PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
MEET ME IN THE WATER REVIVAL … The Meet Me In The Water Revival was held on Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12, at The Promises We Make Wedding Venue in Montpelier. The two-day revival sponsored by Kayla Gabbard Ministries attracted nearly 3,000 people from all over the country, including Canada. Pictured is Kayla Gabbard (right), who performed a baptism ritual to an individual in the pond.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Promises We Make Wedding Venue located just outside of Montpelier was the setting for a “Meet Me In The Water” revival, a two-day event held on Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12.
Through the ministry of Kayla Gabbard, the revival served as an outreach for the tri-state area in which people from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana as well as Canada gathered to hear a message from Pastor Elwood and had the opportunity to proclaim their own faith by getting baptized.
According to Patty Miller of River of Life Church in Montpelier, a couple of church members, Dawn Whitlock and Lisa Fackler, knew of Gabbard and followed her on Facebook.
“They’re in tune with Kayla (Gabbard) and what she does with her ministry,” said Miller.
Whitlock and Fackler had approached the church leadership about the idea of inviting Gabbard, putting that invitation out to her team and inviting them to Northwest Ohio, dating back to October 2025.
“It started by one of the ladies from the church, Dawn Whitlock, who had posted on Kayla’s (Gabbard) Facebook page about coming to Ohio and they needed a body of water,” said Fackler. “She (Whitlock) had reached out to me about using our pond.”
From there, the ministry had visited Fackler’s property and wanted her to write a letter briefly explaining how they created it.
It was submitted to Kayla (Gabbard) who then responded by saying, “she is led by God and where she should go” and that’s how she ended up coming to Northwest Ohio.
Several months had gone by, and the church didn’t hear anything from Gabbard, but they were going to be making a decision because her ministry gets requests from all over.
There were also several other places in Ohio who had invited Gabbard as well, but the church was later contacted by Gabbard’s ministry saying they had decided to come to Montpelier.
“One of the stipulations was that we were asked is where you’re wanting to hold this,” Miller commented.
“Among the requirements was the have a minimum five acres of parking, simply to park cars because of the magnitude of people coming.”
Miller already knew that Tate and Lisa Fackler, who own The Promises We Make Wedding Venue located on County Road I, didn’t have enough area for parking, so they went to the people who lived behind them, who were Amish, saying they had this huge event coming up.
The Facklers eventually asked their Amish neighbors if it would be possible for them to use five acres of their land for the purpose of parking cars for the revival.
“The Amish were so happy that Tate and Lisa (Fackler) had asked them to help them in any way they could in order to make this happen and they did,” said Miller.
Hosting a two-day revival was quite a religious experience for the area, in which there were nearly 3,000 people who attended.
The main purpose of the revival was baptism in the pond, with 1,000 people getting baptized on Saturday and 400 more people getting baptized on Sunday, and they came from all over the United States.
“It was definitely a miracle, and it was just all by God where he took everybody and put them in where they’re supposed to be,” said Fackler.
“He (God) moved mountains, he opened doors, and he placed everybody where they supposed to be to get to that point.”
Fackler commented that the ministry had a team of around 100 people, and they came from all over the country.
“We even had somebody from the Netherlands who comes over and helps with the revival,” said Fackler.
The Kayla Gabbard Ministry also brought their own food trailer that follows them. Not only do they feed all of their staff, but they also feed those who had attended the revival.
“We had a bunch of hot dogs left, and I was told that Kayla (Gabbard) was going to be in Kentucky in two weeks,” Miller said. “I said take them and feed the multitudes that are coming there.”
Miller commented that the revival also served as a purpose for those wanting to soak in the presence of the Lord.
“It was such a peaceful atmosphere and unless you were there, it’s hard to fully understand,” Miller said.
“It was not an atmosphere of confusion, but it was peaceful and relaxing, and you could just feel the presence of God on the place when you got there.
“There were those who were baptized years ago but knew they needed to come and be baptized again with a renewed purpose and calling that was then on people’s lives.”
Fackler admitted that she is still processing the scale of the weekend.
“Just knowing how many people traveled to our place and just trying to find peace and healing in their life is pretty incredible,” Fackler said.
“I will be forever grateful for those reaching out to me. What God has done in my life and with everybody’s else’s life was the story of the weekend.”
