James Phillips, Reporter
Evangelist Rick Gage has been filling football stadiums for more than a decade in small towns across America. Last week, Gage brought his Go Tell Crusade to Gardendale.
The four-day Gardendale event was attended by over 8,000 people and church leaders from across north Jefferson County are hailing it as an overwhelming success.
When the dust had settled at the conclusion of the Go Tell North Jefferson Crusade, more than 450 spiritual decisions had been recorded, including 199 first-time professions of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The event was held at Gardendale High School’s Driver Stadium Oct. 2-5. Each night thousands of people attended the crusade services. 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, made up of both staff and lay leaders from more than 40 local churches, met them all across the football field to pray and help them make eternal decisions.
North Gardendale Baptist Church Pastor Stanley Kilgore said he was most impressed with the unity shown between different denominations during the crusade. “It was fantastic to see different denominations working together,” Kilgore said. “That is the thing that I will take from the crusade the most. I’ve already talked to some other pastors about possible doing a worship celebration for all denominations once a year.”
Crusade Chairman Ed Howse, who helped plan the north Jefferson crusade for more than a year, said the surrounding communities will feel the effects of this crusade for years. “I’m excited about what God is doing and what he will continue to do from what happened at the crusade,” Howse said. “We had a lot of people make decisions to follow the Lord and we will feel that for years to come because those people will go on to reach others.”
Rick Gage also commented on the decisions made at the event. “If just one person was reached for Christ, all the work for this crusade was worth it,” Gage said. “We had 199 make confessions of faith. Billy Graham was reached at a meeting like this and you never know when one of those 199 will become the next Billy Graham. We should never underestimate the impact of lives touched through this crusade.”
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. “This has had a great impact on our community already,” Pastor Gerald Brown of Warrior First Baptist Church said. “I don’t think we will truly know the impact for years to come.”
Rick Gage has witnessed more than 250,000 commitments to Christ through his many evangelistic outreaches in America and abroad. Rick Gage’s 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,” Gage said. “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.
