The Miracle of Manchester

MANCHESTER, Kentucky - It was the day that changed a town and gave hope to a nation. On May 2, 2004, despite the unseasonably cold and rainy weather, more than 3,000 people representing about 60 churches in Clay County, Kentucky, marched through town to send the drug dealers a message.

"This is my home. Don't plan on going no where, drug dealers are not running me off the creek - this is where I live," said Pastor Doug Abner, Community Church.

In what many believe was the key to that march, the pastors of Clay County from every denomination repented and asked God to forgive them for being more concerned about their buildings and programs than the people of Clay County.

Almost immediately they began to see change. Drug arrests went way up! Drug dealers and users started coming to church and getting saved and the story of Manchester was heard around the world on the 700 Club.

Little did they know - their march against drugs would ignite a fire of hope that continues to spread across the country. Dozens of towns, from Georgia to Texas, after seeing the stories on the 700 Club held their own marches and are taking back their communities for Christ.

"The story I saw on the TV gave me hope," said one female viewer.

In fact, the miraculous stories have helped so many communities, the Manchester city council recently voted to change the name of their town to Manchester - the City of Hope.

Abner said, "I thought for a couple of weeks if we had a theme or a name on the sign prior to May of 2004, it would have been Manchester, City of hopelessness and how far we've come with the Lord's help in three years."

Abner and his wife Linda of community church have come a long way themselves. They've been key leaders in the transformation of Manchester. And just as God is using the 700 Club to tell the miraculous story of their town, it was the tool God used to lead a young Abner to Christ.

Late one night in the spring of 1976, Abner was on the couch watching the 700 Club and the galloping gourmet,Graham Kerr, was giving his testimony -- interestingly -- the story sounded a lot like his and Linda's.

"And there was something about what he said that just touched my heart - his wife was a Christian - he didn't think he needed God - that was exactly where I was, and I just quietly prayed and asked Jesus to come into my heart," Abner said. "Linda was sitting on the couch with me - I didn't tell her what I'd done."

CBN News asked Abner whether he knew something was going on?

"Well, for him to sit there and watch the 700 Club - if it wasn't sports - that was his big thing, I knew something was going on and he was really listening - and he was real quiet and that was different."

Abner said, "As I slept that night I had a dream that two men were fighting over top of me. One was dressed in total black and one was in total white. And it's like, they say a dream doesn't last a long time, but it seemed like it lasted all night and at the end of the dream, the guy in the white had his foot on top of the guy in the black - and I woke up and I was a totally different human being."

How long after this did he feel God calling him into the ministry?

"Almost immediately," Abner said, "but I wouldn't tell anybody, I would be in the shower and I would preach. And I thought I was losing my mind and I would tell the Lord, I'll do anything but I'm not going to preach or be a missionary."

Linda wasn't keen on being a pastor's wife either. But the call of God proved stronger than their fears. After leaving his job as a banker and owning a Christian book store, Doug became the pastor of community church in Manchester where he and Linda are now part of a growing band of believers who are having a world wide-impact.

Abner says what's happening in Manchester today was actually prophesied some 20 years ago.

"One day, a lady was on the Daniel Boone Parkway, it runs through Manchester - and she came to my bookstore - and she had a word about a dove in the sky and she saw it three times. And it was pointed in different directions, all pointed back to Manchester, and she said 'I've come to tell you that God said he's going to do a work in this town, that when it's completed no man can take credit for it because it's so big,'" Abner said.