Rick Gage Crusade Draws Thousands
Five-night event makes history in Donley County
The Clarendon Enterprise, 9-30-04
Evangelist Rick Gage has been filling football stadiums for more than a decade in small towns all across America. Many were skeptical that he could do it in the small county of Donley in the Texas Panhandle which claims a population of only 3,200.
Size doesn’t matter to Gage whose recent crusade in Clarendon was hailed by local pastors, business leaders, and church members as sparking a religious revival that has shaken Donley County to its core. When the dust had settled at the conclusion of the GO TELL GreenBelt Crusade, over 600 spiritual decisions had been recorded, including 349 first-time professions of salvation in Jesus Christ. Crusade counselors say another 200 decisions went unrecorded due to overwhelming responses.
The five-night event began with a Saturday night pre-crusade student rally, followed by four nights of crusade services where thousands flocked to Bronco Football Stadium at Clarendon High School. At the end of Gage’s preaching each evening, scores of people with tears streaming down their faces flowed out of the bleachers. Trained counselors met them all across the football field to pray and help them make eternal decisions.
Crusade Chairman Eddie Helms, who worked on crusade planning and preparation for over a year and enlisted more than 200 committee workers, said, “The crusade was the most thrilling thing we’ve ever experienced in Donley County. Our churches came together across denominational lines in a spirit of unity and cooperation to love and reach people, and we will continue what the crusade started.”
For almost 18 years, Pastor Truman Ledbetter who pastors First Baptist Clarendon has prayed for a sweeping revival. “God answered our prayers,” he says. “Nothing like this has ever happened in our community. Words are so inadequate to describe the mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit on so many. We are rejoicing in what God has done and in this great harvest that has eternal consequences. Our community will not just be changed for weeks or months, but for years to come.”
“God has burdened my heart to take the gospel to as many towns as possible in my lifetime,” Gage says. “As a native Texan, however, Texas is especially dear to me. I consider it an honor to preach in my home state, and I give God the glory for every life that has been touched and transformed by His power. The churches of Clarendon came together with vision and passion to meet a common goal. The dedication and hard work of the countless volunteers is exemplary.”
While maintaining his U. S. and overseas crusade schedule, Gage also embraces a GO TELL TEXAS Campaign which includes conducting 12 crusades in the Panhandle in the next four years, ending with a climatic crusade in Amarillo. The Clarendon Crusade followed those already conducted in Wheeler and Borger, Texas. Based on the results of his first three crusades in the Panhandle, if Gage’s vision comes to fruition, more than 25,000 commitments to Christ will be made in that area in the next four years.
Along with his GO TELL Summer Youth Camps in Georgia, Virginia, and Florida, in the summer of 2005, Gage and his youth camp team will again return to West Texas A& M University in Canyon. A crusade in Dalhart, Texas, will follow in September.
Today, however, citizens of Clarendon can’t stop talking about what just occurred in their town. “I was blown away seeing the hearts of so very many people touched and changed by the power of God,” say Pastor Darrell Burton of Martin Baptist Church. “I will never forget this crusade as long as I live. I can’t begin to tell what it did for me personally, as a pastor, as a believer, and as a member of this community. I will especially cherish one moment forever, in fact, for all eternity. It was the moment my nine-year-old daughter raised her hand to be saved.”
During the days of the crusade, Gage and his crusade team visited local schools, conducting Gage’s ON TRACK School Assembly Program dealing with life’s choices and issues such as drugs, alcohol abuse, and teen suicide.
Kelly Hill, Deputy Sheriff of Clarendon, works with the youth of his church. “Young people have a special place in my heart. I want to do any and everything I can to help them,” he says. “This crusade did more for them than all our churches could do in five years. I had the opportunity to attend some of the school assemblies. Let me tell you--no words could describe the fire these kids have after getting saved. I didn’t want the crusade to end, and we’ll make sure the fire never dies.”
Jay Lowder, staff evangelist with the crusade team, spoke to 40 of the basketball players from Clarendon College at the invitation of their coach. It was an exciting time as 31 of the 40 immediately leaped to their feet at the end of his talk, indicating their desire to give their lives to Jesus Christ.
Coke Hopping, Agricultural Science teacher and FCA leader at Memphis High School, coordinated an effort to bring nine van-loads of kids from his school to the crusade. “One-third of my high school was there,” he said. “Twenty-five of those precious kids made first-time decisions for Jesus Christ. Nine of our football players were saved! Twenty percent of our school were saved because Rick Gage cared enough to come to Clarendon and share the gospel.”
Mike Word, Elementary Principal in Clarendon, said of the crusade, “It was absolutely wonderful. I’ve never seen such a response from anything ever conducted in Clarendon or the stadium so packed out. God certainly worked. The school assemblies were wonderful. We even had the crusade musical team spend an entire morning at our school. The kids loved it and are still talking about it. Our town has been changed forever.”
Miracle stories abound in Donley County. Excited people are quick to share about what God did in the lives of their friends and loved ones. “I have a good friend for whom I had been praying for many, many years,” shares James Thomas. “Wednesday night of the crusade he surrendered his life to the Lord. I couldn’t believe it. He hugged me and cried; then looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘God has changed my life. For so long I’ve done wrong, but now I have a chance to do things right.’ It is just a miracle!”
Many love to tell of the counselor who took off his counseling badge after the message Sunday evening, admitting that he had never really been saved. After praying the sinner’s prayer with another counselor, he put his badge back on and led a young person to Christ. One of the crusade staff baptized him that night.
Or, the 72-year-old man who, coming forward, asked the counselor, “Do you really want to deal with this hard-hearted old buzzard?” and then got gloriously saved. Several entire families were saved. One father and son accepted Christ the same night and the father testified, “I let my family down. Now it is time for me to take my role as spiritual leader of my home and raise my children right.”
The consensus among the community of faith is that the crusade was just the beginning of a great move of God in Donley County. Dr. John Howard of Clarendon General Medical Center says, “I was thrilled to have been a part of the crusade and am tremendously excited at the new growth, as well as the anticipated growth in our churches. We view the crusade as an ongoing process. Now that the crusade team is gone, it is not as if the event is over. It is as if something has just begun.”
Every church that worked to bring about the crusade is now diligently following up on those who made decisions during the crusade. Scores of people are canvassing the community every day, knocking on doors, and discipling those who made decisions. The community Saturday morning prayer meetings that went on for many months prior to the crusade continue, as well as the luncheons and regularly-scheduled community meetings. Churches are baptizing new converts and adding new converts’ classes.
Rick Gage and his crusade team have moved on to another town and another crusade, but his thoughts are not far from Texas. “I look forward to being back to my native Texas soon,” he says.
Rick Gage has witnessed more than 250,000 commitments to Christ through his many evangelistic outreaches in America and abroad. Rick Gage GO TELL Ministries include crusades, summer youth camps, school assemblies, one-day church events, and overseas mission trips.
“Everywhere I go, people are personally embracing the gospel message,” says Gage. “It is hope for the individual, for society, and for the world. Saturating our communities across America with the glorious gospel must be done at all costs. It takes time, money, and involvement to reach lost people. But it will be eternally worth it one day.”
For more information about Rick Gage GO TELL Ministries, please call 1-866-I-GO-TELL; email at info@gotellministries.com or visit his website at www.gotellministries.com.
