[07.15.08] When pastor Pete Mullins of Coweta Community Church in Newnan, Ga., gathered churches in the county to pray for revival eight years ago, he didn’t picture meeting for 30 days in a row.
“I told a reporter at a newspaper that revival for three or four days is exciting but when you’re going to church 33 days in a row, it’s a whole different universe,” Mullins said. The church, located 25 minutes south of Atlanta, took a break over the July Fourth weekend, but resumed revival services on July 8.
The revival’s launch began with Frank Seamster, an evangelist and a frequent minister at the church. “I’ve been ministering there for over 10 years and the last time I was at the church for its 10th anniversary, I sensed something was building and intensifying with the presence of the Lord,” Seamster explained. “From the opening of the service on June 1st, we knew it was going to be different. We determined that we were going to make ourselves available to God.”
On the fourth night, Seamster noticed an increase in healing miracles. “It was like in the Bible, with the preaching of the Word, God was confirming it with signs and wonders,” he said. “Every night we had different miracles but on the fourth night, people who had vision problems and those who had chronic pain for 20 years testified of being healed. They stood in the prayer line, and God instantly healed them.” Families have been restored and there’s a distinct move of God among the teenagers and young adults.
“One girl, a pastor’s daughter, had strayed from God and gotten involved in drugs,” Seamster said. “She came to the services and got set free from drugs. God blessed her with a job and someone gave her a car. Teenagers are testifying of how God is transforming their lives by coming to the services. There’s signs, wonders and miracles, but there must be a permanent change taking place in your life.”
Mullins credits prayer for creating the climate for revival. “We started a prayer service on Wednesday night where all we do is pray and worship with other churches,” Mullins said. “We cry out to God together for revival. Every week we also have four different corporate prayer meetings.”
Other churches joined Mullins’ intercession for revival in the county. “We would go once a month to another church, regardless of their denomination and pray for them,” Mullins explained. “I would call them out of the phone book and we went to 107 churches in the county on the first Thursday of every month. We did this for two years once a month.” Those churches join Coweta Community’s revival services and the services have attracted visitors from as far as Chattanooga, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga.
Mullins and Seamster agree that they don’t see an end to the revival services. “I’m amazed at the excitement of the people in our little town with people coming and getting ministered to,” Mullins said. “God will show up every night with a different emphasis or expression. I’ve been blown away at how faithful God is.” —Leilani Haywood
