By JOHN EBY

Dowagiac Daily News

“Our biggest step so far is this event on Saturday evening,” Liberty Chapel Pastor Mark Saylor said Wednesday evening about the third annual Ryan’s Revival at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center.

Not only are brothers Nick and Jared Fields bringing their band from Kentucky, there will be an 11-year-old evangelist from Indianapolis, Andrew Cox. Following him will be Indianapolis evangelist Kevin Copley, 38 — same age as Saylor.

“Church isn’t just for adults, it’s for everybody,” Mark said.

The Fields brothers “bring joy to your soul,” said Saylor, who “was hooked by the first notes of their live CD. There was Hammond organ, then the drums kick in and you’re like, ‘Who are these guys and how can I get ahold of them?’ Some of their music, some of their arrangements are original, but a lot is old traditional gospel music. They said they’d be happy to come.”

“Ryan’s Revival has grown each year,” Saylor said. “It’s a three-day event. We’re going to try to handle Friday night and Sunday morning here at the home church” on Dewey Street.

Ryan was a 21-year-old DUHS 2006 graduate who was Walter and Tracy’s son. Ryan lost his life in an Aug. 10, 2008, auto accident on Rudy Road near Gage Street in Wayne Township.

“We’re going to have a huge country luncheon for everybody to come and enjoy. All the home cooking you can stand, trimmings, desserts and fried chicken. It’s going to be a feast. The ladies of the church are going to lay out a spread that will put a smile on your face.”

“The reason we’re having the concert at the middle school auditorium,” he said, “is we want to attract people, promote unity and get them to come in to someplace that isn’t a traditional church atmosphere and be uplifted. I’ve invited probably 20 other churches. That’s another good thing about having it a neutral environment. We’re not promoting Liberty Chapel, we’re promoting the Lord Jesus Christ, lifting up people’s spirits and edifying people’s hearts. People are not going to get a great big dose of Pastor Mark. I’m going to try and enjoy myself. Matter of fact, I’m going to try and kick back and relax.

“I’ve been mentored along by Bishop Daryll Williams from Covert Lily of the Valley Church. He’s amazing. He’s going to have his powerful gospel choir and be the keynote speaker on Friday night. My own daughter, Catelynn, 15, is a phenomenal singer. What a talented soloist. God has just blessed me with her. My son Mark is a great musician (playing guitar when we arrive). Matt is a great drummer.

“This past December God blessed us with a choir director,” local speed drummer Dave Stroup, Kenny’s brother. “He heard our young people and said, ‘These people can sing. You could really do something here.’ God laid it on his heart and you could not ask for anyone more faithful. This was Tim’s home church before he passed away. I spoke at his funeral. Dave has been a blessing to this church. He can see it in the raw clay before there’s a pretty sculpture. We needed a choir for the Christmas play, so we put one together. We ended up with some robes. It turned out so great, we kept the robes, then when the choir got established, they had a fundraising dinner to buy new choir robes. God has miraculously touched this church so many times.”

Open on the desk before him is a book by T.D. Jakes — “a powerful motivational speaker who is a big influence on my ministry.”

Seated in the carpeted pastor’s study created from an old storage room which last fall stowed a folded-up puppet theater, Saylor says, “These things can only happen when people get a vision and begin to share their passionate desires. It’s a group effort. Everybody has a substantial role to play in keeping this ministry going,” such as its three jail chaplains, including Ryan’s father, Wally.

Ryan Saylor was Mark’s cousin and a member of Liberty Chapel. “He had the most bubbly personality,” Mark said, recalling the outpouring at Ryan’s funeral at Apostolic Lighthouse.

“It was so full, they were standing along the walls,” Saylor said. “It was packed with a diverse crowd, young and older. An older black man had worked with Ryan and he had to walk up and say something about his buddy Ryan who never walked by without saying a kind word or hugging him. He spoke about how Ryan touched his life.”

“Something so powerful happened at that service,” Saylor said. “I’d never done this at a funeral before. God put me in a dilemma. I’m preaching a message about how God put modern-day prophets among us to preach unity and love to bring people together and be lifted up. I talked about how Jesus Christ was sent to earth to give us hope and a future promise for a new life. The Lord wanted me to give an invitation to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. You’re at a funeral with hundreds of people and you’re going to give an invitation? But I couldn’t shake what the Lord pressed on me: ask them if they’d like to have Jesus in their lives. It seemed as if all the youth Dowagiac had to offer were gathered in that place. There were hundreds, and Dowagiac has beautiful kids. I had to obey the Lord … I’ve seen it at mega churches, but all of a sudden, from all over that sanctuary, the seats began to empty. Hundreds crammed toward the front around Ryan’s casket, raising their hands to heaven. They filled the aisles. ‘Jesus, come into my life.’ They began to embrace each other. Such a feeling of unity came into that place that you just knew the presence of God was there touching people’s lives. I stood back for a minute in amazement at what God did for me. Only Jesus can impact lives like that. He had just reached out and ministered to all these people and opened that door of opportunity. It just sparked our church. Look at what God can do! God used a moment of intense tragedy in our family and turned it into a revival in our church. Let’s get some folks down on their luck or haven’t had a blessing in a while and feed them, pet on them and love them. Let them know we care and carry his vision and spirit forward.”

Since Easter 2008, Liberty Chapel, its name inspired by his mother from the bell steeple at 112 N., Mill St., where it started, mushroomed from six members to 150, pushing the nursery to the lower level. That’s why he looked at the vacant block where Jessup Door stood on E. Railroad Street and saw a potential location for a new, larger Liberty Chapel seating 300 to 400 worshippers.

His wife, Laura, works for Bronson’s nursing home in Lawton.

Mark works at Kalamazoo Valley Community College as an electrician.

“If we can change the way we have church and reach out the way Jesus originally intended and be a part of the community, we can prosper,” he said. “I believe if we get down to the street level, God will bless us … If you continue to have a humble attitude and thank God for every day, and you take time to reach down to every one you can, God will let you prosper.”

“God blessed us to outgrow the N. Mill Street facilities,” Saylor said, “and we saw this” on Dewey Street. “It was pretty desolate. The ceiling was hanging down. There was a strip of carpeting on the floor and old theater-style seating” instead of pews.

Now, thanks to Saylor’s music ministry, the sanctuary looks as though a concert is ready to begin.

“We came in here with a lot of elbow grease and backbone” and a desire for diversity,” he said. “We revived it and brought it back to life. Some of the old members who came to this church before came back. When they came in, they were just excited to see that God was blessing in this building once again. Some who came back made this their home church again.”

“God has given us a great problem,” Saylor continues. “He’s given us too little space, but we’re trying to take what He’s given us and make the most with it and be good stewards. What’s amazing about our growth is that it’s not a result of pulling some church members from over here or somebody’s membership over there and trying to glean from other churches to build this church. We got involved with Chaplain Carl Ross at Forgotten Man Ministries.”

Mark graduated from Decatur High School in 1990.

A church member who works at Special Lite in Decatur made new front doors with cross windows in them.

“A lot of work needs to be done. I believe God’s going to give us our next facility, but at the same time I believe He expects you to take what you’ve got now and make the most of it,” Saylor said.