“This was one of the best experiences of my life,” Alyx posted on the website for The Awakening 2010, a student revival held Oct. 5–7 in Pelham.
“All of my friends were saved. I made a recommitment and my life has changed so much. I’m fired up.”
That’s what Donnie Sisk, student pastor of First Baptist Church, Pelham, and others involved in laying the foundation for the revival had been praying for — an awakening among Christians and non-Christians.
Ironically providing 14,000 students and others of all ages from all over the state the opportunity to be obedient to God grew out of one man’s initial disobedience.
God told Brett Burnett, athletic director and head football coach for Pelham High School and a member of Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, to tell Sisk, chaplain for the football team, that there needed to be a revival for students because they need a relationship with Christ.
But Burnett didn’t tell him before football season as God instructed.
He told him halfway through the season, which didn’t leave much time for planning because God wanted the revival to happen in 12 days.
“The heart of all this is obedience. Everything just fell into place,” Sisk said.
First he and Burnett tackled the task of lining up speakers. Their short list consisted of Birmingham-area Christian speakers David Nasser, Rick Burgess and Scott Dawson. All three agreed and each one said he was available only one particular night that week — the night Sisk and Burnett had penciled him in.
“I think the thing that struck me the most about this event is that there was no attempt to be ‘seeker’ friendly or relational to the youth of the surrounding communities; it was just the gospel,” Burgess said.
Next on the to-do list was to find a venue. Burnett and Sisk kicked around several possibilities and agreed it needed to be big. Burnett met with Pelham’s mayor to ask about using the Pelham Civic Complex, but it had already been converted to an ice rink for hockey season. The mayor offered its banquet hall, which had standing room for 1,000. After conferring with Sisk, Burnett asked for something bigger — the Verizon Wireless Music Center — and got it.
Then worship leaders had to be recruited. Burnett thought they needed a big-name band. But there were none to be found.
“I think I wanted big-name bands, but I think we just need to have worship. … It just needs to be about Christ,” he told Sisk.
So Sisk called Elevate and the band members worked out their schedules so they could be a part of the event on the first night. Kevin Derryberry, worship leader for Westwood Baptist, and the church’s praise team led worship the second night, and saul2paul changed their schedule so they could perform on the final night.
Rounding up a sound system proved to be the toughest challenge.
While Sisk’s best friend owns a sound company in Tennessee, he couldn’t help. But God provided another company that happened to be next door in Irondale. The company happened to have a truck coming back into the area from a festival Oct. 4 and offered all the equipment loaded on it for use at the revival.
First, Pelham, pitched in where it could with everyone taking on a job. For example, the ministry assistants copied posters and made badges for counselors and the youth ministry’s videographer prepared the PowerPoint presentation.
Other churches stepped up to support the event, too. About 10 churches — including First, Pelham; Westwood; and Community Baptist Church, Maylene — canceled their Wednesday night services so their members could attend the revival. And members of a number of area churches volunteered to serve as counselors.
While things didn’t go perfectly during the event (the saul2paul band was late due to traffic Oct. 7), God used it to draw people to Christ.
Nearly 1,000 decisions were made. More than a third were first-time salvation decisions. Nearly 400 more were rededications. More than 100 people indicated they wanted salvation assurance. The rest turned in a card marked “other” or left blank.
Now these awakened people need to “get out of bed,” Sisk said, referencing The Awakening’s next step.
“Growth isn’t going to happen in big events but in one-on-one (times),” he pointed out.
So the names of everyone who made a decision are being passed on to churches of all denominations for discipleship.
“Our prayer is that The Awakening wasn’t just for a lot of decisions but that it would (awaken) what the churches … should be,” Sisk said.
He said the unchurched who attended the event told him, “The Church is broken.”
Sisk disagreed.
While he acknowledged that “the Church may have a flat tire,” he said the real problem is “we’ve forgotten just how important discipleship is.”
“I think sometimes we get so excited about the salvation process that we forget it’s a process,” Sisk said.
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