The football teams from Dyersburg High School and Dyer County High School attend a joint worship service at First Baptist Church, Newbern. Through response cards, there were 85 professions of faith recorded.
DYERSBURG — When two high schools came together for an event earlier this fall, the Holy Spirit did some big and powerful things.
There was a revival among the rivals. And the impact was eternal.
Two days before the football game between Dyersburg High School and Dyer County High School, students and staff members from the two schools gathered at First Baptist Church, Newbern, for a “joint” worship service.
Roughly 250 youth attended the event, and, at the end of the night, 85 students indicated (through response cards) that they had made professions of faith. An additional 41 students rededicated their lives to Christ.
Mike McCullough, associate pastor and student pastor at FBC, helped organize the event. The service included music from the FBC youth worship team, followed by a message from FBC pastor Mark LaRue, who presented the gospel.
In the weeks that have followed since the event, McCullough and other youth leaders from the area have reached out to the students who made decisions that night.
“Follow-up is so important (for this event) because we hope to get the students plugged into a church and a youth group where they can grow,” McCullough said.
The teams gather for a meal prior to the worship service at First Baptist Church, Newbern.
“We want to help them follow through with their decision, whether it was a new relationship with Christ or a moment where they said, ‘I need to change my life.’ ”
McCullough said he has contacted other youth ministers “to divide the names” and connect with the students. “Most of the students (who made decisions) weren’t involved in church,” he said.
This was the second year that the two schools have held a joint service. The previous event was held at the football stadium.
“My thinking was, I’d really like to make this more of a church atmosphere,” said McCullough. “(At FBC), we have a youth worship service every Wednesday night. And so my thought was, ‘Let’s invite both football teams to come join us for that.”
On the night of the service, FBC provided a meal for the football players (many of whom came straight from football practice) prior to the worship gathering. Students from the FBC youth group and other youth also attended the event.
McCullough said he was thrilled with the turnout, and even more excited about the decisions.
“We were praying for big things — but this was truly amazing,” he said.
McCullough said he is hopeful that what happened at FBC will inspire other youth leaders to consider doing a similar event.
“My hope is that other counties could experience the same thing that we did,” he said. “I would love for them to find out what happened here, and say to themselves, ‘hey, maybe we can do that, too.’ ” B&R
