Word spread of people being miraculously healed and converted, and revival services were soon held four and five nights a week. People waited in long lines to get inside the church, located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pensacola, a Gulf Coast city known for training naval aviators.

For years starting in the mid-1990s, millions from around the globe visited a humble church in Florida’s Panhandle for lively Pentecostal revival services where believers flocked on stage to be healed by God for cancer, addiction and broken hearts.

At its height, the “Brownsville Revival” drew as many as 5,500 people a night for six years — estimates put the total between 2.5 million and 4.5 million people. Donations poured in as the Brownsville Assembly of God added staff, built a massive new sanctuary and opened a school for preachers.

In the decade after being the home of the largest Pentecostal outpouring in U.S. history, the church has been on the edge of financial ruin. It racked up $11.5 million in debt, to be paid after the out-of-town throngs and its former pastor moved on.
The red ink is mostly unknown outside the congregation.

“Every Monday I find out what the (Sunday) offering was and we decide what we can pay this week,” said the Rev. Evon Horton, Brownsville’s current pastor. “The good news is last week we paid our mortgage. The bad news is it drained our bank accounts.”

The paid staff is down to six from around 50, and the newsletter is printed monthly instead of weekly. About 800 to 1,000 worshippers total attend two Sunday services, but most pews go empty in the 2,200-seat sanctuary. Another 2,600-seat sanctuary built just for the revival is used for a gym, community classes and storage. The church has trimmed millions off its debt by selling property and slashing expenses, and it’s raising money to pay off the remaining $6.5 million.

Horton said it’s a wonder — a blessing from God, really — that the church has survived so long.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with in 30 years of ministry,” he said.

Almost three years after the revival trickled down to its last nightly service in 2001, the longtime former pastor, the Rev. John Kilpatrick, moved on. He now runs a bustling church and traveling revival ministry based across the state line in Daphne, Ala.

Kilpatrick said Brownsville was never the wealthy church many assumed during the revival years, so loans were the only way to pay for growth. He said the church fell deeper into debt after he departed and membership dropped.

“I resigned (from) the church, and I never would have left if I knew the struggles it was going to have,” he said.

A lot has changed since the revival’s beginning on Father’s Day 1995. Ken Griffin, who first came to the church 36 years ago as a surfer and is now a board member, still marvels at what happened that day. Kilpatrick brought in visiting evangelist Steve Hill and something stirred.

“He just asked a simple question, like ‘If anyone really wants to get refreshed and get closer to God, then come up to the altar,'” Griffin said. “As he started praying for people, all kinds of things started happening. … People were falling out and people were just getting ministered to, and the next thing we know it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]