Melanie Tucker thedailytimes.com

Jimmy Guider and many like him will look back on 2020 as the year that almost wasn’t.

“I just kept having strong feelings about it,” he said. “I called them back and said I think we should go ahead and have it. Others were saying the same thing. They agreed with me and everything fell into place.”

This annual event takes place in early September and has been attended every year since 1873. The gathering was meant to bring people of different denominations together to heal from the divisiveness of the Civil War. In East Tennessee and elsewhere, families had members fighting on both sides.

Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Quakers were the first ones that bonded together at this meeting place. The first gathering was under a tent.

This year’s meeting will take place Sunday, Sept. 13, through Thursday, Sept. 17, at the campground, on King Road in Greenback. A bell that has been in service since the beginning calls worshippers together.

The scheduled speakers include the Rev. Gerald Russell, retired Methodist minister, on Sept. 13, followed by the Rev. Jason Sweeton, pastor of Christ First Community Church, on Sept. 14. The Rev. Ron Sabo of Pine Grove Presbyterian will lead the congregation on Sept. 15, followed by the Rev. Scott Knight of Ball Play Friends Church on Sept. 16. The revival meetings will end Sept. 17 with speaker the Rev. Wayne Hickman of West Memorial Methodist Church. Choirs and/or other singing groups also will perform each evening.

The services get underway at 7 p.m. each day.

Work has been going on at the site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. A neighbor has been mowing the grass without being asked; Guilder said the final workday before these grounds once again hold worshippers will be Saturday.

Guider said because the meetings are held outdoors, social distancing will be easy. Many people bring lawn chairs to set up outside the shed. Even the pews underneath the tabernacle will be spaced, he said.

The committee chairman said he first started going to church as a young boy when a neighbor began taking him with her. It was in 1992 that Guider began taking a leadership role with the National Campground.

On opening night, Guider, 80, said he will share a personal story of God answering prayer in the midst of this pandemic. He will marry Lynn Gentry on Oct. 3. She will be present at the five-night revival and will ring the bell to open services. Both of them previously have lost spouses.

Jim Chapman, a member of Foothills Quartet, will lead the music this year. He said he was first asked to do that in 1990 and others have stepped in over the years. He still remembers his first experience at this historic place.

“It was just an awesome experience,” he said. “If you think about the history and why it started in the first place and how it continued on ... . The tradition and spirit of revival with all denominations coming together makes it an awesome opportunity. I am honored to be asked to be a part of it.”

And while there are old-timers like Guider, who continue to see the relevance of holding such an event, there are those who will experience this for the very first time. That includes Sweeton, who has pastored in East Tennessee for 30 years. He just started a new church, Christ First Community, in Maryville.

Guider, Chapman and Sweeton all recognize the parallels of the early days of the National Campground with today’s need for healing. They said the annual call for unity is certainly needed.

It is a place of quiet reflection, Guider said. It is a place where the history lets all know it is holy ground, Chapman added.

As Sweeton prepares his message, he said he feels the need for revival and one with renewed enthusiasm and passion for the Lord.

World wars, the Great Depression, thunderstorms and a pandemic have not stopped this annual revival. Guider said the place will be ready to receive all who want to come and participate in this worship under the stars.

“But, through all of these circumstances, people have come from near and far and on horses, buggies, cars and walked to come to worship God in his cathedral,” Guider said. “A place where the night sounds give witness to his creation.”