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Pastor’s Corner: Why Your Church Should Have an Annual Revival/Bible Conference

Dr. Randy White

Resurrect the RevivalI’m currently preaching a Winter Bible Conference / Revival in a small west Texas town. Over the years, I’ve preached many of these conferences, and am always blessed by the experience. But I’m also a pastor who has held these conferences / revivals in my church annually for all the years of my ministry. So, the advice I give today is from both sides of the coin: host pastor and guest pastor.Most churches have dropped the traditional annual revival years ago, along with a number of other traditional ministries. While the meetings were once vibrant times of renewal (and often spiritual birth for many), over the years the crowds became thin, the response was low, and the expenses were high.If you’re a pastor, however, I want to encourage you to go back and resurrect the annual revival. Here’s a few reasons why:

  1. A guest preacher can (and often does) say the same thing you’ve been saying, but people will hear the fresh voice in a new way.
  2. A guest preacher can say some things that you could not say, but need to be said. (And guest preachers should only do this with the permission and blessing of the host).
  3. A series of meetings over several days (I like Sunday - Wednesday) will be a great time for your people to fellowship in the Word and with each other.
  4. Your people will love you for it, especially if you bring in the best pulpiteers (who are faithful in the Word) to preach. They will respect you so much more because you consider them worthy to invite quality preachers to feed them.
  5. You will be personally refreshed and will build relationships with great men of God that will be a blessing to you for many years to come. I can’t even begin to tell you the ways in which I’ve been helped by men I’ve invited to preach a revival or Bible Conference in my church.
  6. There will be some people who will make new commitments to the Lord and the church that would never do so on a typical Sunday morning service.
  7. Your church will gain a positive reputation in the community. Some folk from the community will attend your revival but would not (or can not) attend your Sunday morning service. These people will consider your church a trusted place of preaching, and that reputation will spread.
  8. Your church will get a “change of scenery” that strengthens them when they get back in the routine. Just like a vacation renews your vigor, a revival or conference will do the same thing.
How to do a Revival or Conference:
  1. When possible, start on Sunday morning. This catches the largest crowd.
  2. Try to schedule an annual conference for the same time each year. At my church, our Bible conference always begins the last Sunday of July. By doing this, I can schedule preachers far in advance, and our people always know when the conference will be.
  3. Schedule some fellowship with the conference. A dessert fellowship after a service or similar function will be an added bonus.
  4. Announce your conference six-weeks in advance, and regularly for those six weeks. Advertise if you can, but announcements from the pulpit and in the bulletin will suffice. If you advertise months in advance (other than a “save the date” notice), you’ll lose strength rather than gain.
  5. Budget for the preacher’s travel, hotel, and meal expense, then give him a love-offering. A $1000 in your budget will almost always cover the out-of-pocket expenses for a basic revival, and your people will give generously to a love-offering if you ask them to. In 25 years of taking love-offerings for revival preachers, I’ve never been let-down or embarrassed by my congregation. We pass the plate, letting the people know what the offering is for, and they give.
  6. Schedule your evening meetings as early in the evening as possible for your community. We have ours at 6:00 PM, which means the preacher can preach long and people still get home at a decent hour.
Things to avoid:
  1. Avoid attendance anxiety. I think one of the main reasons pastors don’t have revivals or conferences is because they are afraid the crowd will be embarrassingly thin. Don’t worry about it. Those who come will be blessed, and the preacher isn’t coming for the size of the crowd (if he is, invite someone else). Over the years, your crowd will increase as the annual event gains a reputation among your people (this is especially true in the city or in younger churches, where there is little or no heritage of revivals).
  2. Avoid service overload. Make the services simple so that you can focus on the preaching of the Word. The music will be a blessing, but don’t make it go longer than 20 minutes. Save church business, unrelated announcements, and Aunt Jean’s poetry recitation for another time.
  3. Avoid manipulation. Revivals have left a sour taste because some old-time traveling evangelists misused the Word, abused the pulpit, and manipulated decisions. I only invite preachers who are going to preach the Word, respect my role as Pastor, and will leave the decisions up to the Spirit.
  4. Avoid false expectations. Years ago, the building was full and decisions came by the dozens. This almost never happens today, but that is no reason to avoid an annual revival. If you don’t have dozens of lost people attending your church who have been cultivated by personal witness and Bible teaching, you won’t have dozens of decisions, regardless of how evangelistic the sermon is. Saved people don’t need to be saved again! The only expectation should be that we will schedule the meeting, start on time, and hear the Word preached, come who may. And God will be glorified.
Try it, Pastor. If you’re not a Pastor, forward this to the Pastors you know. The first year will be a modest success. In a few years, it will be one of the most loved times and traditions of your church.