A group of Southern Baptist pastors will meet in Atlanta fora two-day prayer gathering Monday and Tuesday. Billed as “A Call to Prayer for Revival and Awakening,” the meeting was announced by the Rev. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church, a multisite church in Northwest Arkansas.
On behalf of the organizing team, Floyd issued an invitation on the praying-pastors.com website to fellow Southern Baptist senior pastors, as well as ministry leaders, students training for ministry and employees of the denomination, to attend the gathering. A similar prayer meeting was held in Southlake, Texas, near Dallas in the fall and drew more than 170 senior pastors from 26 states.
“The turnout was terrific,” Floyd said about the first prayer event. In the days leading up to the Atlanta gathering about 300 have registered to attend, a number he expects to grow.
Floyd said the prayer event is needed to spark revival in the church and spiritual awakening in America.
“While there are bright spots across the landscape of the American church, we are in dramatic need of a fresh outpouring of God’s spirit upon the church,” he said. “America needs a mighty awakening spiritually.”
The Rev. Gary Hollingsworth, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, will be attending. He said the purpose is simply to gather a group of pastors and Christian leaders together to pray for the nation and its future.
“Too often it seems we only seek political solutions to issues that are actually moral and spiritual in nature,” Hollingsworth said. “Any serious study of our nation’s history reveals in times past there have been seasons of ‘spiritual awakening’ and many, including myself, believe we are ripe as a nation for such a movement of God.”
The Southern Baptist Convention has experienced declining membership and attendance in recent years. LifeWay Research has reported that in 2012 baptisms fell by 5.5 percent, to the lowest point since 1948 - a point of particular concern for ministers.
Floyd said the call for revival in the church means a call for renewal of life, vibrancy and passion.
“The American church needs a fresh touch of God’s power and spirit,” Floyd said. “We need revival, a renewal of life. The church needs to come back to our first love, which is Jesus Christ.”
As for the call to awakening, he said, “awakening is when God moves upon a region or a culture, creating change in the moral and spiritual landscape. Unquestionably, America is in a dire need for a spiritual awakening.”
Floyd said “extraordinary prayer always precedes any great movement of God” and that the last great revival was in the mid-1800s.
“It is time now that we must pursue the God of heaven to do something supernatural with His people,” Floyd said. “We are praying it will be the church experiencing new life and passion, resulting in a major spiritual awakening where millions come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is why we must gather to pray.The time is now.”
Hollingsworth said the prayer gathering is an attempt to bring together people with a common hope of another awakening in their lifetimes.
“While understanding many in our nation today do not share the same biblical values of those who will be attending this gathering, it is our desire to come together in unity and humility, seeking the face of God to do for us as a nation what we cannot do for ourselves,” he said.
The prayer gathering is free and will be at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. Information and registration are available online at praying-pastors.com. Participants are responsible for their own accommodations.
Religion, Pages 12 on 01/11/2014