Tent revival raising spirits

By RACHEL MOSTELLER : The Herald-Sun
rmosteller@heraldsun.com
Jul 12, 2002 : 5:45 pm ET

DURHAM -- Inside a big red and white tent in the Hillside High School parking lot are a lot of fired-up people. Some clap, while others sing and even more hold their hands high in the air.

Outside the tent, a husband and wife walk around the tent, praying.

The ones inside and outside the tent are there for "Durham For Jesus," a local revival that is part of a two-state mission to have 500 tents in North Carolina and South Carolina for 70 nights.

The effort, known as Carolinas For Christ, is the work of Michael and Angela Nwadiuko, two Nigerian missionaries who came to the United States and were stationed in Charlotte. The couple came to Durham in October and met with several local pastors, outlining their plan. For them, 70 days of revival was important as it would build up momentum and focus on a biblical number as Jesus had sent 70 disciples to evangelize to the people in the surrounding areas of Jerusalem.

Local pastors listened to the Nwadiukos and agreed to work with them.

"We prayed about it and felt like that was right in line with a number of other things that God was doing here in Durham and that we ought to get on board and do that," said Coleman Moore, pastor of The River church in Durham. "So, we began just working the details out. We had never done anything like this. A number of the churches had run a tent ministry for a week or even two weeks before, but nobody had ever tried to get as many as 50 churches involved in running multiple churches for 70 days."

Moore was attracted to Carolinas for Christ because he felt it seemed impossible.

"If it was going to happen, it was only going to happen by the power of God," Moore said. "I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to see it happen."

Initially, the plan called for four different tents in Durham, but that number was halved. Besides the tent at Hillside, there is one on the corner of Broadway and Mangum streets.

"Durham for Jesus" is hoping that it can rid the city of a number of problems that have plagued it for years.

"What we really pray for is just a transformation of the city," Moore said. "The city has a long history of racial division, too much crime, too much poverty, too much brokenness and woundedness, too many hurting people. God will turn it into a city of healing instead of a city of medicine. A city of light instead of a city of darkness."

Attendance at the Hillside tent has fluctuated. Moore said they had as many as 700 people in attendance during a special Hispanic service.

Other nights, attendance has been at around 10 people.

One Friday night had an attendance of only a few people. The following Sunday the crowd was a little bigger, and more full of energy. The crowd consisted of mainly women, who were calling out "Hallelujah" every few minutes.

"I have no idea what’s going to happen each night," Moore said. "Each night has been powerful. People have gotten healed, people have gotten saved. People have had their woundedness ministered to. God’s got an agenda each night. It does not take a large number of people to fulfill God’s agenda."

Sunday night was "miracle night," where miracles of God were to be performed. Moore said he had seen a boy’s shriveled arm straighten out at one miracle service.

In the past, other miracles included teeth receiving gold fillings, lumps being removed from women’s breasts and a diabetic man no longer having the condition.

Bobby Hill, the girl’s track coach at Hillside and a youth minister, said his spirit has been revived at the tent revival.

"It’s been wonderful," Hill said. "The best nights for me have been to hear Hector De la Cruz, a Latino evangelist. It was awesome. … It just renewed my spirit. It just revived me. It did exactly what it was supposed to do. It just built my faith back up in man."

Hill was speaking that night at the revival, and said his message was about deep-rooted problems.

"I’m talking about problems that have been deep rooted for so long," Hill said. "God has asked me to speak on a deep rooted problem. Whatever he unveils tonight through his messenger is for somebody, and for the city of Durham."