The Morgan Baptist Association recently made overtures to the fastest growing segment of America’s population- senior adults- with a senior adult revival that resulted in 35 professions of faith.
For three days, the auditorium of Central Baptist Church, Decatur, was filled with 600-700 senior adults every day. Several hundred in the racially mixed group made some kind of decision.
“I had no idea we would have the spiritual response we had, even though we did a lot of praying,” said Ronnie Owens, church administrator and senior adult minister at Central.
Owens said 29 churches participated in the revival, which featured Phil Waldrep, who frequently leads senior adult conferences Russell Newport from Missouri led the music.
Owens said the importance of a revival targeting senior adults cannot be overstated.
“I have a real sense of urgency about seniors,” he said. “Not just to feed them and travel with them, but to try to have a spiritual impact on their lives.”
Practical sermons
While Waldrep’s words “were not especially evangelistic,” Owens said they were meaningful for older adults. “Phil’s sermon topics were outstanding,” Owens said. “They were very practical. Although all of the sermons had the salvation message in them, they were really discipling kinds of sermons.”
Waldrep said he strived to specifically address senior adults. “You cannot approach them as if you have all the answers,” Waldrep said. “You have to give them practical help.
“They will listen to you when they realize that what you say makes sense,” he added. “It helps to spend a lot of time listening and address what they’re thinking and feeling.”
Waldrep said people often make the mistake of assuming older adults are already saved. “I asked one lady why she hadn’t been saved before now, and she said nobody had (ever) asked her,” Waldrep said.
“Senior adults are often embarrassed that all their peers have made decisions already,” Waldrep said. “We must remove the stigma, applaud their decision and let them know there is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Owens said senior adult revivals look different from other revivals, comparing them to the type he said churches had in the 1950s.
“There weren’t any choruses. We had a mass choir each day,” he said, noting there also was a preservice concert and a quartet each morning during the revival.
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