The Central Mississippi Go-Tell America Crusade held a Kick-off Banquet on August 19th at Salem Baptist Church in Lake. The event served as the official kick-off for the crusade event which is scheduled for October 20–23 at the Forest High School football field.
The banquet began with a welcome and prayer by Tom Miles, Crusade Finance Co-Chairman. A blessing of the food was offered by Pastor Larry Duncan before Pro Football Hall of Famer, Billy Shaw, took the stage to share his personal testimony. Shaw also offered insights from his time as chairperson of his own local area’s Go-Tell America Crusade in 2015. The Duncan Sisters performed prior to former Southern Baptist Convention President, Johnny Hunt’s message and Crusade Challenge.
Pastor Hunt challenged all those in attendance to think of those that had influenced them in some way, and then directed attendees to reflect on what they were doing with that influence in their world today. “I’ve never missed anything I gave away,” Hunt said. He challenged others to give the gift of themselves in offering their time, efforts, prayers and resources to assist with the quickly approaching crusade in Forest.
Go Tell Ministry founder Rick Gage charged the attendees to sign-up for one of the many teams that will serve in numerous capacities during the lead up and follow up of the event. The banquet concluded with Crusade co-chair, Bubba Holifield, giving the benediction.
Organizers of the event expected up to 500 guests to attend the banquet, ultimately their expectations were met, and exceeded. Over 35 local churches were represented at the kick-off evening. Dozens of new volunteers were added to those who are already serving on one of the crusade teams. Additionally, approximately 25 percent of the total event budget was either donated or pledged during the banquet.
“We consider the banquet to be a huge success,” Lynn Irby, Crusade Chairperson said. “To God be the glory! I would like to convey a special thanks to everyone involved with this wonderful evening. From the venue and organizing, to the cooking and servers, our table sponsors and donation partners, executive team and crusade team chairmen, local churches, pastors and attendees and so many more.
“We were so blessed to see this event bring so many in our community out and be given the opportunity to be involved with the crusade. Multiple churches, denominations, nationalities, races, and backgrounds were represented that night. This solidified the mission of this crusade effort and that is — we are one body working together to reach our world for Christ. As Bro. Rick Gage has stated many times, this is our event, not his. He and his team are here to help facilitate this evangelistic effort but this crusade belongs to us as a community. We are thankful for the community support in praying and preparing to reach our area for Christ.”
Go Tell Ministries works to unite local churches, regardless of denomination, in order to pool their resources for community wide evangelistic outreach events. The crusade scheduled for October in Forest will include churches from all over Central Mississippi. The event is expected to fill L.O. Atkins field at Forest High School to capacity each night and spread the message of the gospel to thousands of people over the four night crusade.
For more information contact Lynn Irby at 601-278-9641.
