’ them to win community for Christ

For five nights in February, more than a dozen churches in the Hueytown area became one in revival.

Rick Patrick, senior pastor of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Hueytown — where the Hueytown Revival was held Feb. 25–29 — described it as a coming together of the body of Christ and the blending together of a community worshiping Jesus.

“There was a sense of us all being on one team,” Patrick said. “We were one church united in our community to glorify God during that time.”

Each night, members from Baptist churches that included Hueytown; Vineland Park; Valley Creek; River Road; Garywood; Industrial City; Crossroad; North Highlands; First, Pleasant Grove; Union Hill; and First, Sylvan Springs, along with Hueytown Church of Christ and Hueytown First United Methodist Church, joined with those from Pleasant Ridge Baptist for worship incorporating combined choirs from the different congregations and nationally known speakers.

Speakers for the revival were:
– Monday: Robert Smith, professor of Christian preaching at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham;
– Tuesday: John Croyle, founder and executive director of Big Oak Ranch in Springville;
– Wednesday: Evangelist Scott Dawson;
– Thursday: Kevin Hamm, senior pastor of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church; and
– Friday: Evangelist Junior Hill.

“When you worship side by side, minister at an altar call side by side and have a mass choir with several different churches singing the same songs in the same place, it breaks down the barriers that separate us,” Patrick said.

Jerry Watts, senior pastor of Hueytown Baptist, estimated attendance averaged 800 each night, a total almost double that of attendance for the first community revival in 2007.

Watts said the effort provided an opportunity to share Christ without leaving those attending with the impression they had to affiliate with a particular denomination.

“It was not about joining the church,” he said. “It was about getting your life right and getting saved.”

Watts believes the combined revival was not only a good witness to the Hueytown community but it also energized the churches to become more passionate about reaching the lost in their area. (TAB)