Teen Revival sponsored by Solid Rock Youth Ministries, Central Baptist Church, Corning NY
Evangelist Bob DeWitt wrote: I feel like there are several lessons here that American preachers need . . .
Evangelist Bob DeWitt, founder and president of Solid Rock Youth Ministries and moderater of this teen revival, wrote this update:
After preaching around the country for years, I returned to New York State to see that there was a great spiritual need at my home church. Our assistant pastor and I agreed that our church and youth group needed revival. Taking our burden to Pastor Aebersold, he agreed that we would organize a mini-youth revival on a certain Saturday and Sunday which, hopefully, would affect the entire church body. I was given the task of securing a speaker but we didn’t have much time. I called some of the most well-known men in the country, men I had known for years and men I didn’t know at all. And after several days, I found that every man of God I knew was busy. I called well-known pastors around the country for recommendations but was unsuccessful. I thought about youth pastors around the country but the Lord made it clear that we needed a man with the God-given gift of evangelist. So I searched the Internet. I searched for Independent, Fundamental Evangelists through every Baptist website I knew of. Finally, I searched the Internet through Google; and, after days of frustration, I found “billyingram.org.” I read Billy’s doctrinal statement.
We started with a youth rally on Saturday afternoon which was followed by bowling and dinner at the church. Several other area church groups attended. That evening we had a full revival service. Two older teenagers were saved and made public professions of their faith. It was a good service but there was a strange spirit of uncertainty. We talked about it at a dinner that evening after the service and prayed through the night.
I told the church, “I found this evangelist through Google, …” but before I could finish my statement, “A male voice rang out, “You got the right man!” We named the meeting a “Youth Revival” but the whole church turned-out each night and the spirit of revival swept through the entire congregation. Brother Ingram spoke in the church’s school and God worked in the hearts of almost every student. On Wednesday evening, the last service, a large garbage can was placed on the platform. Teens publically disposed of bags of things that had become idols of their heart and gave testimony that they had given everything to God and that He had forgiven them totally. Following the revival there is a freeness of spirit, a new expectancy, a fresh awareness of God, a renewed vision to reach the souls of others, a thirst for righteousness, and a hunger to return to “normal, Spirit-filled, Christianity.”
Billy Ingram is a man with a burden and vision for Biblical revival. He has studied it and knows how God brings change. He has a maturity and power with God beyond his years. It is evident that he memorizes much Scripture and his ability to preach revival is surely a gift from God. I looked for and found an Evangelist through the Internet. But more remarkable than that is this: I was forced to look beyond my camp. I didn’t know Billy Ingram and I was not familiar with his corner of Fundamentalism. Traveling and preaching from coast to coast myself, I had never been with the preachers he hangs around or the churches he’s regularly in. But once again, I have experienced that the truth and power of God is not restricted to movements, camps, or schools. God still has tens of thousands of preachers and churches who have not bowed the knee to Baal. It is no time to compromise convictions at all but rather to bolster them up and go back to “old-time religion.” But America needs revival and, as the Psalmist said, “It is time for thee, LORD, to work…” May He work through more of us … and may we enjoy it and each other.
Evangelist Bob DeWitt, President-Founder, Solid Rock Youth Ministries, Inc.
www.realhelpforteens.com