The first half of 2010 has been a thrilling and fruitful time for Fairforest Baptist Church, Union. Since Jan. 3, when the church called a new full-time pastor after two years without a pastor, 33 people have come to know God through salvation or rededication.
Fairforest pastor Allen Gregory and his wife Linda.Pastor Allen Gregory has coined a new term to describe his reaction to what is happening at Fairforest: “Praisallujah!”
“We know it is not a word, but it sure sounds good,” Gregory said.
Gregory said the church had become “so hungry for God” during a time of prayer and seeking for a full-time pastor that “they had become as one mind, each desiring to see God work and use them as a church body.”
He said he felt God asking him and his congregation to lead 33 people to know God. To encourage the congregation, and as a reminder, he ordered red wristbands with “Prayer 33” imprinted on them. Even before the wristbands arrived, five people had accepted Christ as Savior. From that point, “God’s blessings kept pouring out,” Gregory said, as more people gave their hearts to Christ.
With Prayer 33 well underway, Gregory said he felt God leading him to challenge the church to submit to 21 days of prayer and fasting. The reason, he told his congregation, was “to empty ourselves, so God can fill us with him.” From the oldest to the youth, people gave up habits – favorite candies, television and meals – to pray and seek God. As a result of their prayer and fasting, Gregory said, a woman was set free from a 50-year smoking addiction, and most church members have become “stronger and more excited to see God working.”
A few weeks ago, Gregory announced to his congregation that the church had reached its goal of leading 33 people for Christ in five months. One member told the pastor she believed the church had been in Prayer 33 for only four months. Gregory looked back at his calendar and realized that it had not been five months, and not four, but only three months.
“There is no other way to explain it, except to say it is God,” Gregory said. “Sometimes life can be full of the most unexpected things. It can also be full of the most humbling and rewarding adventures.”
In the midst of the excitement on the night Fairforest reached the 33rd person for Christ, someone asked, “Now what?” The perfect answer was given: “We start again.”