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Morehead Church, Campus Ministry Experience Revival
10/08/2009
Crosspoint Church hosted a baptism event at a local swimming pool for those saved during the church's "Awakening" series in September. Click here to download this photo.
When Pastor Daniel Lucas asked members of Crosspoint Church to pray and fast for three weeks so many people would accept Jesus as their personal Savior, several people had their doubts.
“The crazy thing about it is, I put the challenge out that I would like to see 100 people saved in three weeks,” Lucas said. “But we saw 101 people saved on the first Sunday.”
During the three-Sunday “Awakening” effort, 144 people make professions of faith in Jesus, he said. But that’s not all. “Nobody talks about this, but we had a pre-awakening because 23 people were saved in the three weeks prior.”
And the Sunday after the emphasis, six more people made professions of faith, resulting in a total of 173 new Christians in seven weeks. Lucas said those seven weeks outpaced the church’s first 18 months, when he estimates 130 people became Christians through the church’s ministry.
Lucas said he sensed the fall would be a time for spiritual awakening. “Deep down inside my spirit, I sensed it was a harvest time for us.”
The week before Labor Day, Lucas introduced a simple outline for members to follow.
- Identify three people whom they knew to be “far from God.”
- Pray for those people. Church staff also prayed for those who were identified, Lucas said, noting that 1,000 names were turned in.
- Read a chapter each day from John. “There are 21 chapters, 21 days,” Lucas said, adding that all three “Awakening” sermons were based on the book of John.
- Invite those three people to visit Crosspoint during the emphasis, Sept. 13, 20 and 27.
- Fast for 21 days, starting one week before the three-Sunday emphasis. “You don’t fast to get something from God. You fast to get yourself positioned to hear from God,” Lucas said. “Fasting lines you up with God. … If you’re heart’s pure, if you’re heart’s right, you can ask anything from God.”
Not all fasts are from food, he added.
“We never got specific,” he said, noting that anyone choosing a food fast was encouraged to consult their physician before starting. “It was just, ‘Your call, your decision, but give up something that you do daily that you think you have to have.’”
Members soon saw results when 66 adults made professions of faith during the first Sunday services and 35 students became Christians that evening during a special youth program.
All of this comes without the benefit of a permanent church building. The congregation meets at the Morehead Conference Center on Sundays at 10 and 11:30 a.m.
“We are a portable church,” Lucas explained, noting that 75-100 volunteers arrive each Sunday as early as 6:30 a.m. to set up speakers, welcome tables and other equipment. “And then we break everything back down and put it back in a box.”
The 20-month-old church is a high-impact start, meaning organizers got help from the Kentucky Baptist Convention to launch a congregation that would be focused on reaching the unchurched.
Lucas said members have apologized for being skeptical. Many are excited to see such spiritual revival, he said. “It really increased their faith to see God move like that.”
Crosspoint’s example also influenced the Baptist Campus Ministry at Morehead State University, according to Campus Minister Gene Parr. BCM leadership recently decided to fast, he said.
“During this past week we had three students pray to receive Christ in our BCM,” Parr said. “These are agnostic or atheist students that our students have been investing in since the beginning of school.”
The student leaders voted to extend their fast through the first two weeks of October, he added. “I just feel like God is doing something special in Morehead, Kentucky,” Parr said. “I’m seeing it in other churches as well.”
While many people would characterize Crosspoint as a contemporary congregation, Lucas stressed that the style of worship was not the reason for their recent results.
“We’re not really that much different from most Sunday churches. I still preach from the same Bible,” he said.
The difference, he said was that leadership and members tweaked the services to emphasize evangelism.
“It’s just the simplicity of the gospel,” he said. “A lot of times we make it out to be something else. Through this thing, God has shown me to just preach the gospel, preach Jesus, just preach truth and give people a chance to respond.”
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
