Camp meeting is for revival. There is no revival without prayer. There can be no revival until the Spirit comes. When we come to camp meeting it is often so that we can be restored to God and recalibrated for service and soul-winning. On Monday night immediately following the evening worship service, approximately thirty worshippers filed into the Stone Chapel for an additional impartation and to make special petitions to God. Pastors listened to the varied supplications and lifted the requests before the Lord, and also anointed those who requested a desire for it.
Prayer Ministries Coordinator, Beth Grissom, who organizes the anointing service, remarked on the sacred wonder of the encounter. “The beauty of this service is people come from all over, and there is always brokenness. There’s physical brokenness. There’s spiritual, emotional…and the people come in and they share what it is that they want to be anointed for…and then the pastors anoint them.” There is often such an overwhelming response and request for anointing that people are waiting around for their opportunity. In those cases, Grissom (who is also a local church elder), will step in to lend a hand. When she approached one particular worshipper sitting in the back of the sanctuary, and
asked if she would like to be anointed, the woman burst into tears. She expressed that she had considered leaving because she didn’t feel that what she wanted anointing for was appropriate to share with a male pastor; but felt totally comfortable sharing with Grissom.
Another woman who came for anointing tonight shared excitedly with Grissom saying, “I had healing from what I was anointed for last year and so I’m back again and ready for the healing.” It’s as if she’s determined to receive a double portion of the Spirit—as do all of us. The anointing service will resume on Friday night as a part of a full schedule of prayer activities throughout the encampment. At 6:30 each morning eager seekers meet at the pool for a guided prayer walk around the lake. At 7:30, prayers continue in a dedicated prayer service in the Stone Chapel. The prayer service concludes at the start of morning worship. Our prayer is that the Spirit would come and guide, deliver, empower, and renew us all for a life of victory and the work of ministry.
—CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON