Harvest moon shines on harvest of hundreds at West Georgia Rick Gage GO TELL Crusade

Harvest moon shines on harvest of hundreds
at West Georgia Rick Gage GO TELL Crusade

Douglasville, Georgia (Sept. 27, 2010) – A rare appearance of the super harvest moon shone down upon hundreds who turned to Jesus for salvation during the West Georgia Rick Gage GO TELL Crusade in Douglasville, Georgia. Hosted by nearly 40 Douglas County churches, the four-night event took place Sept. 19-22 in the parking lot of Arbor Place Mall off of Interstate 20 at the Chapel Hill Road exit.

“In the parking lot of a mall, we experienced a super harvest,” commented Jerry Adair of County Line Baptist Church in Lithia Springs, one of the crusade’s counseling chairmen. For the entire event, Adair said there were 477 spiritual decisions, including 260 salvation commitments. On the concluding night alone, there were 143 salvation decisions and 90 other spiritual decisions. More than 12,000 attended the event.

GO TELL evangelists Rick Gage and Rick Stanley also spoke to 15,000 students in the county’s 13 middle and high schools in 22 ON TRACK School Assemblies, said Kevin Williams, minister to students at the First Baptist Church of Douglasville. Gage said he is “especially grateful” to the Douglas County Board of Education and School District.

While they were not allowed to speak of Jesus, Gage and Stanley did encourage the students to avoid addictions. They also invited them to attend the closing night of the crusade when free Chick-fil-A sandwiches and drinks were given away courtesy of Crusade Chairman Mike Moore of Chick-fil-A. More than 5,000 attended that Wednesday night service, keeping the more than 300 counselors busy with hundreds of decisions for Christ.

The thousands in attendance were invited to sing along with worship leader Chuck Sullivan, his band and guest singer Joy Fowler. On Tuesday night, the guest evangelist was Tony Nolan, author of “The Hurt Healer” and tour pastor and Gospel communicator for Casting Crowns Lifesong Tour and Winter Jam, the largest Christian concert tour in America, visiting more than 119 cities and experiencing more than 87,000 public professions of faith in Christ. Other GO TELL guest artists were Outcast BMX, A Ransom Plea, Edenfield and Don Dodds.

The Rick Gage GO TELL Crusade also occurred during the first anniversary of the devastating 500-year flood that claimed the lives of seven Douglas County residents, damaged 170 roads and bridges and flooded many homes.

“We had another flood this week, rolling down those hills, surrounding the parking lot, wave after wave, flowing down as hundreds got saved,” said Randy Shirley, pastor of Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Douglasville. “It’s been the biggest blessing of my life to see what happened the last four nights.”

“The real value is to be part of a movement of God with churches of different tags,” observed Barnabas Sprinkle, evangelist with the First Presbyterian Church of Douglasville of the PC(USA) denomination.

Crusade Treasurer Ned Fowler, a local banker and a member of The Church at Chapel Hill in Douglasville, said, “I’ve really felt a lot of unity building in this community. Rick Gage has helped change the spiritual landscape of our community.”

Calling Gage “a man of high integrity,” Fowler said, “Last night’s message was absolutely the best, most anointed evangelical message I have ever heard. I would put that message up against anybody’s.”

Mary Kaplan, who assisted her husband Tom, one of the crusade’s counseling chairmen, said one counselor was grateful to see his own young son being led to the Lord by another counselor. Tom Kaplan is the interim pastor of Cowan Mill Church (SBC) in Winston.

Gage also preached to the pastors and lay leaders attending the daily luncheons, encouraging them to “follow up by getting into the homes” of each person who made a salvation decision. Agreeing with Gage, Dr. John Pennington, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Douglasville, said, “We don’t need to wait around. They need visits from more than one church.”

During these luncheons, thanks were given to Kevin Maples, senior pastor of Dorsett Shoals Baptist Church in Douglasville, for expressing his burden to bring a countywide crusade event to the area two years ago. “Kevin got the flame,” added Fowler. Ned Fowler is also the organizer of the Prayer Center of West Georgia which has a weekly jail ministry.

Maples said, “All I can say is our church invested countless man hours and thousands of dollars, and it was worth it all. We would do it all over again. How often can we see 260 people saved in one week in our county? Praise the Lord.”

“I would like to do six to eight of these crusades a year. We’re ready to go,” Gage told the pastors and lay leaders.

For 22 years, Gage has been leading GO TELL Crusades in smaller towns across America. He and his Georgia-based team also host overseas missions trips to Russia, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica; GO TELL Sundays; and summer camps for children and teens in several states. His student internship program has led to the awarding of full- and half-tuition scholarships to several students at Christian colleges and universities across America.

The former college football coach is a son of evangelist Freddie Gage of Texas, whose other sons Rodney, Paul and Daniel also are involved in Christian ministry.

For more information about Rick Gage and GO TELL Ministries, call 1-866-I-GO-TELL, email info@gotellministries.com or visit www.gotellministries.com

RICK GAGE CRUSADE DRAWS HUNDREDS TO FOOTBALL STADIUM

RICK GAGE CRUSADE DRAWS HUNDREDS

TO FOOTBALL STADIUM

Four-night Event Makes History in Tulia

Evangelist Rick Gage has a big heart for small towns. When key leaders met with him about bringing a spiritual crusade to Swisher County, many were skeptical it could be done.

Although planning took almost nine months, citizens were astonished as hundreds attended the Panhandle Plains GO TELL Crusade. The results were staggering. By the crusade’s conclusion, 343 spiritual decisions had been recorded, including 175 first-time professions of faith.

“It was an amazing week,” said Crusade Chairman Bryan Schrader. “I knew God was really about to do something big in our community when we started out Saturday evening with a pre-crusade youth rally. When Rick Gage talked to an area high school football team, 15 of them made life-changing decisions for Jesus Christ. The crusade was the greatest, most impactful event our county has ever seen.”

“What I witnessed happen in our county cannot be humanly explained,” said Pastor Eddie Helms of Calvary Baptist. “Our community needed hope, and God moved in mighty power. Our people have watched Billy Graham on television, but to see that same kind of thing happen here has deeply touched and moved us. This is just the beginning for us.”

Pastor Helms continued, “The economic downturn has hurt our community, but we believed God and stepped out in faith to see this crusade happen. When Rick Gage left town, all the bills were paid! People were sacrificial in their giving, knowing their gifts will reap eternal rewards. One lady in my church was asked by her hairdresser when she was coming in for her regular permanent. She said, ‘I’m skipping this one. I gave my perm money to the crusade.’ We are continuing what the crusade started and will feel its impact for years to come.”

Excitement pervades the area as churches are welcoming those who were saved at the crusade and are preparing to baptize them and help them grow in their faith. Pastor Ed Soules of the First Assembly of God Church is working feverishly on a dream center he envisions being used by all the churches of the area for life ministries as the spirit of revival continues.

“It was amazing how laypeople from many churches came together and worked hard to make this crusade a success,” commented Pastor Soules. “The unity was tremendous and was greatly needed in our county that has seen its share of hardships. This is the biggest thing we’ve ever experienced.”

Wednesday’s service, the culmination of the crusade, was its greatest night. More than 600 students were treated to a Pizza Blast. More than 80 first-time professions of faith were made that night.

A counselor for the crusade, Barry Street took his mission of loving young people seriously. He hired two school buses from another county and brought 40 students from Kress, a neighboring community, to the Wednesday night crusade service. Of those, all but seven made first-time salvation decisions for Christ at the crusade. “What Barry did for those students was phenomenal,” said Schrader. “The demeanor of those kids going up and going back was totally different. It was a God-thing!”

Counseling Co-chairman Don Sanders said excitedly, “We had trained what we thought were a lot of counselors, but nothing could have prepared us for what we experienced the last night of the crusade. As young people began to respond to the invitation, I told the counselors, ‘You’re each going to have to counsel two people.’ But as waves kept coming, some had to help even more.”

Sanders continued, “Rick Gage was very straightforward and did not play games when talking about a person’s eternal destiny. It was amazing how the Spirit of God came over the football field as people responded, making lifetime decisions. It is a sight I will never forget. I saw many young people literally sobbing their way to Christ. Our community will never be the same again.”

Greg Culwell, Executive Director of Driscoll House, a faith-based halfway house recovery program, was elated when every single one of the men going through the program made a decision for Christ. “The sight of the men huddled together at the altar– with their arms wrapped around each other praying–was priceless. The work the Lord did and continues to do in their lives will be felt in their homes and communities. One young man, who was 19 years old, had the greatest change I have ever seen in an individual. We are deeply grateful to God!”

“The crusade was absolutely wonderful,” Linda Foster said excitedly. “Big crowds. Many decisions. Beautiful weather. God is good! I worked with children, and that was so heartwarming. An orphanage from the Plainview area brought some children, and several of those precious ones were saved. When one of the little girls was asked what happened to her, she replied, ‘I found Jesus in my heart!’ They have already begun a follow-up program with the children.”

The Saturday before the crusade, every house in Tulia was visited and left with a crusade flyer. For weeks before the crusade, people met at the downtown gazebo and prayed. The meeting grew and became so popular, uniting denominations, that many asked after the crusade, “Can we continue?”

The Thursday night after the crusade, people gathered again at the gazebo to continue what the crusade started. The Friday after the crusade, Don Sander’s real estate office was visited by five people who could not talk about anything but the crusade.

During the day, Gage and his GO TELL team conducted ON TRACK School Assemblies in area schools. Topics addressed life’s choices and the dangers of drugs, alcohol abuse, teen suicide and premarital sex. Daily noon luncheons were blessed times when people shared testimonies from the previous evening and church leaders received decision-card information.

Follow-up is being taken seriously by pastors and lay leaders. The Sunday after the crusade, First Assembly hosted a dinner for all those who made decisions. They also will be offering a New Beginner’s Class to help them grow in their faith.

“Nothing is more important to me than winning people to Jesus,” says Evangelist Rick Gage. “My heart is overwhelmed at what God did and will continue to do in Swisher County. Saturating our communities across America with the life-changing Gospel message must be done at all costs. It takes time, money and involvement to reach people; but it will be eternally worth it one day soon.”

Rick Stanley, an evangelist and a stepbrother of Elvis Presley, gave his moving testimony at the crusade. He is in demand as a speaker and has spoken at four Billy Graham Crusades. “Rick Gage has a heart for the towns that most people overlook,” Stanley says. “His mentality is that there is nothing small in the Kingdom of God. And God always moves in mighty ways–like He did here in Swisher County.”

Chuck Sullivan and the Joel Vaughn Band provided anointed praise and worship music during the five-night event.

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,” he says.

Gage has witnessed multiplied thousands of decisions for Christ through his many evangelistic outreaches in America and abroad. Rick Gage GO TELL Ministries include crusades, summer youth camps, school assemblies, GO TELL Sundays and overseas missions trips.

For more information about Rick Gage GO TELL Ministries, please call 1-866-I-GO-
TELL, email at info@gotellministries.com or visit the Web site at www.gotellministries.com.

Ex-NFL player to GO TELL teens: Shine amid darkness

Ex-NFL player to GO TELL teens: Shine amid darkness
By Keith Collier, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

When the former NFL player stepped onto the stage, he knew the several hundred youth seated before him may have expected someone bigger.

“I know some of you are shocked,” Daryl Jones said to students at the GO TELL student camp on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. “You heard about a football player-preacher coming to speak, and you see this short dude standing here. But I serve a big God, and that big God decided not to make me big, but I can run really fast.”
Jones, a wide receiver on the national champion Miami Hurricanes in 2001 who also played in the NFL for several years, spoke to student from Matthew 5:14-16 on the importance of shining as lights in a dark world.

Using examples from his football days, Jones recounted how God uniquely placed him on teams in order to shine the light of the Gospel in those locker rooms. In addition to one-on-one relationships with players, Jones led chapel services and Bible studies during his time as a player.

“[Jesus] wants you to know who you are and where He has placed you,” Jones told the students. “You are light, and He has placed you in the world.”

As Christians shine as lights in the world, Jones said non-Christians will be offended by the exposure of their own sins. “The world wants you to get a little dirty,” he said, “because it makes them feel better about their dirt.”

However, Jones said, the light of Christ also provides a measure of peace in an unbeliever’s life similar to the effects of a nightlight comforting someone who is afraid of the dark. Christians shine light into the world by reflecting the light of Christ like the moon reflects the sun’s light, Jones noted. When Christians do this, the glory goes to God, not them.

“Your presence is crucial, and the world needs you,” Jones said at the mid-July camp. “Don’t ever feel insignificant. Never feel like you don’t have a place in life.”

Jones earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and currently is pursuing a PH.D. in new Testament at the seminary. He also serves as youth pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas.