Washington Association brings revival to football fields

If you are suffering from ‘dry bones syndrome,’ you’re in the right place,” Fred Luter said as he stood in the middle of Leroy High School’s football field the evening of June 9. “The Spirit of God is in this stadium tonight.”
   
Luter, a New Orleans pastor who lost his church and home to Hurricane Katrina, spoke to the crowd gathered for the last service in a five-night series held in five football stadiums across Washington County. 
   
Throughout the week of June 5, four speakers preached messages of salvation and revival in Leroy, Millry, Chatom, McIntosh and Fruitdale.
   
According to Paul Kendrick, director of missions for Washington Baptist Association, these Gospel Revival Celebrations were the first in what promises to be more creative and unique forms of ministry to reach the lost and call God’s people to revival. 
   
In Luter’s words, they served as a way to call “dry bones” back to life.
   
“Many of us are like dead men walking,” he said, drawing his message from Ezekiel 37. “We’re dry spiritually. It’s been a long time since we had abundant life. Can these dry bones be brought to life? My answer is ‘Yes!’”
   
Although Luter’s message was directed, in part, toward Christians who had lost their spiritual fervor, the focus of the celebrations was to reach non-Christians who do not typically attend traditional church services.
   
“There are people who have a problem with going to church,” Kendrick said. “But they will come to a football stadium.”
   
He began planning for the stadium revivals while attending a conference with Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
   
“He (Gilbreath) offered a one-day conference on the possibilities involved in Intentional Evangelism,” Kendrick said. 
   
“The emphasis was on imagination — how could you share the gospel in ways that you have not tried before?” he explained. “The Lord laid on my heart that day to use the five stadiums in the county to have a huge revival, to get out to where the people are, where they are more comfortable in assembling.”
   
He encouraged churches to make use of these events by bringing in people who needed to hear the gospel, as well as emphasizing them as a church revival for their members.
   
Gilbreath was the guest speaker for the first event June 5, held at Millry High School. He said it was a Spirit-filled event that drew people from all walks of life.
   
His message made reference to the fact that everyone came together through a common bond — Jesus Christ. “With everyone I talked to (afterward), there was a sense of expectancy, a sense that something positive was going to happen through this,” he said.
   
Gilbreath predicted Washington Association’s innovative outreach event will become a model for others throughout the state when planning their own  events.
   
And in Washington Association, ideas for next year are already taking shape.
   
“We are already dealing with the idea for next year to have meetings on five Tuesday nights in a row,” Kendrick said. “We want to use school auditoriums and bring in different speakers for each event. We are thinking of calling it Thee Revival Tuesdays.”
   
But no matter what the event is called or where it is held, he emphasized that the goal is for each person to have a genuine experience with Jesus Christ.