THE HARDEEVILLE OUTPOURING

HARDEEVILLE, SC -- The sermon was titled "Come Hell or High Water." Half of Savannah, Georgia, was floating away on Monday afternoon as twelve inches of rain fell on that area. It looked like revival wouldn’t be tonight but there’s something about God’s people when the fire is hot -- they can’t be turned away. Hardeeville, South Carolina, is a small community about seventeen miles from Savannah. It is situated very close on the low land banks of the Savannah River. With the city half under water a greater river flowed from the altar at Abundant Life Assembly of God and those who were thirsty for that river would not be denied.

John Davis stepped up to the pulpit and people who had come from as far away as 200 miles were there to hear what God had to say on this rainy night. It’s a true miracle as more than 800 to 900 people showed up in a church with the population of 150. God is doing something that is awakening the city of Savannah and the surrounding cities around the borders of South Carolina and Georgia.

Pastor Charles Bowman had traveled to Brownsville on 35 different occasions and God spoke to him about asking John Davis to come and preach revival in his church. John Davis said, "At the time Charles asked me to come to Hardeeville, I had more than 64 different invitations to preach revival but there was something about this invitation. When I prayed over it the Holy Spirit impressed on me very much to go there. I’m not concerned about money, big churches or anything else, I just want to see God use me in the places where I go."

It was in December that John Davis set a date to begin temporary revival meetings in Hardeeville. "The first night John came we had about 300 people and he turned to me and said, ‘Can you feel that -- there’s a river in this place.’ Davis spoke to me and said, ‘you can’t have this kind of Spirit in a church unless the track has been laid -- this revival has been planned long before I ever came through the door.’" What started out as a temporary meeting turned into a regular date for revival on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. "We had just built the gymnasium and the Lord impressed me to complete it as soon as possible. We have a beautiful sanctuary but it only holds 160 people. We could have never accommodated the people that are coming now in the church -- God’s timing was perfect as the gym was finished and is now the staging area for this great event," said the pastor.

"I started going to Pensacola in November of ‘96 by myself, just me and my wife.. I went back in February and then every few weeks we would take some of our people until the entire church had been to revival at Brownsville."

John Kilpatrick came to Savannah for a special meeting and spotted Pastor Charles Bowman and walked up to him and said, "Your church is very close to here isn’t it?" Bowman said, "Yes." "Get ready, revival is coming your way." Bowman looked at the pastor and said, "Are you sure?" He looked back and said, "No, -- I’m telling you, it’s coming your way."

Pastor Bowman said, "One night in Pensacola I saw John Davis go to the pulpit to take up the offering. It was then when God impressed on me that I was supposed to ask him to come to Hardeeville. I thought to myself, what chance do I have of him coming here? We’re just a congregation of 150." John Davis came to Hardeeville because he could hear the voice of God. The revival is now into its sixth month in the small South Carolina town and on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights more than 750 people jam the gymnasium for services. "We had to do a lot of work to get the place ready but God was in it. We bought 300 chairs to start with and set up 150 of them. Since John has been here we ordered 300 more. Would you believe that John Davis got up one night after he learned of us buying the extra chairs and said, ‘Pastor has ordered 300 more chairs, it’s going to cost $12,000. I want to give $1,000 toward it tonight. Let’s pay for those chairs tonight.’ Would you believe we paid for those chairs that night. People are hungry right now and they have gone way beyond their abilities more than just one time. God is in the house and we will not be satisfied until the entire area is on fire with revival."

When John Davis was in Oklahoma he attracted ministers, believers, and lost people from all over the surrounding states and now it is once again happening in Hardeeville. Hardeeville, South Carolina, is smaller than Miami, Oklahoma, and the same thing is happening. They are coming from North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida just to receive a touch from the Lord. The spin-offs of revival are happening again with Hardeeville as the center. Make no mistake about it, this is a regional move of God that has the potential of capturing the entire city of Savannah -- a southern city that has never had a great move of God.

In Charleston, South Carolina, a Christian Television station has been sending cameramen to capture the revival on Monday and Tuesday nights at their own expense. Pastor Bowman said, "One of them came to him the other day and told him, "We’ve started broadcasting this revival four nights a week from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M.. Our plans are to carry this revival seven nights a week." The Charleston station covers the entire city from Mt. Pleasant to Summerville.

The revival has touched the heart of the church as reflected in some of the deep testimonies of deliverance and forgiveness. Kim Bates, 40, has been a member of Abundant Life Assembly of God at Hardeeville for a long time. She worked in children’s church for a long time with a hidden sin in her life. No one knew but Kim. She has had an addiction to marijuana for the last 10 years. During the early part of the revival after coming home one Sunday night, she was moved on by the Holy Spirit in deep conviction. She tried to go to sleep but couldn’t. Many times after coming home from church she would go to the privacy of her home and light up but this night was different because she crawled out of bed on her knees to ask God for forgiveness. She immediately took all of her pot and flushed it down the toilet, never to use it again. From that time on Kim was totally set free from her addiction, she feels free and delivered from her burden. Kim Bates has felt the power of forgiveness and is a testimony of light.

Stan Turlington, 30, was spoken to by God in his sleep one night during revival. He was a heavy drinker and tobacco user, "I didn’t care for church, the only time I went to church was for three weddings and a funeral.. Something strange happened to me when I was sleeping one night. I had been associated with Hardeeville Church because I had gone to school there. I thought I was saved because of an experience I had as a child but I really didn’t know Jesus. I was curious one night as I tuned into a program where people were standing in line for four hours to go to a church. The same night that program came on I had a dream. In the dream my wife and I were at the altar at this church we had seen. When I woke up and tried to wake up my wife, Connie, she said, ‘Go back to sleep, it was just a dream and you’ll be all right.’ It was more than just a dream to Stan. "I went to my Bible and it just randomly opened to Job 33. The verse in 33:14-15 was speaking directly to me. ‘He’ll come to you in dreams and visions of the night when deep sleep falls upon man.’ "

" I had never been to an altar publicly in a church. Three or four weeks after I had the dream, when the altar call was given I felt a big impression in my heart to go and kneel down. As the Spirit came upon me I began to weep like a baby. My wife came and stood behind me. Now God is the biggest part of our family. My wife, Connie, and my four year old daughter have a brand new family in Jesus."

Crystal Willis, 19, had been a member of the Abundant Life Church all her life. Privately she had a secret that she kept from her family and friends for three years. It started when she was a junior in high school and was a cheerleader at her school. As she entered Armstrong-Atlantic College in Savannah the problem began to intensify. Crystal was bulimic. A person that suffers from bulimia eats in heavy portions only to purge the food from their system before it’s allowed to digest. Even though she had graduated as valedictorian of her high school and was well thought of by her friends and family she lingered close to death with this condition. Right after Christmas time her weight loss became noticeable and the difficulty of studying for her final exams at college landed her in the hospital. It was thought that she was just suffering from fatigue and so she was allowed to return to take make up exams at school after a brief stay in the hospital.. It was more than fatigue because the weight loss was due to the vast amounts of food she had purged from her system.

When no one knows the problem, the Holy Spirit knows and sees the secret places of a person’s heart. John Davis had come to the Abundant Life Church for a series of revival meetings. Crystal was deeply touched at the altar one night. "I began to weep tears at the altar. Just then John Davis came by and looked at me and said, ‘God’s about to change this girl’s life forever.’ Shortly after that time I was baptized in believer’s baptism. I didn’t know I had been delivered from this bulimic condition until one night when I ate a whole lot of food. I usually go to the restroom to purge the food but the power of God came on me and I knew I had been set free. I knew then that I had been completely delivered and healed from this illness and now my joy is to live for Jesus and do what He has called me to do."

The work at Hardeeville is just beginning. On the following Monday and Tuesday night more than 1,100 people showed up to hear Pastor John Kilpatrick preach at the great revival. The revival at Hardeeville has a momentum on it and is now reaching deep into areas around the church. Ministers and hungry people find themselves making the long trip around the southeast to the strange little town of Hardeeville to receive the refreshing. Davis spent six months in Miami, Oklahoma, and saw several churches plunge into revival as a result of coming to Miami. The same thing is now happening at Hardeeville as ministers take the long ride across an entire state just to be warmed in the fires of revival.

It was the second week of December during the Brownsville Minister’s Conference that Pastor Charles Bowman got a commitment from John Davis to come and begin revival at Hardeeville. "Two days before Christmas the telephone rang at Bowman’s parsonage and the dates were set."

Davis came to Hardeeville for two nights in January to begin with. Davis got a word from God leaving his hotel room the second week and he shared it with the Abundant Life Church, "I was walking out of the hotel tonight and God spoke directly to me. ‘John Davis tell the people tonight that this is not a revival -- it is thee revival.’ Since that time in January he has reminded the people at Hardeeville time and again of that statement. He has been telling the people lately to get ready for a Summer Explosion. When he said that a lightening bolt went through me. I called my sign man the next day and told him to make a big banner that said "Summer Explosion." Since that time the crowds started building up and every week it has gotten more powerful from service to service."God is doing a work in Hardeeville and the time is right for a "Summer Explosion" on the South Carolina-Georgia border.