Go Tell America evangelist Rick Gage leads attendees in prayer on the final night of the Go Tell Crusade in Rogersville . — Photo by Josh Lykins Visuals
ROGERSVILLE — More than 350 commitments, including 160 professions of faith, were recorded during the Upper East Tennessee Go Tell Crusade in late August at Cherokee High School football stadium in Rogersville.
The event, which included 25 participating churches, reached nearly 5,000 students through Go Tell’s On Track school assemblies.
Each night before the crusade, free meals were served to educators and their spouses (on Aug. 28), first responders and their spouses (Aug. 29), U.S. active military, veterans and their spouses on (Aug. 30) and students (Aug. 31).
Go Tell America evangelist Rick Gage said, “We had a great week here in Rogersville. … Our team was able to get into many of the public schools in Hawkins County, speaking to several thousand students. The testimonies at our noon follow-up luncheons have been great.
“Sheriff Ronnie Lawson was very involved,” Gage said. “I know of one entire family who got saved. All that God did here was because of prayer.”
Based in Duluth, Georgia, Go Tell Ministries hosts not only evangelistic crusades and school assemblies but also summer youth camps, international mission trips and high school/college internships.
Upper East Tennessee Go Tell Crusade Co-Chairman John Butler, pastor of East Rogersville Baptist Church, said, “Rick (Gage) and his team did a great job, and the response from the attendees at the crusade demonstrated that. …We believe that this crusade has made a major impact on the community of Rogersville, and we look forward to seeing what God has in store for us next.”
Go Tell arrangements chairman Blain Jones, of Rogersville, said the week was one of the “most stirring, meaningful moments in my 65 years on this ole sphere we call Earth. Getting to see all these wonderful souls make decisions — and be a part in several of them — (was) touching. Now to keep it going in His Name! My best to you and your endeavors.”
The Sunday following the crusade, crusade outreach chairman Fuzz Bradley, pastor of Burem Baptist Church, sent a text message to Gage that read: “Church was amazing today. … God is moving in Hawkins County.”
Dave White noted that, before the crusade, the leaders were told that the crusade was for the lost. And from that, there would be two results: (1) Decisions would be made for salvation and decisions for repentance; and (2) Churches of different denominations would come together in unity.
“I saw both of these come to fruition, but I also realized something else was happening. My heart was changing. I was experiencing the zeal and passion for the lost,” White said. “As the week went on, that zeal and passion, which I saw in other counselors, began to form in my heart.
“The group from our church who participated was 11 believers, and through their support and actions, that passion began taking root in me and us as a group,” White said. “We are beginning an evangelism study in two weeks. We also have started a new believers class for the teenagers who made decisions from our church.”
Stephen Kimery, chair of youth outreach for the Upper East Tennessee Go Tell Crusade and pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God, agreed.
“As we started the process, there was a lot of apprehension, seeing that denominational boundaries were crossed,” he said. “Yet as we pastors came together, putting God first and allowing the cause of Christ to be our only goal, something wonderful began to happen.
“We discovered we were not strangers, we were family,” he said. “Churches from different backgrounds stood and saw men and women, boys and girls, come to Jesus.” B&R
