People from all over South Carolina’s Anderson County and beyond filled the pews and choir loft this week at the 800-seat Covenant Baptist Church. Dozens more crowded into the parlor.
Half were from historically Black congregations; half were from historically white churches. Most had arrived carrying dog-eared Bibles, and all were eager to hear the evangelical preaching of Dallas, Texas-based minister Tony Evans.
Evans’ “alternative” messages of racial unity and evangelical Christian purpose are broadcast daily on 600 stations nationally and in Anderson from Toccoa Falls College.
The revival he is leading this week is a historic event, several church leaders declared from the pulpit before Evans stood to speak.
After more than 100 years of existence, the predominantly Black Rocky River Baptist Association is co-hosting a revival for the first time with the predominantly white Saluda Baptist Association.
Evans, the first Black graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary in the mid-1970s, preached at Covenant Baptist.
In a personal story that started with his son Jonathan’s rise from Pop Warner football to a place on the Washington Redskins, Evans compared life’s warring social, racial, cultural and religious factions to his son’s battles on the football field.
Christian disciples, he said, must play the role of referee, standing in the midst of conflict with a book of rules – the Bible – and a distant commissioner – God – to answer to.
“Their job is to be in the middle of it without becoming part of it,” Evans said.
The Rev. Steve Silvey of Covenant Baptist said Black church leaders came to him asking about renting his sanctuary when their plans to have the event at the Civic Center of Anderson fell through. Silvey had heard Evans speak years before at a Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, N.C.
“Our take was let’s do it together,” Silvey said. “Once we talked and prayed about it, we decided to open it to the Rocky River association, Saluda and the whole community.”
Donald Owens, pastor at New Hopewell Baptist Church, said Evans’ visit represents more than bringing a nationally known speaker here.
“I think it gives us an opportunity to bring down some walls,” Owens said. “To come together in a very public manner.”
Paul Garrett, moderator of the Rocky River Association, called Evans’ visit “God-ordained.”
Wesley Taylor, moderator of the Saluda Baptist Association, said he’s been reading Evans’ books for years.
“We in the South are fairly conservative in what we believe in the Scripture,” Taylor said. “Tony fits that mold. He’s very conservative in his delivery, what he believes. So that’s why I have his books in my library. He’s very direct and to the point.”
