Life After The Revival

A little over two weeks have passed since the revival meetings ended. In that time I have been busy with the duties of a pastor: hospital visitation, preaching, counseling, calendar planning, funerals and giving leadership. There has not been a great deal of down time.

The first night after the revival though, I got on the floor with three of my boys, Tanner, Tucker, and Turner and wrestled with them. Taylor was too scared to get out of his chair. We laughed as we rolled around on the floor scrapping. I tickled them until they could not breathe. They repeatedly jumped on my back, rolled on my head, and squirmed their way out of my grasp. I enjoyed that time immensely. During the weeks of the revival the boys got very little of my attention. God blessed me with that time with them wrestling on the floor.

The Wednesday night after the meetings our adult Bible study tripled in attendance. The numbers have remained up into the second week. This is in addition to our normal children’s and student ministry activities on Wednesday nights.

We are looking forward to a great Fall of reaching out to our community. There is still so much work to be done. So many people carry burdens, so many walk in spiritual darkness, and Jesus continues to be the light of the world. There is little time for sitting on our laurels. The kingdom must still be advanced forcefully.

I am weary. The revival took a great deal out of me physically, spiritually, and emotionally but there is no time to sleep life away. The work goes on. That is the primary reason why there have been no blogs. I could not motivate myself to sit down and expend the energy to write one. I am sleeping a little later these days and enjoying breakfast alone often with the Lord. My pace is a slower and more measured. I know I have to pace myself in order to persevere into the busy Fall ministry schedule.

In the end I have come to a conclusion. Many of you know about a prophesy here in Seminole that a mighty revival would come to First Baptist. The three glorious weeks we spent with God were wonderful. After reflecting and praying over these past two weeks I am convinced we did not experience the fulfillment of that prophesy. In other words, God has much more He desires to do in this church and in this community. Now instead of doing the work of revival preaching behind the pulpit my role is to be an intercessor to plead with God to send more of His Spirit here in Gaines County. The preaching role was public. Now the Lord is hiding me behind the scenes to continue laboring for revival but now in the prayer closet.

I have plans to write a book about those three glorious weeks. At the end of the book I will include the 40 Days to Shake the City devotional. I am not replenished enough to start that project yet but hope to do so before the month of September ends. For those who prayed for me during the revival I need continued prayer to be replenished for the labor still ahead of me. Thank you for those who will continue to hold this preacher before the throne of grace.

I do not know what the Lord will do next but I do know He is not finished. So we labor on in Seminole. We continue to take our post as watchmen and watchwomen on the walls of Gaines County. We continue to invite people to come. We continue to witness. We continue to worship and get in the word. We continue to broadcast our services in the homes of people. There is life after the revival. It is good and God’s kingdom continues to expand.