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Photo by Donna Campbell/Pastor Fred Luter of New Orleans preaches to a crowd of about 1,800 people at King Field at Brookhaven High School Sunday.

Destyn Fortenberry was already a Christian when she stepped onto the field during the “Tell Everyone” county-wide revival at Brookhaven High School’s football stadium Sunday.

The choir from First Baptist Summit sang “Just As I Am” and Fortenberry, a mom and wife from Magnolia, knew she needed to unburden her heart.

“I needed some prayer,” she said after the event. “My faith hasn’t been as strong as I need it to be.”

Fortenberry wasn’t alone that night as others made their way from the bleachers onto King Field to meet with a slew of area pastors and laymen waiting to pray with them or help them with any decision they wanted to make.

And though that number was small, organizers still came away encouraged by the crowd’s reaction during the two-hour event.

“I’d never been to a revival,” Fortenberry said. “The music was awesome.”

She and her husband Steven attend Bluff Springs Baptist Church. Their daughter, Peyton, reminds them when it’s time to go to church.

“She had just as much fun as we did,” Fortenberry said. “I will for sure be inviting people next year. It lifted me up like I needed it to.”

The county-wide revival was held in partnership with Lincoln County Baptist Association and the Brookhaven High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes. It was open at no charge to people of all ages, races and faiths.

Rev. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was the featured speaker. Luter is the first African-American to be elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

Lincoln County FCA’s area representative Chris Huffman shared testimony and Bradley White, music miniser for First Baptist Church of Summit provide the music with his choir.

Huffman would like to see the large-scale evangelistic outreach become an annual event. He said the diversity in the crowd was inspiring to see.

“That’s truly what the kingdom of heaven is going to look like,” he said.

King Field was the perfect venue to hold church, because church is the people, not the four walls, he said. On Sunday, it became the King’s field as nearly 1,600 to 1,800 people sang “Victory in Jesus” at the close of the event.

Huffman is now preparing for the FCA-sponsored Field of Faith which will be held at King Field Oct. 18. The Brookhaven High School student-led event was the largest in the state last year, he said.

“We’re excited,” Huffman said. “This was a springboard for that next event. There’s something special about Lincoln County and this area.”

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