Rev. Sherry Zapolla provided both the message and the music during her visit to the Pitman Camp Meeting on 7/22/18. During this year’s annual conference, Rev. Zapolla officially retired. But her powerful ministry continues, and we were blessed to be part of that during this week’s Camp Meeting.
Music
With husband Al laying on the floor to tend to the sound controls, Sherry sang several songs, some reflective, most upbeat. She had our hearts praying and our feet tapping.
Here are a few of the titles she sang:
- “My Heart Cries Out”
(to the tune of “Be Still My Soul”) - “The Mission”
(Anywhere you go is your mission field. Love the Lord your God is the heartbeat of our mission). - “God’s Gonna Send a Revival“
- “Revival in the Land“
The musical selections made the theme of the evening pretty clear!
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- Rev. Zapolla, Singing
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- Husband Al descretly tends the audio system
Message
The service generally opens with a hymn sing, with songs out of the hymnal chosen by the congregation. Rev. Zapolla requested one song and asked that we conclude the hymn sing with it. The song, was “Revive Us Again.” It was the perfect introduction to her spoken message:
Revive us again – fill each heart with thy love;
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah, thine the glory! Hallelujah, Amen! Hallelujah, thine the glory! Revive us again.
Revival. Is the Church today ready for Revival??? The challenging answer to that question was: No. If you look at the world today and the weak reaction of the Church to the sin and decay that we all agree is happening in the world, it’s clear that we are NOT ready for revival. There are two types of churches in the world today: 
- Dead Church–
Many of us are showing “a form of godliness”, but we’re too busy trying to make people comfortable that we forget our misison to save. - Vibrant Church–
In contrast, many churches are alive and well. They’re praying and completely sold out to God.
Revival means that something that was totally dead- “flatlined”- becomes alive again. If you don’t know Christ, this can’t happen.
Even though the sin in the world is wider than ever, we must keep hope that there’s still time to return to God. And yet, we look at the evil and think, “Why is God allowing this?” We sing “God Bless America”, but then we think: “Why Should He!?!”
But we’re not ready for revival while we keep limiting God. God can “repent”- change His mind- when we pray. There are many examples of this in the Bible.
So the question for the Church is: Will we be an instrument in revival? Will we miss it? It all starts with us:
- We must trust that God is eager to change us from calamity.
- We must tell others; not only about sin, but about God’s will to change things.
- We must stand up for what we believe in.
Only the Church can intercede and prepare for revival. To “change God’s mind” about the impending judgement, we must repent and pray.
Revive us again!
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