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Revival rocks downtown Fort Scott
Rain came down in fat droplets from a steel gray, cloud-covered sky. Then it stopped. The sky cleared. All this occurred just hours before they gathered that first night.
Starting Sunday, hundreds of Christians flocked to Heritage Park night after night -- five nights, to be exact. They sat in their lawn chairs. Some stood.
The nightly event, called the Community Tent Revival, attracted worshipers from area churches to unite as one entity under the banner of Christianity.
This event is groundbreaking in that it's the first time that churches in Fort Scott have come together to put on a revival.
"I think it's gone phenomenally well," said the Rev. Scott Moore, pastor at First Church of the Nazarene.
"The people I've talked who have attended said they've been challenged to deliver their faith better," said the Rev. Steve Bell, First Assembly of God pastor. "They've been challenged to draw closer to the Lord. There has been a unifying togetherness of the faith community, instead of just this church over here, or this church over there."
The revival spurred 13 to 14 churches to get involved in some way, whether it was a church's pastor who preached or a church providing refreshments or music. Five pastors spoke, one each night.
More than 425 people attended Sunday. Nearly 300 on Monday, more than 200 Tuesday and almost 400 Wednesday.
Without a doubt, many of the attendees are already strong Christians, Bell and Moore agreed. But what about the people who are on the edge -- not devout Christians, but not agnostics or atheists, either?
"I have seen people that I know -- that I would describe as maybe along the edge -- that have made a move forward in the open call," Bell said.
The "open call" he referred to happened at the end of each night's revival. People would walk toward the stage area and pastors would pray with them.
"You may have those fringe people who have really never made a commitment to Christ," Moore said.
The real test in judging the effectiveness of the revival, Bell said, will come in the next few months, when Christians spread the word about their faith.
"We've seen the church sort of sit back and be satisfied with the notion of "I'm a Christian, I'm going to heaven,'" Bell said, "but our whole goal is to start being concerned about those who are not Christian, those who are not going to heaven. Ultimately, our goal is to get them to heaven.
"I think the real test is to see how many are going to get involved in ministry, how many are going to say to themselves 'I haven't been doing enough. I need to do more.'"
Emotion played a part throughout the revival, which consisted of a combination of prayer and gospel music.
On Monday, emotion ruled. The crowd that day prayed for the health of William James Schafer, director of pastoral services at Mercy Health Center. chafer is battling throat cancer. He's currently undergoing treatment and couldn't attend the revival.
The Rev. Mark Stetler, pastor at Parkway Church of God, asked anyone whose life has been influenced by Schafer to come forward.
The crowd formed and gathered around Moore, touching him on the shoulder and back. There, Stetler led the prayer, saying "Lord, we ask that your healing presence be upon William James Schafer this evening."
The procedure, having Moore stand in "proxy" for Schafer, which means he acted as the physical presence of Schafer. The method is used for anointing and praying for healing.
"When we prayed for Mr. Schafer, that was awesome," said attendee Gaymell Kilpatrick. "Just getting together with other believers strengthens my faith."
Attendee Jeff Michael, a regular each night at the event, said there's too much division in the community of Christ and churches. "They focus on the differences than the blood of Christ. It's a good way to bring the body of churches together.
"We're supposed to be uniting as one body under God, under Jesus Christ, to reach the lost people. So often they see us fighting, and we're not going to win anybody that way."
Organizers had planned to hold the revival in the open grass area at the corner of Wall and Main streets. However, a thunderstorm dumped heavy rain earlier in the day on Sunday, forcing the event to the parking lot of the park. Then, on Tuesday, rain threatened the event but let up prior the revival.