More than 210 spiritual decisions for Christ at Jersey Baptist Church event with Rick Gage in Ohio Four-day evangelistic event draws more than 3,200
Pataskala, OH (Oct. 22, 2009) – Rick Gage lived up to his nickname, “The Small Town Billy Graham” at a four-day evangelistic event at Jersey Baptist Church in Pataskala, Ohio. More than 210 spiritual decisions were recorded for Christ with 83 initial decisions for salvation.
“Our meeting with Rick Gage will go down as the most successful harvest event in the life of Jersey Baptist Church. Rick shared the gospel in a way that was captivating and with incredible conviction,” said John A. Hays, senior pastor of Jersey Baptist Church.
Phil Duncan, the church’s evangelism director added, “As a church, we felt the crusade was extremely effective and we were very pleased with the manner in which Rick Gage conducted the event. God’s anointing was on him. The crusade will be a work in progress through the end of the year and possibly into 2010.”
Duncan expects that the church’s membership will grow over the next six months as a result of the crusade. “We continue following up to give everyone who made a decision the opportunity to become an involved member of Jersey if they aren’t already a member of another church,” he said.
More than 3,200 attended the September event, which also featured Rick Stanley, stepbrother of the late Elvis Presley, who shared his testimony. In addition to Sunday morning and evening services, there were three weekday services, including a youth service that also incorporated basketball and Wii tournaments and a concert.
“The week was incredible with more than 70 decisions after the Sunday morning service alone. It was awesome to see God’s power in action in Ohio,” said Gage, a former college football coach turned evangelist. During the week, Gage and his crusade team also addressed approximately 2,000 students at three area high schools in Johnstown and Pataskala, and at a middle school in Newark.
“The assembly we had ranks as one of the best assemblies we’ve had in the past five years. We really enjoyed it,” said Kim Jakeway, principal of Johnstown High School. “The students easily related to the experiences that Rick Gage and Rick Stanley shared and they appreciated the valuable message that both men brought to the assembly.”
According to Duncan, crusade leaders were impressed with the efforts of the local high school leaders. “We sensed that God is especially doing a good work in Watkins High School through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” he said. “There were 20 in attendance prior to the crusade and the meeting after the crusade saw 48 in attendance. Jersey church member and FCA Huddle leader Bob Morcom is being used by the Lord in a wonderful way at Watkins and he will continue to try to capitalize on what God has done through the crusade.”
For more than a decade, Rick Gage has filled high school football stadiums with crusades in small communities throughout America. Using Billy Graham’s strategy, local churches team to help organize the events and provide follow-up ministry.
In addition to his crusades, Gage has a summer camp ministry for high school and middle school students. Over the past 21 years, his camps in Colorado, Georgia, Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia have trained more than 85,000 teens and leaders in evangelism.
For more details on Rick Gage’s GO TELL Ministries, visit http://www.gotellministries.com/. For information on the Jersey Baptist Church event, call (740) 927-1859 or visit http://www.jerseychurch.org/.
# # #
After a successful football coaching career, Rick Gage launched his ministry in 1990 and has presented more than 500 evangelistic events nationally and abroad, resulting in about 250,000 people dedicating their lives to Jesus Christ. Many nationally-known athletes, two former Miss Americas and Christian leaders Josh McDowell, Johnny Hunt and James Robison have spoken on his platform. His ministry has been endorsed by college football coaches Bobby Bowden and Mark Richt, Hall of Famer/former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.
Pataskala, OH (Oct. 22, 2009) – Rick Gage lived up to his nickname, “The Small Town Billy Graham” at a four-day evangelistic event at Jersey Baptist Church in Pataskala, Ohio. More than 210 spiritual decisions were recorded for Christ with 83 initial decisions for salvation.
“Our meeting with Rick Gage will go down as the most successful harvest event in the life of Jersey Baptist Church. Rick shared the gospel in a way that was captivating and with incredible conviction,” said John A. Hays, senior pastor of Jersey Baptist Church.Phil Duncan, the church’s evangelism director added, “As a church, we felt the crusade was extremely effective and we were very pleased with the manner in which Rick Gage conducted the event. God’s anointing was on him. The crusade will be a work in progress through the end of the year and possibly into 2010.”
Duncan expects that the church’s membership will grow over the next six months as a result of the crusade. “We continue following up to give everyone who made a decision the opportunity to become an involved member of Jersey if they aren’t already a member of another church,” he said.
More than 3,200 attended the September event, which also featured Rick Stanley, stepbrother of the late Elvis Presley, who shared his testimony. In addition to Sunday morning and evening services, there were three weekday services, including a youth service that also incorporated basketball and Wii tournaments and a concert.
“The week was incredible with more than 70 decisions after the Sunday morning service alone. It was awesome to see God’s power in action in Ohio,” said Gage, a former college football coach turned evangelist. During the week, Gage and his crusade team also addressed approximately 2,000 students at three area high schools in Johnstown and Pataskala, and at a middle school in Newark.
“The assembly we had ranks as one of the best assemblies we’ve had in the past five years. We really enjoyed it,” said Kim Jakeway, principal of Johnstown High School. “The students easily related to the experiences that Rick Gage and Rick Stanley shared and they appreciated the valuable message that both men brought to the assembly.”
According to Duncan, crusade leaders were impressed with the efforts of the local high school leaders. “We sensed that God is especially doing a good work in Watkins High School through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” he said. “There were 20 in attendance prior to the crusade and the meeting after the crusade saw 48 in attendance. Jersey church member and FCA Huddle leader Bob Morcom is being used by the Lord in a wonderful way at Watkins and he will continue to try to capitalize on what God has done through the crusade.”
For more than a decade, Rick Gage has filled high school football stadiums with crusades in small communities throughout America. Using Billy Graham’s strategy, local churches team to help organize the events and provide follow-up ministry.
In addition to his crusades, Gage has a summer camp ministry for high school and middle school students. Over the past 21 years, his camps in Colorado, Georgia, Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia have trained more than 85,000 teens and leaders in evangelism.
For more details on Rick Gage’s GO TELL Ministries, visit http://www.gotellministries.com/
# # #
After a successful football coaching career, Rick Gage launched his ministry in 1990 and has presented more than 500 evangelistic events nationally and abroad, resulting in about 250,000 people dedicating their lives to Jesus Christ. Many nationally-known athletes, two former Miss Americas and Christian leaders Josh McDowell, Johnny Hunt and James Robison have spoken on his platform. His ministry has been endorsed by college football coaches Bobby Bowden and Mark Richt, Hall of Famer/former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.
