Church as a kid: Revival1
Posted In Church as a kid
Ah revival. The time of year that you go to church on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. As a kid this was a death sentence. “Every night!? Really??”
As a pastor this had to be a humbling time. If you are reviving something that means it was close to death. So you hire someone to come in and revive it. Or as I saw it as a kid, scare the crap out of everyone.
The evangelist would get up and go easy on us Sunday night. There wasn’t a “theme” attached to that night so he had to save his good stuff. There would be themes such as “College Night” or “Friend Night”, but the best one was “Youth Night.”
Give the kids free pizza and pie some leaders in the face and then death march them one by one from the fellowship hall to the auditorium. The church I went to would actually put up rope fences and have adults watch you as you walk to prevent any sneaky youths from ripping them off for free pizza.
The message that night was always, and I mean always, “The Wheat and the Tares.” I used to think in evangelist school that was your final exam sermon. “Bro. Samuel, work on the “Tare” part of your sermon and try again next week.” That was the scariest sermon ever. You made sure you invited the meanest kids you knew.
The only thing longer than the sermon at revivals were the invitations. After the wheat and tare sermon, the walls would be lined with people getting saved. One of my friends would get saved every night of the revival. “Dude, you got saved last night!” “I know, but I just felt like I had to nail it down.”
I have fond memories of revivals though. I would get to see the hottest girl in our youth group every night that week as she didn’t go to my school. And in the end, life change did happen for a lot of people and that’s what it’s all about… that and the free pizza.
I've always had a problem with a church holding a "revival." The way I always read the Bible, revival only comes from an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When did man get into the position of power they can tell God "OK, listen, we need you to pour out a lot between 7 and 9 July 1, 2 and 3. Especially around 8:45 because that's when we'll take the special offering"?