FORT SMITH – A Southern Baptist church has joined forces with its neighboring Missionary Baptist church to host a revival in the Fort Smith community Oct. 13-16.
“It is two churches — one black and one white — having the same vision for our community,” said Don Bradford, pastor of Spradling Baptist Church. “And our prayer is to reach the community with the gospel.”
When Bradford first began to pastor Spradling, he saw St. James Missionary Baptist Church’s sign welcoming the “new pastor.”
“I pulled into their church, introduced myself and said, ‘Thanks for welcoming me,’” Bradford said. “They said, ‘Oh no, we also have a new pastor.’ They buzzed him to come to the front office. I said, ‘I’m Don the Baptist, the new pastor next door.’ He said, ‘Well, then, I’m Apostle Paul Davis, the new pastor here at St. James.’”
Both being passionate about serving the community, Bradford and Davis came up with the idea of holding a joint revival.
“What is different about this revival is churches of different ethnicities striving to meet one common cause – build the kingdom through sharing the gospel,” said Bradford. “We will display the unity of Christ in a broken world.”
The tent revival will take place in the vacant lot between the two churches, and it will begin at 6 p.m. each night. Bradford and Davis will rotate preaching each night.
“When we tell folks we are doing this, they say things like, ‘I’ve never heard about two churches, one black and one white, one Missionary Baptist and one Southern Baptist, doing anything in a joint fashion,’” said Bradford. “In this day of racial reconciliation, for two churches to work together, serve together and have church together shows strong unity.”
For more information, contact Spradling Baptist Church at 479-782-4659.