SPRINGFIELD \u2013 South Haven Baptist Church, Springfield, accepted the challenge made at last year\u2019s annual meeting by Ronnie Floyd, former Southern Baptist Convention president, and it led to a spiritual revival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn his challenge,\u201d Ryan Palmer, South Haven Baptist Church, said, \u201cDr. Floyd asked churches to consider giving at least eleven minutes of their services on Sunday, Sept. 11 (9\/11), to pray for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to combine our two services to pray for Spiritual Awakening,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cOur one hour service turned into a two-and-a-half-hour exciting movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the South Haven staff saw what was happening among the congregation, they wanted to build on this moment. \u201cWe wanted to do a follow-up,\u201d Palmer said, \u201cto focus on the spiritual life of the congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer began to research the possibilities. \u201cWe wanted to do some type of revival that was different from the old-fashioned type, so I started reading through some of the materials that I got at the annual meeting last year. I discovered Life Action Ministries.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Palmer focused in on how Life Action Ministries works with churches, he discovered one of his staff members toured with them in the 90s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe liked their ministry because Life Action would focus on spiritual change in families and the church,\u201d he said. \u201cThey call people to authentic Christianity for lives to be transformed by the presence and power of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer described the four-day event, \u201cThey brought in a revivalist to speak,\u201d he said, \u201cas well as young people to lead a churchwide ministry. They worked with the children and young people of the church. It was truly a ministry across the congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe focus was to call our congregation back to the heart of God,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cWe wanted this to be a time of discipleship and to open our hearts to what God wanted us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The congregation didn\u2019t just wait for the team to arrive on the scene. \u201cFor 40 days,\u201d Palmer continued, \u201cwe prepared for the upcoming revival with prayer. In addition to prayer, we used a devotional series by Dr. Alvin Reid of Southeastern Seminary. We checked with him to see if we could adapt the series to use on our web site and Facebook page, for our congregation to use for daily devotions and prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to preparing their hearts individually, the congregation me corporately to pray. \u201cWe cancelled our Wednesday evening regular scheduled activities on the Wednesday before the revival,\u201d he said. \u201cThe prayer time was well attended and it did a lot to prepare our hearts for what was about to happen. This time was going to be focused on the believer coming back to the heart of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer explained that the impact of the revival was different from the measurement of other revivals. \u201cThe impact could be seen in marriages restored,\u201d he said, \u201cas well as the deep thirst for God and a quiet time in others. We\u2019ve also seen others stepping up to serve in a variety of ministries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer emphasized that this revival was a spiritual awakening to equip the congregation. \u201cIt was a revival,\u201d he said, \u201cto get back to what Jesus taught us on the Sermon on the Mount. He wants us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Haven Baptist Church, Springfield, accepted the challenge made at last year\u2019s annual meeting by Ronnie Floyd, former Southern Baptist Convention president, and it led to a spiritual revival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[177,41,17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n