[Granville-Hough] 14 Jul 2009 - Revival Meeting at Concord

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

The warm day reminded me of Protracted Meeting time so I looked up my 
discussion of those events. May God Bless All!!

Revival Meeting at Concord

Pp 380-381, Vol II, Smith County and Its Families, has a most 
interesting account of this Sullivan family, Glaston and Clemmie, and 
the Concord community prepared by dau Clemmis, one paragraph excerpted:
“When the girls were growing up, the family attended church at Concord 
Baptist Church. Climmie’s parents were founding members of this church 
(GWH: not quite right, the church was founded in 1854, fifty years 
before Climmie’s parents moved from old Salem Community on Upper Cohay.) 
Glaston was a deacon and Climmie played the piano on occasion. She never 
had a music lesson, except for attending singing schools with shaped 
notes, but she could play anything she heard. She was truly gifted. 
Revivals were big occasions also. Climmie would prepare big boxes of 
food that would be spread out on the tables with the other families at 
the dinner-on-the-ground. The meal was after the morning service on the 
first day of the revival. The congregation would go back into the church 
around 2:00 pm for the Sunday afternoon service. There would not be a 
night service. Pasteboard fans were provided by the Mims Mitchell 
Funeral Home, and were they ever used! However, when the new clothes 
were bought for revival Sunday, an “open and shut” fan was bought also. 
The girls and the women thought the accordion fans really complemented 
their hats and gloves.”
Revival Meeting Day, also known as Protracted Meeting Day, or Big 
Meeting Day, was typically held on the fourth Sunday of July or the 
First Sunday of August at Concord. Whichever Sunday was the regular 
minister’s preaching Sunday became Protracted Meeting Day, then the 
meeting continued in the week through Wednesday or even until Friday if 
there was great enthusiasm. Way back, there had been “dinner on the 
ground” each day, but after WW I, this was reduced to Sundays only. On 
the week days, there would be a morning service, then a night service. 
Typically the last day was Baptism Day for the new converts, followed by 
a thanksgiving and fellowship service. The regular minister was almost 
always assisted by a “hired gun” the best religious rabble-rouser one 
could find, or who could be afforded, from the local circuits.
Five of my brothers joined Concord Baptist Church during Revival 
Meetings, but I did not. I realized I had a historical opportunity. 
Reverend Daniel Moulder had married my parents, he had preached my 
father's funeral, he had been our pastor through thick and thin, and he 
was still active as Pastor of Beulah Baptist Church over in Simpson 
County. When I was sixteen, I began attending Beulah and joined during 
its Revival. Brother Daniel Moulder baptized me in Goodwater Creek, a 
tributary of Okatoma Creek. I remained a member there until my marriage 
to a devout Methodist.