Revival Starts with Us

Our campus hosted a revival and what a revival we had. It was a great time of refreshment and our special guest was Dr. Sam Greer. This was a one-day revival; Dr. Greer spoke in chapel and then we had an evening service with him. The worship was led by the great Austin Mathis and his sister, after which Dr. Greer brought the word.

The sermon was titled the “Benefits of Gospel Conversations”, and it was powerful. He listed seven great benefits: he encouraged students and faculty to engage in Gospel conversations and explained why they are necessary. The Auditorium was filled, and the Holy Spirit moved across the entire place. My favorite quote Dr. Greer said during his message was that “Revival Starts with us”. This is so true; if we want to see our own life and the lives of others around us changed, it starts within ourselves.

Dr. Greer was raised by his mother and his two other siblings. When he was at the age of 21, he attended a local Baptist church and listened to the preaching of God’s word. He said that for the first time, God stirred his heart to the reality of sin. The fear got the best of him and did not want to respond so the next morning he called his aunt, who pointed him in the direction of her pastor. The pastor shared the Gospel with him, and he received Christ into his life.

It wasn’t until Dr. Greer reached the age of 29 that he surrendered to the call of ministry on a mission trip in Myanmar. Once Dr. Greer had accepted his call, from 2004 to 2012, he and his wife moved to New Orleans to earn his Master of Divinity in Expository Preaching, Master of Theology, and to pursue a PhD in Preaching.

This was a wonderful time of revival and if you did not come, you missed a blessing. I spoke with several BMC ministerial students and each one said, “What a refreshing word” or “This truly encouraged me to be better”. The reaction to the worship and message was very positive. He left all of us with a challenge at the end of his message: to have more Gospel conversations, even if that means just one.