Revival @ Dial’s Church
I just completed preaching a 4-day revival (Oct. 13 through Oct. 16) at Dial’s Church in Gray Court, SC. This church has a very long history, founded in 1808 by Francis Asbury, (the famous Methodist circuit-rider evangelist who was ordained by John Wesley himself). The church was founded in the home of Martin Dial with 13 original members, two of which were black slaves. Martin Dial was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. The graveyard beside the church is a preserved historical site, including graves of veterans of the war of 1812, and several veterans from the civil war of the 1860s. The present church building was constructed about 1860 on land donated by Martin Dial. In modern times, Dial’s Church became affiliated with the United Methodist Churches but left the UMC and became independent again in 2023. More info can be found at the following link: Dial’s Church Historical Marker
The revival services were audio-recorded and are posted below.
The GOSPEL as the POWER of God
Making a LASTING Difference
The DWELLING PLACE of God in the Spirit
FINISH the Work!
Last year, as I was driving to Ohio to attend a theological conference, I stopped near Paris, Kentucky to visit the site of the “Cane Ridge Revival” of 1801. Barton W. Stone was pastor of this little log Presbyterian church, where a great move of God’s Spirit took place and as a result thousands of people came to faith in Jesus Christ. The church I pastored in Florida was part of the movement birthed out of the Cane Ridge Revival. This visit was very inspirational to me, particularly because of the contrast between what happened here over 200 years ago and the theological conference I attended immediately after my visit. The conference consisted of speaker after speaker spinning God’s words in order to justify a preconceived theological system. It was heady, and lifeless. In contrast, Cane Ridge filled me with a sense of God’s power and His desire to change hearts and lives. This visit marks a turning point in my ministry, to be more focused on things that truly change hearts as opposed to merely changing minds (theology). I would never have come to historic Dial’s church, nor would I have been asked to preach a revival there, if I had not been deeply moved and changed by my visit to the Cane Ridge Meeting House, spent time in prayer and reflection there, and my own heart been changed.
For more historical info, see the following links:
McGready Revival – 1800
Cane Ridge Revival – 1801