Something unexpected happened at a roofing convention in early January. Scores of men and women passionate about their trade gathered together to forge business connections, gain industry insights, and sharpen their skills. Yet, ministry leaders tell CBN News that in the last moments of the conference, more than 200 responded to a Gospel presentation and dozens were baptized.
RoofCon is known as the “#1 roof conference” in the nation and headlines speakers such as Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson, according to its website. However, founder Hunter Ballew wanted to offer the men and women attending the event in Oklahoma City, OK, more than a new set of skills to add to their tool bag.
“[Hunter] contacted me in the fall and said, ‘I’d love to meet you. I have really been impressed by the Holy Spirit that I [need] to use my roofing convention as a platform to reach people with the Gospel,'” Evangelist Clayton King told CBN News.
King is the pastor and founder of Crossroads Camp in Anderson, South Carolina. For nearly 40 years, King has traveled the country presenting the Gospel in a clear way to the young and the old. When Ballew invited him to speak before the group of roofers, he jumped at the invitation.
King said God put it on his heart to baptize those who responded to the Gospel message directly after the conference.
“I said, what would you think about having a baptism there. And he said, ‘Man I was thinking the same exact thing. So they went to Tractor Supply and bought some horse troughs, filled them up with water in the convention on the convention floor.”
And God did the rest.
According to King, the session was not mandatory, but many showed up. He felt that the Holy Spirit had a specific message to share with this group of roofers.
“What I really sensed the Holy Spirit directing me [was] to share the simplicity of the Gospel and how a person can actually know that they are born again,” he told CBN News.
“They came, and it was just a really special move [of] the Holy Spirit,” King added.
More than 200 men and women responded to the Gospel, and dozens were immediately baptized.
“I’m always amazed when I see one person or 1,000 people respond to the Gospel,” Clayton shared, “but at the same time I’m never really surprised at the power of the Gospel to draw people to salvation.
He added, “I knew the kind of faith that Hunter and his team had going into the event [and] I was just really praying and believing that God would honor their faith and that they would see a harvest, and they did.”
Video footage and photos posted to social media show the powerful transformation that took place.
King shared in a post that he believes an awakening is taking place.
He told CBN News more about what is happening outside the four walls of the Church.
“Awakening, for me, when I think of it categorically, is when lost people are hearing the Gospel and responding,” he explained. “I do believe when you look globally right now and when you look domestically in the United States, I think we’re seeing an awakening.”
King pointed to recent statistics, such as the increase in Bible sales, and studies revealing that more GenZers and men are attending church, as evidence that the Spirit of God is moving.
“I believe secularism has promised meaning and purpose, and it’s failed,” he said. “I believe that secularism has promised a world and a culture devoid of religion, devoid of traditional values, and stripped of its Christianity as a better place to live… but now I think collectively, we have seen and specifically men have seen that’s a lie.”
“We need morality. We need faith. We need family. We need values. And if there is no God, then we don’t have a basis for any belief, for any value system,” he continued, adding, “I think that there is a hunger now for spiritual things and that hunger is being met by the Gospel.
King, who over the course of his ministry has seen hundreds of altars filled with people crying out to be changed by God, says we are on the precipice of a great move.
“What I’m seeing now is an awakening and that’s why I do use that word, but I don’t think any of us know what that awakening is gonna look like,” he explained. “We’ve seen Great Awakenings in American history and in world history before, but each one has looked different and we don’t know what this one’s gonna look like. Ultimately, I do believe we are on the front end of it.”
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