It was another small town miracle — nothing unusual for evangelist Rick Gage and his GO TELL AMERICA team who conduct half a dozen evangelistic crusades in smaller communities each year.
But for Liberty, Texas — population 8,774 — GO TELL SETX was a once in a generation, community wide, interdenominational evangelistic outreach that enabled local churches to gather thousands at the local football stadium and see hundreds come to faith in Jesus Christ.
The four nights (April 13-16) at Liberty Memorial Stadium — added to a pre-crusade student rally held in a local church — drew a total of 5,000 people to hear the gospel. There were 723 decisions recorded, including 390 who trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord and 199 who rededicated their lives to Jesus.
“We had 500 at the student rally and 1,100 the first night of the crusade,” said David Williams, crusade chairman who is also director of missions for Trinity River Baptist Association which includes 42 Southern Baptist churches in and around Liberty. “Wednesday evening more than 2,000 people packed the stands. Can you imagine a bunch of churches filling up your local football stadium – not with just themselves, but with hundreds of lost people, too?”
Rick Gage and his GO TELL AMERICA ministry specialize in leading high impact evangelistic outreaches in rural and small town America. Working with local leadership, they use tested techniques and tools to craft a personalized event that will draw unsaved people so they can hear a clear presentation of the gospel.
“This is my calling, this is what drives me,” said Rick Gage, who has been characterized as “the small town Billy Graham.”
In Liberty, Texas?
From the beginning, the local leadership felt challenged and stretched by the very idea of putting together such a massive event.
“Could something like this happen in Liberty, Texas?” Williams said, remembering the doubts that he and others had at first. “Could we enlist churches across denominational lines to work together? Could we fill the local football stadium for four nights? Could we blanket our whole community with invitations? Could we enlist more than 500 volunteers? Could we get an assembly program into the local schools? Could we raise the money needed to bring in a high quality Christian band and a professional production company with their high tech equipment? Could we follow up on hundreds of people who would trust Jesus as Savior? No, of course we couldn’t do any of that. But we said yes anyway and God empowered us in a miraculous way to accomplish all that and more.”
GO TELL AMERICA didn’t just bring the event to town, Williams said. “Rick Gage and Chris Palmer, their executive director, led us each step of the way, showing us how to involve churches and organize, how to enlist and train volunteers, how to follow up on each decision made. Their experience of having done this for 38 years helped us to accomplish all that needed to be done. They got something out of us we didn’t know was there. From the very beginning they challenged us with big numbers we thought were impossible. But as we worked hard and trusted the Lord, even those ‘impossible’ numbers were surpassed.”
Williams said the miracle was not just what happened during the four-night outreach, but also what led up to it and what followed it.
“More than the thousands who came and the hundreds who were saved, the greater miracle was the uniting of Christians in dozens of churches to work together for the one purpose of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus to their whole community,” he said. “And being reminded that working together for the gospel is what we are supposed to be doing all the time.”
Army of volunteers
It was not just an associational event, Williams said, pointing out that 24 of his association’s churches were joined by 16 other churches from the community including non denominational, Methodist, Baptist, Assembly of God, and a cowboy church. Together they built an army of more than 500 volunteers who served in various areas such as prayer, youth, choir, ushers, counselors, outreach, publicity, and hospitality.
“It was a joy to see our church members work with other people from other churches to bring the gospel to the lost,” said Ken Davis, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Dayton. “For me personally, I enjoyed working with my fellow pastors. Before, they were friends; now, they are brothers.”
The Sunday after the event was Easter and the total attendance of partner churches on Easter was 60% higher than their normal attendance and 17% higher than on last Easter, Williams said. Together, they reported a total of 15 baptisms on Easter Sunday, along with 87 professions of faith, 51 rededications, and 30 other decisions made public. Several churches are scheduling baptisms for the following Sunday and beyond.
Grayburg Baptist Church in Sour Lake normally runs about 20 but had 45 present on Easter Sunday. Pastor Joseph Trost said that the church had “three youth rededications, one adult rededication, and two who gave their lives to the Lord for the first time. The adult rededication and one of the new converts are a father and son.”
Huge impact
Marvin Denison, pastor of Grace Community Baptist Church in Dayton, said, “This event had a huge impact on this pastor’s life. There has been a noticeable revival and renewal for my life,” he said, citing “a fresh new power and boldness to share Jesus.”
Omar Cantu, pastor of North Main Baptist Church in Liberty, said the impact on their church had been “incredible.” On Easter Sunday that church had 320 present, compared to 175 last Easter. “We had the privilege of baptizing nine new believers, with even more planning to follow in the coming weeks,” he said. “Even more amazing, 36 people came forward in response to the gospel.”
South Dayton Baptist Church averages 23 but had 36 attend on Easter. During the crusade, a deacon rededicated his life and two senior church members were saved — one baptized on Easter and the other scheduled to be baptized the following week.
Michael Dorsett of Cornerstone Church in Liberty said, “It was like a shot in the arm,” referring to the coordinated prayer and outreach that preceded the event. “It was a blessing to me personally to see all the pastors so energized and enthusiastic to work together for the common goal of advancing the Lord’s Kingdom,” he said. “If our pulpits are burning with passion to obey Christ, then our pews will be passionate, too.”
Freedom Church had 573 attend Easter Sunday worship, up 45% from last Easter. They had 63 decisions, including 25 professions of faith and 25 rededications. Pastor Jason Cowart said he is normally more focused on discipleship and development, but GO TELL SETX motivated him to be “exponentially more evangelistic than I’ve ever been in 25 years of being a pastor. I think the event gave me an understanding that there are so many people out there who are lost, and even many who think they are saved, but they haven’t really understood the simple gospel.” Now the church is following up, discipling those who trusted Christ.
Going ‘all in’
Tony Hines, pastor of Hardin Baptist Church, said his church members personally invited more than 250 people who made decisions during the crusade but were not attending another church. “We had over 50 new visitors and 12 decisions for joining our church,” he said. Their attendance of 220 was nearly double last year’s Easter attendance.
“If you want to see a miracle,” Williams said, “the people of Liberty, Texas, have some advice: go all in on a GO TELL AMERICA crusade in your community. When God opens the door for you to reach your community for Christ, go all in, no matter what the cost or how impossible it seems. All we did was say yes when God opened the door. And look what He did.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was released by the Trinity River Baptist Association, Liberty Texas.
