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An excitement is welling
up among people in the
metro area about the soon-coming
Metro Mississippi GO TELL AMERICA
Crusade with Rick Gage which will take
place at 7pm nightly on October 15-18
at the Brandon Amphitheater. Gage is
sometimes called “The Billy Graham of
Small Towns” as he preaches the same
message of Christian hope in smaller
venues across the nation and the world.
“Our purpose is to bring together all
Bible-believing churches to present the
Gospel message in a powerful way,”
says Gage of the metro event.
An evangelist from Georgia, Gage has
been conducting evangelistic events since
1986. At that time, Gage surrendered his
life to full-time evangelistic ministry after
coaching college football at Texas Tech
and Liberty University. Gage followed in
the footsteps of his late father Freddie
Gage, an evangelist who was credited
with leading over a million people to
Christ during his 50 years of ministry.
This October will not be the first time
Gage has led an evangelistic effort in
this area. In 2019, Gage led the Central
Mississippi GO TELL AMERICA Crusade
at Forest High School in Scott County.
Over 600 decisions for Christ were
recorded during that four-day campaign.
The spiritual impact is still being felt from
that effort. Since that time, work began to
bring a GO TELL AMERICA Crusade to
the metro area.
A recent survey revealed that eighty
percent of the metro-area is not connected
to a church. With churches on every corner
in our area, a large-scale event at a
neutral site is often an effective way to
share the life-changing message of Christ
with those who are more apt to come to
a place like the Brandon Amphitheater
than an unfamiliar church building.
A successful evangelistic outreach
involves hundreds of Christ followers from
local churches, businesses, and communities
working together to reach their area.
Conducted in cooperation with GO TELL
AMERICA Crusades, each crusade begins
with and is carried to completion by the
local church, Gage noted. “These churches
receive not only joyful benefits from
the crusade but also spiritual renewal for
many of their members,” Gage said.
Leadership is the key to a large-scale
effort like this. Chip Miskelly, a well-known
local businessman, is leading this campaign
along with hundreds of other volunteers.
Miskelly noted, “I was at Billy Graham’s
crusade in Jackson over forty years ago
and it changed my life. My heart is for the
youth and I’m excited to help bring this
experience to our area to impact thousands
with the life-changing message of
salvation in Jesus Christ.” According to
the North American Mission Board, more
than 57 million students in America are
lost and going to a Christless eternity. In
the past two decades, there has been a
42% decline in youth baptisms.
While the crusade will be an inter-generational
event each night, there is a large
youth focus. On the final night of the
crusade, October 18, students are invited
to come early at 6 p.m. for a special
emphasis called The Awakening. Free
pizza will be served along with entertainment
and giveaways. Noel Daniels of
Noel Daniels Motor Company has donated
a car to be given away to a student at the
end of the evening.
In addition to the crusade week at
the Brandon Amphitheater, the effort will
impact many in the metro region through
outreach efforts such as neighborhood
block parties. The crusade will also bring
a condensed version into the prison
system to share with thousands of
incarcerated men and women. A byproduct
of this effort is the unity of over one
hundred churches working side-by-side
for the common goal of sharing the good
news of Jesus with people in need of
hope.
The crusade will happen every night
at 7pm at the Brandon Amphitheater.
The event is free, and all are welcome to
attend. Believers are strongly encouraged
to invite their family, friends, and neighbors
who need to hear the message of change
that Jesus can bring in a person’s life.
Local churches provide personnel for the
months of preparation, the crusade days,
and the extensive follow-up with those
who make decisions. Area churches are
invited to participate in this crusade and
can volunteer at the event website:
www.metromsgotell.com. You can contact
the local team by email at GoTellMetro@
gmail.com. As the crusade nears, updates
will be posted on the Facebook page at
“Metro MS Go Tell Crusade.”
Hometown RANKIN • 69