Weekend Woundup and Weview September 7 - First Night of City Reach Wichita!

The first night of City Reach Wichita September 6, 2015.



We had a great first night and we will get to that in good time. First you get the report from the weekend. If you can not wait for tent revival pictures then I certainly understand if you scroll down and them come back and read. Go ahead. I really do understand!

Weekend Weview

Kelly Jo and I started Friday early down at the tent site for City Reach Wichita at the corner of Lincoln and Hydraulic. We knew about where we wanted to set the tent but I had some light pole to work around. It took me a while of measuring and figuring but soon I had some firm direction.

We were about 2 1/2 hours getting the stake line all marked but that included all of the measuring and thinking. Thinking can be pretty time consuming for me so considering that it did not take too long.

I had took some stakes with me to see if I could drive through the old blacktop parking lot but I could not penetrate it at all even with my 20 lb. sledge. It is a real graveling blacktop that has probably been down for decades. It was too tough for me!

We went back to the tent trailer to fetch the generator and the big Bosch rotary hammer drill I purchased last year.



Some of you may remember that I use to carry a large jackhammer to drive the stakes. I only had to use it a few times. It was big, heavy and cumbersome to use. It was easier to drive the stakes with a sledge than it was to handle the jackhammer.

Pastor Dallas Lakes had rented a hammer drill for the three tent revivals we did for him in Indiana and it worked great. I found a good deal on Amazon and had one shipped to me and sold the jackhammer.

I used it twice last year to drill through heavy gravel and construction fill and I have not used it since. Friday it earned its keep and also earned the price of the very good extra long bit I ordered as well. The 48x92 set up on the tent has 32 stakes and it drilled every one of them with no problem.

The old tough pavement was thick in places and I had some concrete below that in a couple of spots but the Bosch drill handled it well. The only problem I had was one hole I drilled would not turn lose of the bit. The big drill has no reverse and I could not pull it out. The more I tried the deeper it went until the bit was buried three feet deep.

I had no choice but to remove the drill and use a big pipe wrench to screw the bit out of the ground. I am very thankful I have a Dad that knows about everything and when I called him he told me to use the pipe wrench. Worked like a charm.

It was late afternoon by the time we finished and after supper and a short attempt at a nap we worked on sound equipment and other last minutes preparations until way after bed time.

Saturday started a few hours later as we cranked the bus to drive it and the tent trailer to the tent site. There were men and women there cleaning up the lot early and by 8:00 AM the crowd was gathering to begin tent set up. We had a great crowd of people and they worked hard and long.

This was my first set up of the tent in the 48x92 configuration and with 400 chairs so it took us a little longer. Odie said it was 1 hour and 45 minutes from carrying stakes to the tent standing in the air and strapped down. There are six lace lines instead of four and an extra center pole so that accounts for some of the extra time. We were completely finished and taking the group picture in 3 hours and 10 minutes. Not bad at all.

First Church and Bethany both had a great showing of folks here to help and they were in good humor and ready to work. That sure makes it easier for me! I really appreciate these Pastors and their churches for catching my burden.

Bro. Jimmie Radcliffe is with us this week and he is a huge help to us. I am looking forward to having him with us in every City Reach next year. It is going to be great!

Bro. Jimmie and I piddled around with last minute tent things until nearly dark and called it a day. We had a steady stream of folks stopping in inquiring about the tent and revival all day. In fact the last one stopped in just a few minutes before dark. That is always exciting.

This is the first time I have set up in a city this large since my very first tent revivals in 2001 and 2002 when I set up right here in Wichita. This is a much busier location with people constantly driving and walking by. The only down side to a busy location is that makes me a little more nervous about random vandalism and theft so we spent the first night watching the tent.

I stayed outside until late and then went in and napped about 3 hours while Kelly Jo sat in the front seat of the bus and kept and eye on things through the windshield. The lights are on under the tent so we really have a birds eye view of the whole tent from the bus. I sent her to bed and I sat in the front rather than outside.

We had a few people walk through, a bunch of cars pull through the parking lot but only two suspicious visitors. Both of them came through twice on hourly intervals so they were probably just making their normal rounds.

First Night of City Reach Wichita!

Sunday night was awesome! I think everybody was well pleased with the crowd, the moving of God's Spirit and the response from the visitors. God certainly moved in the altar and there were several folks praying for salvation all over the tent. I have had messages from folks all over that were having special prayer last night and we sure could feel it!

I was pretty anxious all afternoon about the first night of City Reach but I knew that God was going to help us. The folks started gathering in early and I could feel the momentum building toward a good service long before it started! Once we were cranking it was evident that God was going to help some people under the Blue and White Gospel Tent. He did help and we praise him for it.

These churches are excited about God bringing revival. This community is excited about God bringing revival. This evangelist is excited about God bringing revival. Can you tell we are all a little excited?

I am sure I will have more to say about City Reach Wichita as the week progresses but right now lets have some pictures.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

View Out The Front Window September 6, 2015

Check out our posts from the last week at the links below.

Odie's Saturday

Travel Day

Tulsa - Revival In Pictures

Hannah McCoy Giving In Zambia

Weekend Woundup and Weview

Pictures From Minister's Restoration 2015

Our view has changed often since last Sunnday. This was our view that night out the window at the House of Prayer in Texarkana. 

Out the front door the view was the fellowship hall. 

Here was our view out the front window at Hilldale Holiness Church in Tulsa. 

Out the front door at Hilldale. 

By Thursday we were at Bethany Revival Center in Wichita. This was our view early Saturday morning as we prepared to move to the tent site. 

Out the window. 

Out the door. 

This is our view out the window as the tent was about to go up. 

This is our view out the window late Saturday. 

Tomorrow I hope to have a report from the weekend and then some pictures of the set up later in the week. 

We are excited about City Reach beginning tonight. Thank you for praying about this meeting. Much work has been done by these churches in Wichita and much work remains to be done. 

However the main work to be completed is out of our hands. We will continue to pray. We will set up and tear down. We will sing. We will worship. We will preach. We will reach. But God will do the most important work in the hearts of men and women. We can not touch men deeper than the human emotional level but God can!

Heart work is solely God's work and he does it well. Hallelujah!

I hope you have a great Sunday. 

Davy

My Friend Kaylynn Hogue

Hey Friends,

It is Odie writing to you from Wichita, Kansas. I can hardly believe it is already September. 2015 is flying by! The Gospel Tent is going up today in Wichita, Kansas. Dad worked hard to get us here Thursday and both Dad and Mom worked very hard in the heat to prepare things yesterday. Today will be another hard day for everyone involved but it will be worth it.

This is our first City Reach campaign! We have been praying about this for over three years and actively planning for City Reach for over two years. Now it finally begins. Please pray that many lost souls will find salvation. We are anticipating a mighty move of God!

You can find a bunch of information about City Reach HERE and specific information about City Reach Wichita HERE. Come be with us this week if you can.

From time to time I like to introduce blog readers to some of our friends. We have been blessed to meet and enjoy the friendship of a lot of good people. We are very thankful for that. Today I would like you to meet Kaylynn Hogue. You have seen Kaylynn in various blog posts over the last year and a half as she has visited our revivals but you may not have know who she is.

Kaylynn and I have shared several mutual friends through the years and I am thankful we finally got the chance to become friends ourselves. Kaylynn attends Bristow Holiness Church in Bristow, Oklahoma. She is dedicated to God and her church. She also loves to attend revival and often comes to be with us even when she has no one to come with her.

Some of you might remember in January 2014 my 2 month old iPhone 5s decided to go for a swim in the toilet. After I rescued the phone from drowning Kaylynn was there to make sure it did not die completely. She took my and phone dried it out the very best she could. Some things you do not expect a friend to do and drying your phone that you dropped in the toilet is one of them. She is a true friend! Thanks again Kaylynn for coming to my aid!

I am so thankful for Godly friends. Kaylynn is so good to visit our revivals whenever we are the area. That is a very special treat for us. Even though we sometimes go months without being in the Tulsa area she is a faithful friend. We do try to keep contact on a regular basis. 

I am glad to say Kaylynn Hogue is my friend. I hope you have enjoyed putting a name to the face. If by chance you are wondering, yes, she is single. LOL 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Odie

June 2015 at Sapulpa Campmeeting

August 2015 at South Mission

August 2015 at Hilldale

Travel Day Tulsa-Claremore-Wichita

Thursday was a travel day. We did not have a real long distance to drive but we had a lot to get accomplished. Thankfully everything went as planned. We pulled out of Hilldale Church a few minutes before 9:00 AM with the Green Machine dragging along behind.

We stopped at Flying J in Tulsa and emptied the holding tanks and then we completed the drive to Claremore where the tent trailer has been parked since the 3rd week of June. Once we were there we unhooked the car, removed the tow bar, inserted the hitch and hooked up to the trailer.

Four of the trailer tires were a little low so I took a few moments to top them off before pulling away. It only took us about an hour to make the switch and get ready to roll so that was not too bad at all. 

With 400 chairs and more tent pieces the tent trailer is now full. There is no room for the Green Machine so Kelly Jo had to follow me the 200 miles from Claremore to Wichita.

If we wanted to leave we first had to get out this gate. We made it by the skin of our teeth but we did made it!

We had not filled up with diesel since we left Richton, Mississippi 5 days and  nearly 900 miles ago so we made a fuel stop just 27 miles shy of Wichita. We are going to have to run the generator most of the week during City Reach so I wanted to be full.

It was 40 miles from Hilldale to Claremore, 200 miles from Claremore to Wichita for a total of 240 miles Thursday. We are not able to park at the tent site until Saturday so we pulled into Bethany Revival Center until then. Thankfully we were able to turn around in the parking lot without having to unhook from the trailer.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then I washed the bugs off the front of the bus and the road grime off the back. I had a meeting at 7:00 with folks from the participating churches that will be serving on our Andrew Team for City Reach Wichita. The meeting went great. There is a lot of excitement about City Reach and that sure encourages me.

Today will be more tent preparation and the tent will go up in the air Saturday morning by God's grace.

Thanks for reading.

Davy