Divine Appointment With Mr. Houchin - Revival Part 2

            Rayburn Houchin and his wife were long time members of FBC Seminole. He was retired but still hungered for God’s word. He was a key player in starting the television ministry the church enjoyed. He often would tell me, “Pastor, I bet your flock is bigger on a Sunday morning with more people watching the service than those in actual attendance.” I did not doubt him.

He and his wife never attended a single service in person during my ministry in Seminole. They stayed home and watched the services on television because of poor health. Yet they stayed connected to the church and to me as their pastor. I visited in their homes many times.

Periodically Mr. Houchin would drive to the office to see me. We would sit and visit about whatever he had on his mind. I will never forget one such visit. It serves as the backdrop of a miracle story and the catalyst for a mighty move of God.

I probably had only been serving FBC Seminole for a little over six months when he dropped by with a heavy burden. We sat down at a little mahogany round table. He wasted no time in getting to the point of his visit. “Pastor, I think we need to have a revival.”

My initial reaction was to think about who would preach the revival. I confess I did not hear what Mr. Houchin said next as I thought through a list of people I could invite. It was a short list and I did not feel inclined as Mr. Houchin did about hosting a revival meeting.

He got my attention again with two statements. “Pastor, I think you should preach the revival. And something else. I think you should schedule the revival for longer than four days like most revival meetings today.” Who does that anymore? Who schedules revival meetings to go on for ten days? Furthermore I had never heard of a pastor preaching a revival meeting in the church he served. That definitely would be out of the normal.

I assured Mr. Houchin I would pray about the matter diligently and see how the Lord might lead. What I really thought would happen is I would pray about the matter and forget the whole thing. I certainly had no inclination to preach a revival meeting in that church. That seemed like a ludicrous idea.

We prayed together about the matter and Mr. Houchin left. As I promised, I did pray over the matter diligently asking the Lord to reveal His will.

I am not sure how long after my meeting with Mr. Houchin it happened but, God did reveal His mind oand heart to me. One day while in prayer I remembered the  prophesy about a great revival coming to Seminole through FBC.  I sensed the Lord say, “I am going to bring a great revival to FBC Seminole. I am calling you to preach it. Schedule it to last for ten days but it will go on much longer.”

The whole encounter stunned me. I kept wondering if I had really heard from God. I doubted. I also wondered what the staff, deacons, and members would think if I shared this publicly. I kept the matter to myself for a couple of months. The longer I kept it all bottled up inside the greater the burden became and the more convinced I became it was what God wanted me to do.

On a Sunday night I took a huge step of faith and cast the vision for the revival in a sermon. Just to get it out in the open relieved my soul. I do not recall any great reaction one way or the other from the people that night. I spent several weeks preaching on revival and telling the stories of great revivals from the past in subsequent weeks to whet their appetite.

I am not sure when it happened. At some point those wonderful people bought in. They got behind the effort. They supported me. They believed, as I did, God called us to hold a revial meeting scheduled for ten days. We called it the “Shake The City Revival” using Acts 4:31 (ESV)
³¹  And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

That verse burned in me. All this took place in the early spring. On the recommendation of several people we asked Sherman and Tammy Aten to come lead worship for the revival services. I did not know the Atens personally. They were no strangers to the Seminole community. They had been on staff at a sister church a few years earlier and had been to FBC Seminole several times in music ministry.

Despite the unusualness of the circumstances surrounding the revival meeting they agreed to come. It must have been strange for them when I told them I would preach. The pastor preaching a revival meeting to the very flock he served did not fit the norm. Scheduling the meetings to last for ten consecutive nights. All out of the ordinary. All steps of faith for me and the Atens.

            Every time I was tempted to doubt the whole thing I would remember that prophesy about the great revival coming out of FBC. I became convinced God did indeed want to do that.

            I devoted that rest of the time before the first scheduled meeting to preparation personally and preparing the church corporately to receive. I met with men on Friday mornings for what we called the Mighty Men Of Prayer. 

            While writing this I have thought a lot about Mr. Houchin. He is no longer with us. He died a couple of years ago not long after his wife died. He told me repeatedly that he prayed God would let him outlive his wife so he could take care of her. God honored that prayer.

            I also think about how God led Mr. Houchin to come talk to me. I never thought about asking him how that came about until he was already gone. So I fill in some blanks.

            I like to think as Mr. Houchin studied the scriptures God put the burden on his hear to come talk to me about preaching a revival in our that church. I also like to think that he made that thought a matter of prayer before ever approaching me. I am convinced he had some encounter with God leading him to believe our church was supposed to hold revival meetings. I don’t know what his expectations for those meetings were. We never discussed it.

            To my knowledge Mr. Houchin had no knowledge of the prophesy about a revival coming to Seminole through the FBC. I am sure if he had known he would have said something to me about it.

            Come to think of it, nobody from FBC ever mentioned that prophesy to me. In Baptist churches people are not very open about such things and most  certainly would not discuss such openly. .

            What amazes me most is that, however God led Mr. Houchin to come talk to me, Mr. Houchin obeyed. How easy would it have been for him to dismiss the whole thing as a hair brained idea. He could have been distracted by his and his wife's poor health. They did not get out much though he could still drive around town. It took some measure of faith for him to come visit with me and share his burden.

            Heaven is filled with obscure people God used to do mighty things for His kingdom behind the scenes. We will never know their names or the extent of their impact on the kingdom of God this side of eternity. Such people do far more than we will ever know.

Mr. Houchin is such a person in my book. God used him to give birth to a television ministry reaching into three different towns. God used him to deliver a message to me that not only impacted my life but the lives of hundreds of people.

I shudder to think what might have happened if Mr. Houchin had not obeyed God in coming to share his burden with me.. I can tell you from my perspective I had my so many other things on my mind. Trying to shepherd a new flock, studying, preaching, and trying to get my arms around the ministry in that town took all my time and energy. Holding revival meetings was not on my radar in the least.

There is a lesson here for all of us. How many times does the Lord prompt people with direction, a new vision, a calling, an invitation, or a message for someone else? I am confident that happens more than we might admit. We are quick to dismiss such things for fear of looking foolish or being wrong.

We rationalize our way out of such God leadings. We second guess the leading and ourselves. Sometimes we flat out disobey, just like Jonah, because we do not want to do what God calls us to do. There are consequences for such disobedience.

As you read the rest o this story in future blogs I hope you will keep in mind none of it would have happened if first, God had not revealed His plans to Mr. Houchin. Secondly, I hope you will keep in mind Mr. Houchin was not a preacher or Bible teacher. He was a man who loved Jesus and sought Him. God chose him to play a role in His kingdom purposes. Finally, I hope you will keep in mind, just like God spoke and used Mr. Houchin, so can He  do the same thing to you and through you.

Stay tuned for the rest of this revival story to come.