I grew up with gospel meetings. Not revivals; gospel meetings. Denominations had revivals.
Some who are older than me remember two-week meetings, but I only go back to one-weekers. One in the fall; another in the spring. Every year.
You’d think those are bad memories. And yes, those probably weren’t my favorite two weeks of the year.
And yet — I remember the excitement at our church of knowing that someone was coming with urgent messages. Most years, Guy Napoleon Woods came. Other favorites were Hugo McCord, Bobby Key, and Walter Buchanan (my favorite because he was always so much fun at Green Valley Bible Camp near Bentonville).
I remember Guy N. Woods as a man in whom there was no doubt. His book “Questions and Answers” was like our “Pearl of Great Price” — not exactly the Bible, but still a pretty holy book.
But with the others, the memories are much better: the church getting ready in prayer, the discipline of going to the assembly every night (while other kids were playing ball!), and the attempt to write down every scripture mentioned.
I’m not wanting to go back to gospel meetings. Not at all.
But . . . remembering them makes me ask these questions: In what ways are we providing biblical teaching for the church? In what ways are we reaching out to people who are lost (in every sense of the word) — so that we seek to go out rather than attract?
I went to Green Valley Bible Camp too. I went Wayne Deffenbaugh’s week and I think he is from around Neosho MO.
Thanks for your blogs.
GVBC, Walter Buchannon, Guy N.(I never knew it was Napoleon) Woods, and marathon meetings certainly bring back memories. God somehow used all of them to bring me to faith.
‘Going v Attracting’…thanks for the reminder.
I was baptized on the Monday night of a one-week gospel meeting, with Andrew Connally bringing the message.
MIke:
I know it’s easy to laugh at the phrase, “Gospel Meetings.” I must confess that I have.
But as you implied, at least these were a sincere attempt to reach out to the lost and build up the body of Christ.
What if we church leaders prayed fervently about creative ways to reach those who have never experienced the newness of life in Christ? Bible studies at Starbucks on Wednesday nights? Festivals — complete with concerts, food and skateboard contests, as evangelist Luis Palau has done the past few years?
To paraphrase Paul, may the love of Christ continue to compel us (compel me!) to reach more people with the saving good news of Jesus!
The last several gospel meetings I went to had an interesting dynamic: they were directed at the “lost,” yet attended almost exclusively by the “saved.” In today’s environment, I believe small group settings in which there is more personal contact have more impact than what essentially amounts to a lecture.
Over the past two years, I have attended some different denominations, and I have seen that when it comes to Bible knowledge, even if it is only Bible Bowl knowledge, the C of C is still at or near the top. I think we should be proud of our Bible school culture, and look at ways to enhance that to reach the “lost” while nurturing the “saved.”
I never knew what the ‘N’ was for!!!
I didn’t really like the Gospel Meetings that much except that I knew the preacher would have a slide show or flannel graph or some kind of visual aid that would make things a little more interesting than the regular guy.
Marshall Keeble, He stayed at my friends house in St. Pete Fla. Being well up in years he stepped into a big puddle in the yard. Someone said “Watch out for that water”. Brother Keeble replied in an instant: “Yessa, and they’s water in da blood too.” Don’t know why I remember that, I just do. What a fine Christian man!
The audio link on the page about Guy N. Woods is a recording of one of the most shameful events in Church of Christ history. I am surprised it is included on a tribute page to him.
I think the contemporary challenge will be evangelism in the wake of the demise (culturally and intellectually) of penal substitutionary atonement.
Seems to me that a lot is being done these days to “attract” and “advertise” how great our churches are, and how great all the programs and classes are. However, I think real engagement (I despise the term “outreach”) occurs on personal levels when we open our homes and encourage fellowship that is genuine and unhindered by my-way-is-the-right-way rule centered talk. “Going out” makes a lot more sense to me than “attracting.” Seems like the attraction to the body itself would be a natural occurance once someone has been engaged with members of that body.
That said, I enjoyed a good revival as a kid. As the minister’s family, we wound up eating many fellowship meals with the visiting minister. I think revivals or gospel meetings have gotten a bad rap in the past decade or so, due to misconceptions of Christianity in general, and some bad seeds being brought to light in very public ways.
My dad, Raymond Elliott, held gospel meetings all over south Alabama and northwest Florida when I was a kid. I was in charge of organizing all of his flannel-graph materials (yesterday’s PowerPoint!). During the summers, I would sometimes go with him and spend the whole week; when the “gig” was in driving range, I remember listening to AM radio (CBS Mystery Theater, the Mull Singing Convention) on the way home on those windy county roads. More than anything else, the term “gospel meeting” means spending great time with my dad. Great memories.
I’m 33, and I don’t remember going to any gospel meetings.
However, I am pretty sure that Walter Buchanan was the preacher at the church my family attended in the mid-80’s, in Broken Arrow, OK. I honestly don’t remember much about him. I recall thinking he was a good speaker though.
Thanks for the blast from the past.
Those who have lost interest in Gospel meetings have probably never heard Neale Pryor recount the events leading to the death of Jesus. That was by far my most moving Gospel meeting moment.
A two week meeting was nothing compared to early meetings. Marshall Keeble regularly held 30 day Gospel meetings.
The gospel meetings were good for their time, but that time passed long ago…we just recognized it about 25 years after the fact. I think that there are three avenues that all churches must explore if they wish to go to the lost rather than trying to “draw” them:
1. Actively engaging the disenfranchised of our society.
2. Thoroughly educating members in apologetics. Anyone who wishes to engage non-believers is going to face tough questions and needs to present non-dogmatic answers.
3. Planting churches within their communities (especially outside of the Bible Belt). In most communities, the day of the mega-church has passed.
Ironically, I think I enjoyed gospel meetings more as a child than I did as an adult. I’m sure that was colored by having to get children to bed late on school nights, everybody fed before church tine, etc. It does bother me a little that we think we don’t have time for them in our busy schedules…just don’t know if they would be a efffective tool today.
As a child in the 50’s, the week of gospel meeting and the week of Vacation Bible School were highlights of our year.
No wonder he shortened it and went by Guy N. Of course I’m speaking from a post “Napoleon Dynamite” perspective, so my thoughts are obviously skewed.
As far as outreach, engagement or whatever term you choose…it’s not an either or situation. I think there is room for “attraction” and desperate need for “going out.” Seems that Jesus did both. Different people come to Jesus in different ways. It’s a matter of contextualizing the gospel.
My heartache comes in that it seems that the church has not chosen one path over another, but more times than not has not chosen a path at all. There are exceptions, but as a whole, the Body of Christ needs to wake up.
Ed Stetzer (Planting Missional Churches) notes that the U.S. is the largest mission field in Western culture and the 5th largest in the world. Attraction or going…we better do something for the sake of Christ and the world.
“Gospel Meetings” were relevant to a different generation. They have very little relevancy today. They stopped having them here because the students wouldn’t attend……and I understand why they wouldn’t.
As far as “providing biblical teaching”, I think there is much more expectation that people will do that individually or in small groups instead of at church. It wasn’t that way in the past. I’m not saying that is optimum, but it seems to be the lay of the land at present. Our time in community….which is vital…..seems to be centered more on praise and worship as opposed to teaching.
Thanks for bringing back some memories! Some great ones, and some not so great.
DU
I never knew what the “N” standed for either. I was privileged to be around him at least once a year as a kid. He would come to Michigan about once a year. We always had him to dinner and as a kid I highly respected him. I had read his book. One year I related to him that I was a majorette and some of the people at the church had made comments about my long sleeved corduroy outfit with a skirt about 3 inches over my knee. He asked if I was interested in school things and was a good a majorette. I said “yes” and expected a little talk. He said he liked to see kids intested in school things and that will usually keep you out of trouble. That was it. I was elated, and I was a great majorette!
Being in a little younger generation I can’t remember anything other than the one week meetings. I remember they emphasis on “saving the lost,” but there were never too many visitors there.
Honestly, most the time I loved the meetings because it was a chance to see my “church” friends on nights other than Sunday and Wednesday.
We still have meetings occasionally here, but the focus is not reaching the lost as much as it is building up the members. When we want to really reach out to the community and the unchurched we have a Friend’s Day. Usually that doubles our attendance. And, it’s been a great outreach too.
I was baptized in a big wooden “box” on the stage of the Community Center during a Gospel Meeting with George Bailey! What a sweet memory!
Lately I’ve thought a lot about the changing way the church needs to be reaching out to the community. I was really inspired by reading “Jim and Casper Go To Church” by Jim Henderson. Jim is a minister who hires his atheist friend Casper to visit churches all over the country and give his impression. Wow! It is a must-read for anyone wanting an outsider’s view of “church.”
I never grew up going to these meetings. I never even went to a church. But I respect the memories that everyone had. I even wrote about Foy E Wallace today in the blog. He was one of the best during his time.
http://www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org
I did not start going to church until I was 18. After baptism in the Gulf of Mexico by a coffee house evangelist, I was allowed to see the world with new eyes. The love that I experienced in the churches that formed me spiritually was something I had never experiienced before. I heard Jimmy Allen speak at a meeting one time, I believe it was a three day event. I remember over 40 people responding to the alter call. It may have been a gospel meeting but it certainly felt like a revival. Blended strategies for outreach is what I believe in. Outreach events, testimonies, Sunday School, Small Groups and sermons on Sunday morning all with the common goal of bringing Jesus and God into the lives of the lost. We must not be caught in a better me(inward focus) but rather “A Closer Walk With Thee.”
“In what ways are we providing biblical teaching for the church?”
There’s just no substitute for excellent teaching. We need more of it. I think that the newer “summer series” tradition has a lot of potential for that. Night-time VBS too. (Bad timing, I know).
People still go to plenty of public events. Movies, races, games. Is it that the church simply can’t compete with that level of spectacle? Should it try or not? I wonder about that.
For the record, no set is complete without Volume II of Guy N. Woods’ “Questions and Answers.”
Where i live Gospel meetings are still a popular thing among the conservative Churches of Christ. Most churches around here have one at least once a year, although nowdays they usually last only until Wednesday night. There’s always an emphasis on saving the lost at these meetings, but the truth is, the only people who attend them are faithful members of the church. We always have a lot of visitors, but they are from other congregations in the area. The usual sermons consist of “Anyone in a denomination are not saved”, “baptism”, and of course “instrumental music is wrong”. Nothing is really done to attract the unsaved to these meetings anyway. The truth is, people today don’t have or take the time to attend these meetings, especially when they hear the same thing being taught over and over again. What do the one’s do who don’t have gospel meetings do to try and attract people and does it work, because this sure doesn’t seem to anymore.
One thing that comes to mind as I consider this topic is the word “Gospel”. Don’t you think that taking the Good News to those who don’t know Jesus is what draws folks to Christ? Sermons emphasizing special interests of the preacher, whether that is the defense of instrumental music, the history of the Church of Christ, or errors of other denominations is not the Gospel. There may be a time and place for discussion of some of that, but please do not call it a Gospel sermon. To me, pointing people to Jesus is what He asked us to do and that is much different than converting them to the Church of Christ.
I’m with Jim on the Starbucks idea.
Gospel Meetings… The invention of the television was the sentense of death for the meetings. The invention of cable television flipped the executioner’s switch.
Having said that, I am 34 and remember going to plenty of Gospel Meetings. Ted Night w(preacher from Arkansas) as a favorite of the northwestern Indiana area because he helped begin several congregations in the area. Another favorite was Jimmy Allen and Willie Franklin. I had Jimmy Allen as an undergraduate teacher at Harding and though I would differ on a lot of issues with Jimmy now, I still consider it a great priviledge to have had him as a teacher.
Hey Matthew. You’ll also find that Foy E. Wallace was one of the most disgusting racists in the Churches of Christ’s history (at least that had a public platform). I have a hard time keeping that from overshadowing the rest of the man.
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Years ago I read Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed. There’s a great passage in there that relates her experience with a contemporary “tent revival.” I bookmarked it at the time, and it spoke to me again when I saw Larry James’ recent post:
http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/2007/08/crucifixion-as-silencer.html
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Maybe I’m too young, or maybe it’s that I didn’t grow up in the C of C. But, for some reason “tent revivals” and “gospel meetings” make me gag a little whenever I pass a sign advertising one… Maybe I just don’t have the fond memories of potlucks to look back on, and I get caught up in some of the uglier realities (racism, fire & brimstone, exclusivism, etc.). But, if Rex is right and televangelists where the death of those meetings, then they weren’t anywhere near as bad as what replaced them…
Sorry, I’m in a mood.
My father-in-law preached numerous “Gospel Meetings” a year … it was pretty much the accepted way in the south for a preacher to earn some serious money. I say that in all honesty, because about the only people attending these “meetings” were people from the local churches of Christ. We were encouraged to attend other’s gospel meetings so that when we had our gospel meeting, they would attend ours! Before PowerPoint, he used king-sized bed sheets with full color drawings and Bible references. My mother-in-law would spend days drawing out and coloring these sheets … and we knew when a bed sheet was hanging on the stage, it was going to be a LONG sermon!
I as Trey on the younger generation also remember a focus on saving the lost and I really don’t remember gospel meeting being a week long only a few days.
I think things that might be relavent today might be a Joe Beam Seminar or similar.
My wife was baptized at a meeting. I believe the speaker was Harvey Starling (still alive, well, and preaching today!)
Since then she has overcome some barriers to “progressive Christianity” and has blossomed into this vibrant Christian woman who is mature in her faith beyond her years. She looks back on that gospel meeting with love, not with contempt.
The beauty of the gospel meeting was that it served its time so well
I not only remember two week meetings….I remember two hour plus sermons from the likes of dear old Foy Wallace and others. My favorite Marshall Keeble saying was, “God is not in the dry cleaning business….It is wet wash only”!
What a wonderful man and eloquent speaker he was!
Kathryn
Is the gospel meeting really “outdated”…or have we become too disinterested because of TV (as mentioned earlier), sports events, work (do we really work more than the farmers of a century ago?), and other things that the world offers that are more “fun”?
Dee, it may depend on who the “meeting” is intended for… If the world is disinterested, whether for the reasons you gave or others, then it is outdated - or at the very least ineffective.
I am wondering if showing “Facing The Giants”, “The Passion Of The Christ”; “The Nativity Story”; or other film that might be tools more relavent today instead of gospel meetings.
Mike, I guess this proves I’m older. I recall the 14 day “protracted” meetings! I also remember the “discipline” of going to the meetings every night. I also recall having the crap scared out of me, er, sorry, the “fear of the Lord” applied to my young soul. This is also where I picked up the rather literal approach to scripture–especially the fire and brimstone parts (complete with illustrated charts and graphs of people like me –fifth grade and up burning forever in a lake of fire) and the avenging God of the chosen people. I also remember why we had it right and everyone else had it wrong–I took the learning from these meetings to the streets and the hallways of my school with very bad outcomes!
I’m all for learning scripture, but I think I got that by reaction formation out of my experience with “gospel meetings.” The Meetings part I get. It’s the Gospel that I missed.
One more thought or, better, question: where would Jesus sit in one of these meetings? I see him out on the front steps with the fellows smoking.
Preacherman,
We started having movie nights this year. We stage these inviter events with the hope and prayer that our members will bring their friends. To date Christian Comedy has brought in more non-christians than anything we have done. In addition to the movies you have already mentioned we have shown Flywheel another movie by the folks in Georgia who brought us Facing the Giants. Next up is The Cross and the Towers. Of course the espresso and popcorn are free.
I had the privelige of attending a good old fashion gospel meeting at a rural west Tennessee congregation this summer.
It was six nights long, and by Thursday night the place was packed with 100 people. This was really very refreshing for me, as I guess I’ve been accustomed to more “listener oriented” teaching and preaching over the last few years.
Yeah, I wish more unsaved would have been there-but the couple of people that did respond made the whole week worthwhile.
I think a little “fire and brimstone” preaching really emphasizes what our salvation actually saves us from.
Yes, Harvey Starling is still preaching today.
Mike,
“In what ways are we reaching out to people who are lost (in every sense of the word)”
What’s this mean? Mainly “… who are lost (in every sense of the word)”
Don’t expect an answer but would appreciate it. Thanks
In Dallas we had 2 week gospel meetings with Jimmy Allen. I think it was the church of Christ answer to the Billy Graham crusades. It was downtown in what was Memorial Auditorium. I remember singing 6 verses of “Just As I Am” and then switching over to”Almost Persuaded.” The crowd was pretty amazing especially at the end. The number of baptism could add 30 minutes to the service. I remember Jimmy Allen talking while we were singing to bring any soul that might need that extra push.
Mike, I still go back to Green Valley every year. Not as a camper, but as a director…and it’s still one of the best places on earth.
Gospel meetings bring back a lot of memories for me as well….most of them good. In going through my dad’s papers and notes, I think he kept every flyer and newspaper clipping from every gospel meeting ever preached for each congregation in each town he lived - also I think he kept every flyer and newspaper clipping from every gospel meeting that he “conducted”. In his notes, I can read about a meeting where he baptized 29 people and I can imagine the excitement he felt and that of the congregation that 29 souls “obeyed the gospel”. I also read about a meeting where he baptized a man’s wife - this man later became an elder and always thanked my dad for presenting the gospel in such a way that his wife understood and obeyed.
His charts are beautiful - an artist who painted charts for Gus Nichols painted my dad’s charts. He loved to tell the audience that Bro. Nichols hired an artist to paint his charts but told the artist that he might have made a mistake and for the artist to look up the scriptures on the charts and make sure they were the right scriptures for that lesson - and then the artist wanted to be baptized when Bro. Nichols went to pick up the charts.
It was different time and a different mindset of those in the community. The enthusiasm for the gospel meeting was contagious and some “outsiders” would come to a service just to see why those people in the Church of Christ were so excited about their revival. Doors were opened and questions were asked and many learned the truth.
It was also a challenging time for the children of the local congregation. Depending on the prejudices of their school teachers, extra homework would/could be given that week - just to see if those Church of Christ kids could do their homework while attending every service of a revival at their church. It was a chance for us (the kids) to show the teacher that we could.
My grandmother who died at the age of 90 in 1974, would often ask “is there a gospel meeting anywhere nearby we can attend this week?”
I have also kept all my dad’s charts - used to tell him I would use them for tablecloths and drapes! He would only preach one chart per meeting - he thought they were wonderful teaching tools used sparingly
One other thing about the gospel meetings. They could be either good or bad for the local preachers. It gave the local preacher a chance to sit back and listen and learn from someone else’s preaching and it gave the local congregation a chance to to listen to someone else. Different ones in the congregation would then say “well, Bro. xxxx did a fine job but I still would rather listen to our Bro. xxxx preach” - OR “Bro. xxxx is a fine preacher and I think we can get someone like him to come and work with our congregation full time - and then the locak preacher would be fired.
Tam, when you mentioned “Just as I Am,” I was reminded of the time that Jimmy Allen spoke at Harding, and we sang all six verses three times!
Did anyone besides me ever feel sorry for the preacher when no one “went forward” after about a million verses of the invitation song?
Jimmy Allen…Memphis, TN…April 1965…we sang “Just As I Am” for 45 minutes…seems like my grandmother said it was something like 110 verses…and I think that was the night we had close to 200 responses…something like 50 baptisms. Special memories!
I felt that way a few times, Kathy. Although during the 18 verses of “Just as I Am,” I thought, “Well, I don’t really feel a need to go forward, but I’m tempted to if it means we can finally stop singing this song.”
It wasn’t a Gospel Meeting, per se, but growing up in South Africa we had this good ol’ preacher boy from Oklahoma come over and spend 18 months (EIGHTEEN MONTHS!) on the Gospel of John.
Eighteen months. Lots of meetings, a whole lot of one Gospel, so maybe it counts…
I remember gospel meetings with fondness. The longest I can remember was Sunday through Sunday. And in my early days, we actually had an early morning service at 6:00 a.m. And believe it or not, the attendance was pretty good. My wife tells me her parents came from 20 miles away to be at the early service.
I especially remember being shaped by the preaching of Batsell Barrett Baxter, Mack Wayne Craig, Willard Collins, Clarence Daily, and others. It was also a treat when they visited in our home or the home of other families.
There were gospel meetings at churches throughout the county all summer long - and they helped develop within me an evangelistic passion.
Like many, I was baptized during a meeting. It was the most powerful experience of my life.
And like many of you, I have held my share of gospel meetings — some of which were very effective.
In many churches, gospel meetings were homecoming and community events. Times have changed, but there is still something very powerful about presenting the word effectively, relevantly — and appropriate to the audience. I hope we don’t ever become so “sophisticated” that we don’t seek out opportunities to speak the good news in whatever settings people can be gathered.
I can remember gospel meetings and the gospel was preached. The sermons constantly had an emphasis on the cross and Jesus blood. Still a good way to reach the lost. To use the contemporary language , there will always be some attractional ways and some missional approaches to teach the good news of Jesus Christ. Thank God for all the wonderful ways that members of the church are reaching out to hopeless people all over the world and every day !
Ah, shades of E. W. McMillan and Horace Busby. Even when I heard them in the 50’s, I knew they were a cut above the other ministers I was hearing. I enjoyed them because they challenged my thinking–not a popular thing for preachers to do in those days.
Whatever happened to seeker services? Were they pretty much a bomb for the same reasons the gospel meetings would be these days?
We had a Phil Keaggy concert last week, and a young man who came was baptized on Sunday. He was a seeker who was touched by the music. Maybe more of these kinds of meetings would be good. I love Jim’s Starbucks idea. I would attend.
I went to a meeting with Oral Roberts when I was a little girl and watched him do HIS thing..very bizarre…
Precher Man,
Showing movies like “The Passion of Christ” or “The Nativity Story” would probably be a good way to begin conversations with people who do not follow Jesus. BUT NOT in a church building. Most non-churched people are not interested in “coming to church.” Start a home movie club.
Tonight will be the start of something similar. There will be a group of about 12 people showing up to our home, 3 of which do not confess Jesus as Lord. We are going to being reading “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller and let this book lead us into a discussion on what it means to live out the Christian faith (I am praying that it will also challenge some of us Christians too). We are calling the group “Beginning Conversations.” This is an attempt to let Jesus be known outside of the church building and in a home that sits in an everyday neighberhood. I pray that this is just the beginning.
Rex,
That sounds like a great idea!
Thanks for the information.
Kathy S,
I did and it was usually on “Just As I AM”….He would stop and plead…And of course sing ALL 6 verses. I felt so sorry for the guy. I think that might been his name. GUY N. WOODS.
Rex
Why not in a “church” buidling? Our inviter events in the Church building bring over a 100 unchurched each event. We find it to be an non-threatening way for our members to reach out to their friends and family.
For the Nativity Story we rented a theater( bought all the tickets to a showing).
Rex,
Sounds like a great idea for your conversation group. May the Lord Bless your group.
Chaplain G,
Sounds like things are going great at your church too. God bless you brother.
The H2O films are one of the most powerful things I have seen lately to touch the hearts of the unchurched. We showed them and our members brought many friends. We have also started H2O groups in homes. They would also be great for a coffee house or lunch break at a business. Check out these websites to learn more — h2ojourney.com and cityonahillproductions.com
Gary Beauchamp, 1973, University cofc, Abilene. It’s the last gospel meeting I recall. Earlier ones were Landon Saunders and Jimmy Allen that come to mind, and one man that made great laughter - sorry I forgot his name.
But, that Wed. night in 1973, Gary scared two of my best buds right out of the aisle and to the front (only one row away). I was scared and excited - and wanted to take that step or two during the 19th verse of Just As I am….but I didn’t. However, my dad baptized me the next night, a Thursday, the night Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the great tennis match.
Couldn’t enjoy gospel meetings that much as a boy. Loved that we usually had the guest preacher at our house. Loved the meals in the homes of the members. Hated that there would be a last night of the meeting and the preacher would, in solemn tones, remind us, “Eternity. What if this earth we live on were a steel ball. Flying around the earth is a bird. Every 25,000 miles the bird touches one wing to the steel ball. When this touching of the bird’s wing has finally worn away the ball of steel . . . eternity has not even begun.”
I’m glad to read positive comments about gospel meetings and the men who preached in them. Guy N. Woods was a great scholar, an humble man, and a devoted preacher of the truth.
Those fortunate enough to have heard him and Marshall Keeble and Gus Nichols and B. C. Goodpasture have fond memories of preaching not heard much today. Members of the church were recognized as students of the Bible and were happy to share their beliefs with others. I read negative comments about things done in the past, but not many suggestions about how to do it now or do it better. Why have many Christians turned away from hearing the truth and want to be provided something more to their liking?
Most of you guys talk like gospel meetings are a thing of past–and based on your comments I assume they are in some parts of the US,–but among CoCs here in the Southeastern US they’re still very much alive. Most congregations still do one in the Spring and one in the Fall. Non-institutional people will typically go Sunday through Friday (with Friday often being the night of greatest attendance!), while institutional people will go through Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, as some have said above, the “gospel meeting” moniker is pretty inaccurate, as the sermons are almost always aimed at people who are already Christians. Sometimes they are the old instrumental-music-is-wrong type sermons, and sometimes they are more practical encouraging sermons, but rarely are they Christ-is-the-one-true-Savior type sermons, which can be really frustrating. Nevertheless, a lot of us proudly attend as much as we can, trying to make the best of an imperfect situation.
Chaplain G,
I wasn’t trying to suggest that the church building will never be useful. I am glad some people are willing to come to the events at the building. As far as the Nativity Movie being shown, a rented theatere is not the church building. It is a nuetral place.
As far as I was suggesting, showing the movie in a home with a small group of invited people is also a much more ideal environment for generating open and honest conversation. There is plenty of research out there on this to suggest why the small group environment is more effective than a large crowd. But in the end if people will come to a large crowd environment and hear about Jesus, the praise be to God.