Dr. Ray Pritchard Christian Blog and Commentary

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Last-Minute Revival

  • Dr. Ray Pritchard
    Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More
  • Updated Aug 16, 2006

On Saturday I got a call from the pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Tupelo. Although I have never met him in person, Paul Brashier and I exchanged emails last spring when he invited me to speak for him. We never found a date that worked until now. It happened that Parkway had scheduled revival services on August 19-20 with Fred Wolfe, a well-known and highly respected leader among the Southern Baptists. Because his wife has been ill recently, Fred had to cancel all his meetings for the next several months, including the meetings at Parkway this weekend. Paul called to ask if there was any chance that I could speak at the services. This is the only free weekend I have until mid-October, so believing this was God's leading, I said I would be honored to speak at the revival services.

When someone asked me last night for the service times, I realized I had no idea. Just now I found this page with all the details. The Internet is wonderful, isn't it? It all begins this Saturday night at 6 PM with a hamburger meal in the gym. The service, with a Pack-A-Pew theme, starts at 7 PM. The Sunday morning service starts at 11 AM, with another meal in the gym at 6 PM followed by the closing service at 7 PM.

Even though we are calling this the "Summer Harvest Revival," I know that true revival comes from the Lord alone. As the old hymn puts it, "All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down." After I went to bed last night, I prayed that would prepare my own heart. I can hardly preach to anyone else unless my own heart is fully open to the Lord.

If you are in the area, or anywhere close to the area this weekend, join us at Parkway Baptist Church for good food, good fellowship, great music and the preaching of God's Word. I'm excited already. If you can't come, you can still help by praying for me this week that my heart will be fully prepared.

You can reach the author at  ray@keepbelieving.com. Click  here to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.