I (Sal) decided to make this website (3/16/06) after hearing about the deadly tornados (#106) that swept the midwest this week. One of the places mentioned a lot on the news was the city of Sedalia (map), which I personally visited with UMM students back in 1999 on my way to Smithton....
'Smithton Outpouring' has
Missouri town leaping & shouting
___By Tim Palmer
___Missouri Word & Way (July 21, 1999)
"One of those "slain" in the Holy Spirit rises after a short time and returns to her place near the wall. Asked to describe her experience, she simply smiles and replies, "I was with God."
___Three years ago, a revival broke out in Smithton. As a result, this Central Missouri community--population 532--has drawn tens of thousands of visitors from across the United States and from other nations. The "Smithton Outpouring" has been described in magazines and on television nationwide.
___People have used words like "Pentecostal," "charismatic" and "full gospel" to describe the worship service, Gray said. "If anything sets Smithton Community Church apart, it's that we're believing that the kingdom of God is happening now."
___Kathy Gray admits the worship style at the non-denominational church can be shocking to those who aren't familiar with it. But she and her husband contend that practices such as speaking in tongues and being "slain in the Spirit" are innocent and harmless.
___This is especially true, they say, when you compare them to other activities seen in many churches--gossip, manipulation, power struggles, love of money. No one's afraid of those, the Grays contend.
___Before people react negatively to charismatic practices, Steve Gray suggested, they should ask themselves why they're not reacting similarly to backbiting, pride and other things the Bible clearly says to avoid.
___People from nearly all denominations have come to Smithton, Gray noted. "There is a group within them whose hearts are crying out for more."
___A large part of this church's ministry is to Christian believers who haven't gotten the help they feel they need in their own churches.
___Gail Collins, who was raised a Southern Baptist, started attending the Smithton church 10 years ago. She remembers well the day in 1996 when revival broke out.
___"When the power of God came in, I got set free from a lot of those things I couldn't change," Collins said. Her love for God deepened. "He enlarged my heart and gave me a strong desire to be a complete servant."
___The power of the Holy Spirit isn't new, Gray said, but had been lost. "We're regaining what was lost through tradition, wrong ideas, wrong thinking. That's why it's available, because it was never supposed to go."
___Worship services in churches often represent what happened to someone long ago, he noted. It was fresh then; it's stale now.
___Just as the beaten man in the story of the Good Samaritan did not get help from the Levite or the priest, Gray said, people today are not getting help from churches.
___"They're being told they are found, but they can't find God. So they come here to this unlikely place that doesn't fit the story.""
10 Years of Revival
"10 Year Anniversary of the Smithton Outpouring"
Update:
Kansas City Church Celebrates Five Years of 'Smithton Outpouring'
By Kirk Noonan (Charisma Magazine)
A celebration at World Revival Church commemorated the revival that started in a tiny town in central Missouri
"The revival started during a Sunday evening service in March 1996 at Smithton Community Church in central Missouri after Gray returned from revival services at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla. Without hesitation the entire Smithton congregation followed suit, and revival was officially under way. Over the next four years more than 225,000 people from every state and more than 60 countries attended Smithton's revival meetings...
Last year, Gray moved the revival to Kansas City, some 90 miles from Smithton. More than 60 families from the close-knit Smithton congregation left jobs, families and homes to stay with the revival. The church relocated to 62 acres of land near I-470 in Kansas City and changed its name to World Revival Church. From June 2000 to January of this year services were held in a tent while the new church was constructed.
"We had gone as far as we could go in Smithton," Gray said. "But God was not finished with us or with what He wanted to do through us--so we've adapted. One of the reasons we came here was to build a congregation that could accommodate what God is going to do in the next five years. We are focusing on the nations of the world with the theme of revival."
As a result of the revival, Gray said, numerous people have been healed, delivered and transformed. Doug Smith, 25, an ex-drug dealer who was facing 13 years in prison, agrees.
He came to a service three years ago and said he felt the presence of God as soon as he walked through the doors. That night, he committed his life to Jesus Christ.
In doing so, he said, he was set free from his addiction to alcohol and drugs. After serving a short prison sentence, he pursued and obtained his master's degree and now works at a local university.
"The Lord's presence came on me," Smith said, recalling his conversion experience. "Words can't describe how different I am today compared to how I was three years ago."
Although the parking lot was not completed as promised and new chairs for the sanctuary did not arrive on time, the anniversary celebration proceeded as planned. John Kilpatrick, pastor of Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla., preached, a special video chronicled the history of the revival, visitors from around the globe worshiped with regular attendees, and the presence of God descended once again.
Lohman summed up the feelings of many who have been touched by the revival during the last five years. "We are living our dream," he said. "We get to see the power of God in our day." "
Smithton Revival: Revival's Relocation Pits Pastor Against Alienated Followers
Pastor Steve Grey and two-thirds of the congregation move from Smithton to Kansas City
John W. Kennedy | posted 10/01/2001 12:00AM
"In reality, 32 of SCC's 100 families decided not to move the 90 miles to Kansas City. Several members stopped attending SCC before the relocation, saying they saw no point in attending a church that was going to shut down."
It's located south (city of Columbia) of hwy 40/interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis.
Tornado victims seek help
By Matt Bird-Meyer
The Sedalia Democrat
"K.B. Burns, KDRO morning show host, said more than 500 people have pledged to help clean up debris from Sunday's storms. Now his group, Media for Muscle, is awaiting calls for help. He had 21 calls for help by Wednesday afternoon.
"We can hook you up with volunteers, no problem," Mr. Burns said.
Media for Muscle is a partnership of the newspapers The Sedalia Democrat and the Sedalia News-Journal and radio stations KDRO/KPOW and KSIS/KIX. The group also worked to send hurricane relief supplies and money to Sedalia sister city, McComb, Miss.
The Red Cross set up a service center Wednesday inside the First United Methodist Church Celebration Center, 1701 W. 32nd St."
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