For area churches, summer is revival time, and the week ahead sees a number of local congregations with nightly services planned.

Revival is defined as “a period in which something becomes popular again after a long period of time” or “the growth of something or an increase in the activity of something after a long period of no growth or activity.”

Both definitions are apt from the Christian’s viewpoint. Revival services are designed to do exactly what the name says – “revive” congregations that may just been merely holding their own without any real growth in numbers or outreach. The special services also help bring in those who may not have been attending church and give them an opportunity to commit themselves to Christian service.

Most churches bring in a guest minister to preach during revival, giving the congregation a different perspective from that of their usual Sunday church services. Special music is also usually planned, and hymns are selected in keeping with the theme of re-invigoration.

Churches holding revival this week, according to the listings in The Daily Leader calendar as of Sunday, include Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Rosehill Missionary Baptist Church, Gum Grove Baptist Church, Pink Hill M.B. Church and City of Grace. To find out the times for the services, check our calendar listing in the daily newspaper or at dailyleader.com. If your church is holding revival and hasn’t been added to our calendar, call us at 601-833-6961 and ask to speak to our lifestyles editor.

Also this week, revival comes in a different area, as area children begin to get ready to start a new school year, perhaps with new teachers and/or new classmates in the coming semester.

Registration for new students and schedule pickups for all students are underway this week in the Lincoln County school district. For details on specific times, dates and schools and the kind of information to bring, parents and students can go to the school district website at http://lcsd.k12.ms.us/ and check the “Upcoming Events” listing on the site’s main page.

To learn more about all the events in the week ahead, check our calendar listing on page two of today’s paper.