First Baptist Church of Demopolis will be holding a “Spiritual Awakening Conference” Sept. 25-28 at the church. Sunday service will be at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. while Monday through Wednesday will start at 6:30 p.m. nightly. Each service is free to attend and child care service will also be provided.
“Our hope is that what happens here will have an effect not just on our church, but the community,” said Pastor Carl Williams of First Baptist Demopolis. “Because we feel like in the times that we are living in with the things that we’re seeing happening in our country, the church needs revival, but we feel like the nation needs spiritual awakening.”
Five different speakers from different places will bring the message each meeting.
“We wanted to bring some very gifted preachers we knew would do a good job of communicating from God’s word what revival looks like,” said Williams.
Don Graham will lead the morning service. An evangelist from Clanton, Alabama, Graham has been in ministry for decades according to Williams and has a real heart for preaching revivals.
The Director of Evangelism of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions Sammy Gilbreath will deliver the Sunday evening message. Coming from Montgomery, Gilbreath has a person story of being diagnosed with a heart disorder and being told he could die at any moment.
On Monday night, Kevin Hamm, pastor of the Gardendale First Baptist Church in Birmingham will be the featured speaker. Services featuring him at Gardendale First Baptist can be seen on ABC 33/40 each Sunday at 8 a.m.
Dan Lanier, pastor of Northcrest Baptist Church in Meridian, is the featured speaker on Tuesday night and Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, will conclude the event with the Wednesday night message.
The sanctuary can hold at least 500 people and Williams hopes the venue will be packed.
“One of the reasons churches need revival and communities need awakening is that things we once were passionate about, we’re not as passionate any longer,” said Williams. “We can have sellout football games in Tuscaloosa, Auburn or Friday night here stands will be packed, but when it comes to having things for our churches we don’t seem to be as passionate about it.”
The pastor mentioned with events unfolding like with the shootings in Dallas and recently in Charlotte, North Carolina, without being a prisoner of the moment, the mood of the country needs spiritual faith.
“The only hope for America is a spiritual awakening,” Williams said. “Not what happens in November during the election. What’s going to change America is the revival of the Spirit.”
First Baptist Church of Demopolis is located at 109 S. Strawberry St. For more information, call the church at 334-289-0473.