Pastor's Letters
If you are a pastor and have experienced a Renewal Weekend, please send a letter to crj@namb.net.
October 10, 2009
Dear Lay Renewal Team Members,
Honesty, openness, transparency, rededication, excitement, brokenness, surrender, motivation, commitment, direction, “resurrection”, are just a few of the words that can describe what God has done and is still doing through His recent Lay Renewal Weekend here at Grace Baptist Church in Bethpage, Tennessee!
We have a “new” church!
First of all may I state my profound thankfulness to our Lord and Savior for allowing me to be a part of the Lay Renewal Weekend, October 1-4 at Grace Baptist Church, Bethpage, Tennessee?!
To God be the glory, great things He hath done (and is still doing!).
It is amazing what God can do through His yielded vessels, those who are totally dedicated in serving for the glory of God in reaching out to others, unselfishly and wholeheartedly ministering to the needs of “family” members.
Not very often does a pastor get to experience the moving of the Holy Spirit in such a powerful way as what was experienced (and is still going on) at Grace.
Many “walls” have come down and there is a renewed excitement and enthusiasm for service to our Lord in and through the body at Grace.
From a “traditional” church that had been “stagnate” to an “alive, vibrant, growing” church is where God’s grace has brought us and is leading us.
There have been so many lives that have been transformed as a result of God’s working through this LRW weekend, even weeks before, while planning and preparing, His hand was and continues to be blessing and moving among His church.
I have seen “so-called” revival meetings that have been nothing short than a feigned attempt to portray some kind of “religious” meeting without any evidence of genuine repentance.
This LRW Weekend has truly been both a fresh and needed breath of renewal among God’s people.
If you’re a pastor or a church leader contemplating whether or not to host a Lay Renewal Weekend, May I highly recommend it?!
I believe this movement to be a true, and bonafide stirring of the Lord that He is using in His church to inject new life and motivate His people to new heights of dedicated service.
Thank you Lord!
Your Servant,
Pastor Dan L. Wilson
Grace Baptist Church
Bethpage, Tennessee
September 29, 2009
Dear Lay Renewal Team Members,
Thank You! Thank you for your sacrifice of time, gifts and talents to bring renewal to West Union Baptist Church. Each of you were sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit. Every testimony, every small group time, every coffee, the youth and children’s activities, and both the men’s and ladies luncheons were guided by God, Himself and each of you were simply obedient to Him.
The evaluation meeting was quite remarkable. It began at 6:00 pm and the sharing lasted until about 8:45. Many people shared how moved they were by renewal. They were impressed by the testimonies but were even more excited by their opportunity to share with each other in the small groups. During the report time a 14 year old girl made a profession of faith and asked for baptism. On her evaluation form she wrote “I really feel included here, never before have I felt accepted or wanted by a church. I love this feeling.” Her mother also joined the church on promise of a letter. One of our members had asked us to pray during our preparation prayer meetings that she and her neighbor could be reconciled (details not needed). The neighbor came to her Sunday afternoon, reconciled with her and then came with her to the report meeting. Hallelujah! There were other reports of reconciliations and testimonies about the presence of the Holy Spirit. One of the children wrote: “It was fun. I got to hang out with Jesus and I got to spend time with Him and I got to no Him bedder and stay close to Him all weekend and we prayed for Him and we had a great time.”
There were many recommitments and sixteen who said they wished to be totally surrendered to Christ. Twenty-eight people want to be part of a small group and eight expressed interest in being renewal team members. We will have several small groups as several people have offered their homes and are willing to lead the small groups. Also, many people said they wanted to learn to share their faith, so we will offer witnessing training in the near future. Justin and I will follow up on every evaluation form and help folks find a place to plug in.
I personally believe our church has been filled with the Holy Spirit because of the weekend. I will endeavor to keep us on the journey and hopefully this spirit will continue long after the weekend.
Love to All,
Jerry Brooks
West Union Baptist Church
1560 Everett Springs Road
Calhoun, Georgia 30701
August 18, 2009
Dear Prayer Renewal Team:
Words are inadequate to express my heartfelt gratitude to God and to each of you for the wonderful experience this past weekend. In thirty years of ministry and seventeen as shepherd of the precious saints at Woodlawn, I cannot recall anything that has impacted me personally and our church family collectively like the Prayer Renewal Weekend. The presence of the Lord was evident during the testimonies, worship, teaching, and times of prayer in large and small groups. Each time we prayed I could hear people weeping throughout the sanctuary. And Saturday evening to see all the families at the altar, praying and weeping together before the Lord - that is something etched in my mind that I will never forget. Sunday evening we had a three hour service with our dear people sharing testimonies of how this weekend changed their lives and no one spoke more than once during the evening. It was incredible as our church family laughed, wept, and prayed together.
So, let me thank you from the depths of my soul for investing your time with us this weekend. Only eternity will reveal the significance of this event. You were so gracious and kind to us and we learned so much from each of you. Thank you for being such a beautiful reflection of Jesus to us. I would highly recommend that every church in America host a Prayer Renewal Weekend. I believe it could truly be the impetus for a national spiritual awakening and renewal. Blessings to you all.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ed Yount, Senior Pastor
Woodlawn Baptist Church
Conover, North Carolina
Paul,
I just wanted to update you on the Sunday Night Lay Renewal Weekend Report. I was encouraged as our people shared their heart Sunday evening until 7:45pm. We had a wonderful response! I realized that many hearts were touched this weekend.
We had many rededications and at least 24 wanted to continue in the lay renewal weekend with a lay ministry weekend.
I would encourage future pastors to strongly consider Lay Renewal as a viable alternative to the good old fashioned revival and as a precursor for evangelistic outreach. There is something powerful about getting a group of believers together and asking them to consider what God would do with their lives and their churches if they were to humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, pray and seek His face.
For Grace, the most significant outcome of this weekend (in my opinion) is that we had people open up to others that they had previously written off as 'unspiritual'. Some apologies were made and others resolved to open up their homes to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in an effort to heal and build strong, positive relationships.
For Grace, Lay Renewal Weekend was a first step towards recognizing God's future for our church.
I look forward to our continued journey as we seek to honor the Lord, Jesus Christ, in all we do.
Thank you. Please pass my sincere gratitude to the members of your team as well. It was wonderful to see such a diverse group of people being used by the Holy Spirit to bring hope, love and restoration to our church.
In Christ,
Tony
Dear Team,
It is the morning after our Lay Renewal Weekend, and I am thanking God for the way He worked in hearts and lives during the past three days. Over the weekend we saw more than 100 of our people participate in at least one session of the Lay Renewal Weekend. Two people made the decision to unite with Cornerstone by transfer of letter, and one made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ! Many other people felt led to pray at the altar or make a private commitment or rededication of life to Jesus Christ. We praise God for every single one of those decisions!
God put together a wonderful team of people who came and led us! It is amazing to know that the Coordinator had really never worked with anyone on the team before. They came from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Georgia, and North Carolina. Yet, God knew exactly who needed to be here with us for this weekend. It was inspiring just to see how God put the team together, and to watch how the Holy Spirit led them and guided them.
He blessed us through the testimonies of these laypeople, who simply shared what Jesus Christ had done in their lives. But that simple testimony is powerful, because it communicates to us what God can do in us if we will be submitted and open to His leadership, power, and grace.
The Weekend provided time for us to draw closer together, to better understand one another and pray for each other's needs. I am coming away from this time with a real sense of renewal, refreshing, and encouragement, and I know many others are feeling the same way!
In the days ahead, we will work together on ways we can continue to draw closer together and more effectively share the love and power of Jesus Christ with our neighborhood and community. This Lay Renewal Weekend has helped to unite us as never before. Many of our people got to know other church members for the first time, or in a way that got beyond just a surface knowledge. I look forward to seeing what God will continue to do in the days ahead.
The Worship Times were tremendous, with God speaking to hearts through the testimonies and the music. I know that people were challenged and encouraged in powerful ways. At our Evaluation Service, person after person rose and shared how much the weekend meant to them. Some of them said they had honestly been skeptical of having the Lay Renewal Weekend, but in every case they said it had turned out to be a wonderful blessing!
There is nothing really "flashy" about what was done. But the process of preparing for the Weekend through dedicated prayer, and the simple but powerful testimonies of what God is doing in the lives of average people truly becomes an overwhelming experience of God's power and Presence. I would encourage other churches to seriously consider having a Lay Renewal Weekend. Give God a chance to work in your lives as He has so wonderfully in ours through this important ministry!
Brian K. Credille, D.Min.
Pastor
Cornerstone Baptist Church
Jefferson City, Missouri
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