Since our revival was just a couple weeks ago, it seemed
appropriate to post a little about the revivals we've had at Summit.
Revivals are a tradition here, one of the things you can count on every
fall. There is always music and a message to take out into the world.
The only time I can ever remember our church not having a revival is the
year in which we were recovering from the fire. Now that we've been
blessed with a new building, we're once again sharing God's Word and
reaching out to the community with our beloved fall event.
I asked a few people at church about their memories of Revival here.Velma, a longtime member, said, "Back when Brother Whitaker was here, he baptized me and Julia and Wanda. We had good attendance back then. Fifty or sixty [people]."
And Joe, a leader of our church, said, "Most of us remember the one in 1957. There were twenty or so people who joined. That's definitely the mot people who ever joined at once. That was definitely our best year."
The Great Revival of 1957 is almost a legend in our church. That year, the same year our first brick building was built, more souls found Christ than ever before or since. Many of the people at our church, like Velma and Joe, remember it well. And some of us, like myself, can only imagine what it must have been like.
I've seen some beautiful revivals here. I remember, vividly, standing on the front porch of the old church in the dark and watching the light from inside the church shine through the stained glass windows. It was, and is, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. A church becomes different after dark, and people become different during Revival. There's a different spirit in the air. The fall of the year brings changes in the world, changes in the colors of the leaves and the temperature of the air, and I think the changes in nature inspire changes in ourselves as well. We see Revival as a time of harvest, to share everything that we have grown over the course of the year and gather in the souls that are waiting to see the Holy Spirit move.
I've seen many revivals, and I've heard many preachers, everyone from evangelists to college basketball stars. I've heard barbershop quartets and gospel bluegrass bands. I've heard the people at our church sing hymns from the Cokesbury hymnal, songs like 'Revive Us Again' and 'When We All Get To Heaven.' And all I can think of when I hear these songs is what it will be like to someday to go to heaven and see all the people that I've lost and the people I never got to know, all the souls who sang the same songs at the Great Revival of 1957.
But until I go there (hopefully, when I go there with you), all I can do is talk to people about their Revival memories.
What Revival memories would you like to share?
While searching for pictures of our church, we came across this photo of our church's choir in our old church building. If anyone has any information on who some of the people pictured are, please let us know. We love to document our church's history!
