Jasper, Alabama, churches hold five-night tent revival with 17 baptisms

A tent meeting in Jasper, Alabama, drew an average of 1,130 people across three tents over five nights in a mall parking lot in the west Alabama town of 15,000, according to The Christian Chronicle. Members of Churches of Christ and other denominations, along with unchurched neighbors, sang a cappella together and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. On the final night, 1,065 people gathered to hear a gospel message.

The Walker County Campaign for Christ, led by Brandon Glover, a member of Liberty Church of Christ, put on the event with 25 Churches of Christ. Glover estimated the cost at about $14 per person per night, or $81,000 in total. The source reports 17 baptisms, 20 responses of confession or prayer, numerous Bible studies and a spirit of unity, evangelism and renewal among the outcomes.

Local businesses reduced the cost. The Jasper Mall manager offered the use of its parking lot at no charge, and the Rural King farm supply provided a cattle trough for baptisms. Restaurants, including Domino’s, Jack’s, Zaxby’s and Blackwater BBQ, which Glover owns, helped supply food at reduced prices. The cooperation among the churches and local businesses was a shared effort, a lesson in working together in unity (Psalm 133:1).

Roy Williams, minister for the Sixth Avenue Church of Christ, which hosted several planning meetings, said the event was worth the cost even with a single response. “If we’d only had one response, it was well worth it,” Williams said. “But I think it was worth it anyway … in relation to the building up of the church in our area.”

Glover told the Chronicle that the approach reaches people in a different way. “We can all come together,” he said. “We can show them love, and we can teach, and they can see what this service looks like. And then we’ve got a chance to teach them further. It’s just a different technique, and it’s not for everybody. But it’s been really effective here.”

The meeting grew out of a long-held wish. For years, Glover had hoped to hold a revival in honor of Max Barker, a longtime elder of Blackwater Macedonia Church of Christ, about 18 miles northwest of Jasper, where Glover had previously worshiped. Barker died in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The two men had talked about tent meetings they had known, and Glover, 52, recalled a large red-and-white tent from when he was 4 years old.

Glover had already begun an annual gospel meeting in his fabrication shop, where he works in industrial construction and also runs a cattle farm. That gathering drew about 200 people and extended weekly Bible studies he and his family, including his wife, Erin, and their five children, had hosted in their home, which had grown to 50 or 60 attendees. “People didn’t want to go to church, but they still want to study the Bible,” Glover said. “And I’m like, man, we’ve got to get out of the building. We’ve got to go where the souls are.”

The tent meeting came together over time. A friend, Wayne Thomas, found the location. Through Evangelism University, Glover met Matt Miller, preacher for the Alvaton Church of Christ in Kentucky, whom Glover considered a good fit as a speaker.

Source: Read the original report