Shown left to right, Jay Ham, Joe Day, Rick Miller, Lisa Miller, James Kendig
MCGEHEE, Ark. – In May 2023, Rick Miller was asked by a group of folks in McGehee to lead a Bible study. Like him, they did not have a church to call home.
He agreed, and they began meeting every week at a farm shop.
Miller had previously served as full-time church staff for 35 years. Having that background, he had the desire to be more involved in ministry. Miller and his wife looked at churches in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arkansas.
“It was like God wasn’t leading us anywhere,” Miller said. But they still felt a calling to do more.
The couple planned a meeting with their core Bible study team to talk with them about their desire and call to find a church. The team approached them with another option.
They told him, “We think we need to go ahead and plant a church here.”
It was then, God’s plan began to click into place for Miller.
“I wasn’t convinced after the first statement, but over the next 25 to 30 minutes everybody on the team spoke and it was just evident that God was in it,” Miller said.
With that decided, the group began searching for a better meeting location. The farm shop was beginning to hold more meetings, becoming more crowded. It was not a good fit anymore, he said.
“I started driving around McGehee, praying for a building,” Miller said. One of his friends suggested the old South McGehee Baptist Church building.
South McGehee Baptist Church was established in the 1960s as a mission church of First Baptist Church in McGehee. Miller said it was quickly established as a full-fledged church and thrived for a long time.
Unfortunately, in 2023, the church members decided to close the doors. They gave the facilities to the Southeast Arkansas (SEARK) Baptist Network with the stipulation that whatever happened to the property, it would be used for Southern Baptist work.
“I drove up to the parking lot of that church on a Monday evening and started praying about it,” Miller said.
He then called Joe Day, the SEARK associational missionary, who referred him to Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) Church Planting Team Lead Vince Blubaugh.
“This is what really convinced me God was in it,” Miller said.
Miller called Blubaugh Tuesday morning and left him a voicemail. By 11 a.m., he returned the call. They talked for a few minutes, and Blubaugh said he would have someone from his team call Miller.
Miller figured he would hear back in a week or so. Instead, ABSC Church Planting Strategist Jay Ham called him that afternoon. That was Tuesday. Miller had a meeting that Thursday with Ham, Day, and his core team. They began meeting in the old South McGehee building about a week later.
“To me, one of God’s signs of answers is provision,” Miller said. And God provided.
The agreement was that if Miller and his team became an official North American Mission Board (NAMB) Send Network endorsed church plant of the ABSC and Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), then they would be given the building.
Revive Church received its official SBC church identification number this November.
Miller said Revive Church so far is averaging about 30 in attendance. Their sponsor church is Halley Baptist Church, where James Kendig is pastor. Day touted Halley Baptist Church on how amid growing and flourishing they are pushing resources 11 miles down the road to a church plant with the thought, “There’s enough room for both of us. There are enough lost people for both of us to serve in our communities and it’s not a competition.”
“It can be very tempting when you are one of the churches in the area that is growing and doing well to become very inward focused,” Day said. “The benefits of having a church plant with the excitement and the innovation that they (Revive Church) bring is well worth the investment in every association. We are blessed to have them working here.”
Revive Church – located at 201 Crooked Bayou Dr., McGehee – will have a hard launch on Jan. 12, 2025.
“We’re excited about it. We’re making big plans,” Miller said.