HAGER HILL, Ky. – A revival in Johnson County has expanded far past the church walls as Hager Hill Freewill Baptist Church heads into the third consecutive week of worship.
The revival kicked off October 26 as a homecoming revival for the church and quickly began bringing in visitors from all around.
“This is not Hager Hill’s revival. This is not my revival. This is a revival for everyone. This is something that God is doing, and only God can do what we’ve seen happen,” said Pastor Ronnie Spriggs. ”I’ve been a minister for 43 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is an awakening.”
The “Awakening Revival” started seeing more attendees than the church could hold, so the leaders added additional seating in the sanctuary by placing folding chairs in the aisles and in the gaps. But even that was not enough as more people began showing up.
“God’s bringing down walls. He’s bringing down walls of depression, He’s bringing down walls of addiction, He’s breaking down walls between peoples’ fellowship. Marriages are being healed, homes are being put back together,” said Spriggs.
Soon, God was not the only one “breaking down walls.”
“We realized very quickly that we weren’t gonna be able to seat … you know, people were standing and we didn’t want anybody to leave,” Spriggs said. “A bunch of guys got together and we knocked down two walls so we could flood over into our auxiliary building. And now we’re able to seat a whole lot more people.”
Hundreds of people continued to come to the revival, which also ended up spilling into the community as the youth members involved brought their spirit to the sidelines of a recent football game.
Spriggs said the youth has been a huge factor in making the revival such a success, helping to bring in more people and take the church out into the community.
“We’ve torn down the natural walls, amen. But God’s tearing down the spiritual walls and only He can do that,” said Spriggs. “This is a revival. This is an awakening, and God is doing it just because He can.”
The nightly revival is on its 17th night as of Monday, inviting people to continue to keep the fire burning. Spriggs announced plans to move the event into a vacant warehouse space in Paintsville, hoping to keep the people pouring in.
He said there has been an incredible number of people who have walked out as professing Christians since the beginning of the revival. And, though they originally planned to stop the event Sunday night, he does not plan to put out a fire he did not ignite. Instead, he’s using the water to refill the baptismal.
“I don’t see an end in sight,” he said. “We’re just following the Lord.”
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