Tent revival

A marquee tent set up for a tent revival in rural Pennsylvania, 2008

A tent revival is a gathering of Christian worshipers in a tent erected specifically for revival meetings, healing crusades, and church rallies. Tent revivals have had both local and national ministries.

The tent revival is a development of the old camp meetings in which religious people gathered to hear a preacher. In the continental United States, tent revivals have ranged from small, locally based tents holding perhaps a hundred to large organizations with a fleet of trucks and tents able to hold thousands.

Most tent revivals in the U.S. have been held by Pentecostal or Holiness Christians who not only adhered to evangelicalism but believed in speaking in tongues (glossolalia), healing the chronically ill, and in some cases resurrecting the dead. As radio and television began to play an increasingly important part in American culture, some preachers such as Oral Roberts, a very successful tent revivalist, made the transition to these media. Such pioneers were the early televangelists. Other evangelists who have been noted for their continued use of tents in crusades include David Terrell, R.W. Schambach, Reinhard Bonnke and J. A. Pérez.

Cultural representations

• Blood Meridian, a novel by Cormac McCarthy
• Elmer Gantry, a novel by Sinclair Lewis
• Resurrection, a film with Ellen Burstyn and Sam Shepard
• Joshua, a film with F. Murray Abraham
• "Leap of Faith (film)", a film with Steve Martin and Liam Neeson
• True Detective (Season 1), starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson

See also

• Chautauqua

Bibliography

• Sims, Patsy. Can Somebody Shout Amen!: Inside the Tents and Tabernacles of American Revivalists. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8131-0886-1

External links

• Early Texas Tent Revivals - Information on early 1900s tent revivals in West Texas.
• History Archives, Tent Revivals by J.A. Pérez