Revival Team Reunion

I met Sherman and Tammy Aten the eve before the Shake The City revival in Seminole, TX. They came highly recommended. Many in the church already knew them as they had ministered through song there before. I am sure I did not come across as overly friendly. God had me so focused on preaching that revival and what He wanted to do I walked around in a daze for weeks. My days were spent in prayer, message preparation, preaching and capturing those moments in my blog that can be found at www.nocompromisefbc.blogspot.com. Just scroll through to August of 2010 and you will find them.

We had home prayer meetings. I met with a group of men called "The Mighty Men of Prayer" early on Friday mornings. I devoted a lot of time to personally praying for that revival. The week prior to the meetings beginning we signed up to read through the entire Bible starting the first revival service with the reading of the last chapter of Revelation. We even feasted in preparation.

Expectations were high at FBC Seminole. Looking back I do not think they were high enough. Those meetings lasted for 23 straight days. God revived His church. 36 people were saved and baptized. My family befriended the Atens during those days. Holy days. Special days.

The Atens are in full time traveling ministry. I am just a pastor. A pastor called to preach a revival in his own congregation. Unusual. The Atens rolled with it. God honored it.

We have ministered together on two other occasions. A revival meeting I preached at Spring Creek about three years ago and at another Shake the City Revival in Kermit, TX under a tent in the blistering summer west Texas sun. Neither of those meetings had the same impact as our late summer of 2010 in Seminole,

This past Sunday God reunited the revival team. Damon, our worship minister, was on vacation and he invited the Atens to come and fill in for him. They were anointed. God moved powerfully. Especially in the morning service.

Sherman told me they were headed to the Ukraine on Sept 9th. That weighed on me throughout the afternoon. During the worship time that evening I felt an old familiar feeling. Like I needed to change the message and direction of the service. I followed what I sensed was God's leadership preaching from John 3:16 and Matt 28:19-20. I concluded with interviewing Sherman about their upcoming trip. This will be their fourth trip to Ukraine. On one of those trips they saw 600 people saved. Yes. You read that right. 600! I asked how we could pray for them. We circled around to lift them before the Lord. I also challenged people to seek God whether they should give financially to help them go.

These Spring Creek people are wonderful. They prayed. They listened. They dug deep and gave the Atens $1,000 for their trip.

The revival team reunion brought back many wonderful memories. I hope the Lord will allow us to do it again in the future. The Edwards love the Atens and are big fans.