When Brett Burnett, athletic director and head football coach for Pelham High School, told Donnie Sisk, student pastor of First Baptist Church, Pelham, that God told him there needed to be a revival and it needed to happen in 12 days, Sisk said it took faith.
That was in September and The Awakening 2010 did take place in 12 days, just as Burnett said, Oct. 5–7 at the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Pelham.
But when Burnett approached Sisk a second time saying God had told him there needed to be a follow-up Awakening, Sisk said he had more doubts than the first time.
“This one probably took more faith than the first one,” he said. “There was a great ‘what if’ — what if we do this and no one comes — and the whole issue of faith, faith to say, [‘I believe you,’] when coach Burnett said, ‘God told me to do this.’”
Sisk was not alone in his skepticism at first. The first Awakening had been such “a God thing” with more than 11,000 attendees and more than 350 faith decisions. Everything had fallen into place perfectly from the venue being donated to securing speakers Rick Burgess, Scott Dawson and David Nasser on short notice to area church members volunteering. So some wondered if it was too good of a thing to try to repeat, not to mention just a month later.
“You don’t do things this way,” Sisk said. “You don’t try to follow [The Awakening] two or three weeks later. But through the whole process, God intervened, and He took care of things we weren’t sure if we could take care of.”
And sure enough, The Awakening Continues took place at the Verizon Wireless Music Center Nov. 9–12, with four speakers on the program.
Although the center could not be donated like last time, it proved to be Sisk’s only expense. Everything else was donated and once again, many church members turned out to help.
Even though the numbers were not as large as those for the first revival, there were still 7,200 who attended — more people than First, Pelham, has in its three Sunday services combined, Sisk noted.
But one of the most exciting things about the second revival was the number of decisions for full-time ministry. Eighteen students surrended to the ministry in one night.
“This [Awakening] was completely different as far as the feel,” Sisk said. “This one seemed more discipleship-oriented.”
Nasser’s son surrendered to the ministry during the first Awakening, and Dawson’s son did the same during The Awakening Continues.
“On the calendar, [The Awakening] is over, but [revival] is still happening,” said Sisk, noting a Bessemer City Schools chaplain held The Awakening Bessemer Nov. 15–16 at the Bessemer Civic Center. “We hear about people wanting to do Awakenings in [other cities]. I don’t think God is finished with this move.”
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