On Sunday, Dec. 6, Hillcrest Baptist Church hosted homecoming service and kicked off revival services featuring David R. Harrison of Voice of Hope Evangelistic Ministries. Normal revival services began that Sunday night and was originally planned to extend through Wednesday, Dec. 9, with a special youth night service dedicated to the final night of revival. During the final revival night, a total of 31 youth dedicated their lives to Christ, and the church and evangelist decided to extend services to continue the ministry outreach.
As of Thursday, Dec. 10, 34 more youth dedicated their hearts to Christ, bringing the total of youth saved to 65, with an additional 22 individuals being saved during services held prior to Wednesday. The church then began to encourage youth to reach out to the community, both young and old, so that the invitation to church service would reach more individuals. To entice the youth to help spread the invitation, a $100 gift card was offered to the youth who brought the most church guests to the Friday night service. As with the number of youth being saved, the number of profit also grew in numbers, with the maximum award being raised to $700. Youth were also served a pizza dinner that Friday night.
Some of the youth were already in attendance at church during the early part of the day Friday, Dec. 11. They gathered with adults at the alter and prayed for one another as well as the upcoming service set to take place that night. In addition to preparing for a night of worship, the youth walked around the church seven times and made an appearance at Swainsboro High School to invite other youth to service that night. They also went to the downtown fountain, where they held signs and promoted the church revival.
