God is moving in a unique way among the folks of Jena, Louisiana. The small town of 3,000 became famous last year for racial tensions in the High School. Now the gym in the very same school is filled every night with an on-going revival that began Feb. 17 at Midway Baptist Church in Jena. It was supposed to be a 4 night revival but now it has moved into its fourth week and has spread into at least eight churches including the controversial high school.

This is primarily a ‘Baptist’ town with over 17 Southern Baptist churches and a few more independent Baptist churches thrown in for good measure. Interestingly, the whole thing started in a church that didn’t even have a pastor! one participant, Pat Taylor of First Baptist commented:

“To me, it’s a difference in the atmosphere, a better difference, I think the difference is that a spiritual change is taking place in the community…. I think this all is God-breathed.
When it’s God-breathed, that means God is in control. It’s God’s Spirit who brought all this about; we can’t anybody brag about it. We [at First Baptist Jena] prayed for a year and a half for a revival, and He starts it up where they don’t even have a pastor. There’s no sense of competition. There’s a sense of excitement, a sense of awe.”

Repentance and reconciliation seem to be the major themes of the move.