Other Revival Meetings

August 5, 2021 (Thursday)

Yesterday’s blog was on the subject of Youth Revivals.

Today the subject is “Other Revival Meetings,” and is about the revival meetings in Rockport, conducted by the First Baptist Church until time caught up with us and methods of evangelism changed.

Whenever it seemed right, the church invited vocational evangelists to lead the special meetings, usually a week long each time. I remember other churches and other schedules such as weekend revivals, ten day meetings, two-week revival meetings, etc. I recall working in one church three weeks: two weeks of Vacation Bible School and a week of revival with a guest preacher, Howard Smith, who had been born and raised in that rural community. (Howard later became a pastor in Dallas and San Antonio). Nineteen people were saved and baptized that week. I led the singing. We met in an open tabernacle which was a permanent structure next door to the church.

On two occasions in Rockport, we met in a big rented tent, the first time on a vacant lot where the Wells Fargo Bank stands now. Rudy Hernandez was the preacher. The next time the tent was raised on the spot where Rockport festivals are held these days. Larry Taylor was the evangelist. That meeting was held with joint sponsorship of several churches, and people visited from other cities. When it was over, 345 people had made professions of faith. Larry Taylor, a vocational evangelist, had preached in a revival meeting in 1967 at the church, and 97 people were saved. I baptized 47 people in one baptism service on the closing night of that meeting at the church.

After the trend of Winter Texans filling the church had been established, the church identified the last Sunday in January and the first Sunday in February as peak attendance days and from then on that week was reserved for the revival meeting each year. At first, we invited pastors I knew personally to lead the meetings. Later, we sometimes invited vocational evangelists like Dan Vestal as well as well-known pastors like Buckner Fanning and Perry F. Webb. We also invited vocational musicians like Billy Foote, Fritz and Shirley Smith, Marion Warren, singing pastors like Mel Hardin, and others. One of the last visiting preachers was Bailey Stone, Director of Evangelism for Texas Baptists, who qualified as pastor, evangelist, and Baptist leader and who was a friend of mine since our high school days in Houston. One vocational evangelist, James Ponder, was a college friend who became Director of Evangelism for Florida Baptists. Some of these people have gone home to be with the Lord. There are many folks I’ve known well as coworkers in evangelism but trying to remember their names can be frustrating.

Time marches on, a culture changes, and churches adjust to whatever must be done to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Revival meetings like the ones of old are events of the past, but churches continue to invite new generations to follow Christ, using methods suitable for the times in which we live.