SENECA – Five churches in the Shoal Creek Baptist Association partnered together to put on a week of revival services in their area during the last week of September.
The churches included First Baptist Church, Seneca; Swars Prairie Baptist Church, Seneca; Bethany Baptist Church, Neosho; Belfast Baptist, Neosho, and Patterson Heights Baptist Church, Anderson.
Throughout the week, five evangelists connected with the Missouri Baptist evangelists’ fellowship rotated from church to church to preach. By the end of the week, each evangelist had preached at each church one time. Evangelists included Jerry Francisco, Jimmy Harriss, Jim McNiel, James Ogan and Mike Quinn.
“A year ago, we tried this,” said Jeral Burnside, pastor of Swars Prairie Baptist Church, Seneca. “We had five churches that went together, and it worked really well. And this year, we did it again.”
Burnside and other participants in the revival services said that, through their cooperation, smaller congregations especially were able to invite gifted evangelists to preach without feeling pressure about the costs involved.
“It was very successful,” Burnside added. “The spirit was good. The evangelists felt like it was really good, even for them. I know it was good for the churches. … We saw the gospel spread in our area.”
Alan Brock, director of missions for the Shoal Creek Association, said the event exemplified a spirit among the churches not of competition, but of unity in ministry.
“Our mission statement for Shoal Creek is ‘connecting Christ’s church for Christ’s mission,’” he said. “So that really helped us live out our mission statement.”
Brock said at least three were saved during the revivals. One woman who professed faith in Christ during a service he was at was 80 years old. The five evangelists, he added, preached to a couple dozen people as if they were preaching to thousands.
Four other churches from the association helped with the revival services by providing meals for the evangelists. Mike Quinn, a staff evangelist at Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City, enjoyed preaching at the revival and said the opportunity to meet with other evangelists during meal times was a blessing.