Hey Fam! I hope you’re doing amazing!
Big shout out to all you amazing warriors who were able to come and serve our King on the front lines this past weekend!
Mike M, Amber, Diana, Thom, Deb A, Debbie M, Chuck, Howie, Mike V, Carlos, Laney, Rene, Maria, Sara, Michelle, Gustavo, Dave and Miguel. Thank you SO much for your service to Christ! And BIG thank you to Aaron for buying us a bunch of shirts to wear as we minister!
Friday night started a little slow. There were a decent amount of people in the park, but not many came for prayer. Then, as we were winding down, a man walked through and I asked him if he wanted prayer. Realizing that he didn’t speak great English, I had Diana repeat the question and he told her- “Yes, I want prayer. I’m an addict.” I turned my back to grab something as she started praying for him, and then all of a sudden, I heard “Chris!” I turned around and saw the man starting to fall down under the power of God!
I grabbed him quickly, let him down slowly, and as he was on the ground, he shook, screamed, wailed and cried. Here’s a clip of a video I got of the demons manifesting-
It was so sad to see the man’s bondage, that I wept over it as I was praying for him. If not for the grace of God that could have been us! Thankfully by the end, he was calling out to Jesus and asking for help!
Afterwards, we walked the man to get his stuff and then walked him back to the park. His countenance was changing a lot as we were walking, and he was opening up to us about his struggles. We ministered to him for over an hour, and he had one more major manifestation, along with a clear encounter from the Holy Spirit. After that we got him some food and took him to a spot downtown where he could sleep. We’re continuing to pray for him and we’re believing that God will continue the work that he began. Please pray for him, his name is Pedro.
On Saturday, I went to The Sarasota Apologetics Conference at The Tabernacle Church and I saw several speakers that were amazing. My favorite was Dr. Frank Turek, author of the book “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.” The presentations were powerful, and I highly recommend you check out his stuff on YouTube to help equip you to answer some of the commonly asked questions about our faith.
Saturday evening at Riverwalk, the Lord moved powerfully again. Early in the night, 4 children came up to the gift table and prayed to receive the Lord with Debbie and Chuck. One of them even had a visible encounter with the Holy Spirit. As Debbie finished praying for the boy (who was about 6/7 years old), he suddenly said with big eyes, “wow! I can feel something!” She told him what it was, and the other kids got to witness it all too. How awesome!
Not as many children came up onto the platform this time, but there were still a number of them. These 2 were the most precious. They literally just came up to the cross, got on their knees and started worshipping. Who does that at that age unless God is REALLY moving on their hearts! Here’s a video:
Then what was so cool is that their worship sparked another child to come and worship! Here he is:
It reminds me of how Moses’ worship in the tent of meeting inspired others to worship also. (Exodus 33: 9-10). I believe that we will see more of this as the days go on and who knows? Maybe we will even see an actual Glory Cloud just like Moses did!
Later that evening I got to pray for a young man named Frank, who had come over to see what we were doing. He was a believer, but he shared with me that he had been battling serious depression and thoughts of suicide, even that day. After ministering to him for a while, he was much more hopeful, and he was convinced that God orchestrated the entire thing to encourage him. What a God moment. I reached out to him this week and he is definitely doing better.
Another Divine appointment we had was with a teenage boy who was laying down on the platform when we got there. He was dealing with some serious bondage, and he was bundled up in a huge hoodie and wouldn’t even show his face for the first 20 minutes or so that Howie was talking to him. Then, the Lord began to break down the walls and he took his hood off and even began to smile. He said he was a believer, so Howie encouraged him in his faith, and we gave him some resources. It is so sad to see what some of these younger believers are going through, but it is so encouraging to see God break through it and touch their hearts.
On Saturday night we had a great time of fellowship at Zeko’s too which was so fun! I hope you can come join us this Saturday!
On Sunday, the power of God was poured out again. Before we even began the worship, 2 grade school girls came up to Maria and prayed to receive Christ. Later on, Michelle got to lead a teenage girl to Christ (which she was SO happy about because she had just prayed for the Lord to allow her to do that!), and many other people were prayed for at the walkway. We also had so much positive feedback from people that walked by us, way more than usual. It really felt like God had prepared the hearts of the people, which is exactly what we pray for every week.
Another fun moment on the beach was when a young Christian woman came up to me and said “I was literally just walking by asking God to raise up a movement of Light to go against this movement of darkness (the drum circle), and then I turned, and I instantly turned and saw you guys! This is SO awesome!” Gotta love God’s sovereign timing!
Towards the end of the night, after many people heard the gospel in the pavilion, a couple came up to me and the man asked me if I could pray for them. He told me that he was a backslidden Christian and that his wife had been struggling to believe in God for many years and he doesn’t know what to do to reach her. Since she was standing right there, I asked her a few questions about her faith and within a few minutes she was in tears, confessing her sin and asking for forgiveness. It was amazing to see God move like that! Then, she prayed to make Jesus her Lord, she received the Holy Spirit, and then the man rededicated his life to Jesus! After this, I found out that it was their last night in Florida. The next day they were going back home to Maryland. What timing! I got their number, and I followed up this week. He said they’re doing great and are planning to go to church this Sunday. Come on Jesus!
On top of all that, I’d say that overall, we reached somewhere around 700-1000 people with the gospel this weekend. I’m always amazed at how easy He makes it for us to impact so many lives!
Here’s one last video. This is a song I’ve never heard before, but it was playing on the radio while I was parking the van at Siesta. It was definitely written for us and for NOW!
“The harvest is ready, the workers are few, it’s time to reach out outside of this room”
Here’s a link to the other pics and videos from the weekend- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m0kaugxat7yz97m/AADzRfLNVTYlLZzQywFjQ89ga?dl=0
This weekend our schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (150) at 7
Saturday at Riverwalk (78) at 4
Sunday at Siesta Beach (255) at 2 (many people on the beach will be leaving early because of the Super Bowl)
Please pray and please come when you can!
Also, tonight we will have our zoom prayer meeting, which you can access here-
Topic: Prayer Meeting For Outreaches
Time: Feb 9, 2023 09:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77067881646?pwd=E1oHpGyPkynFTfdUrDOqlpNjo4iL2t.1
Also, Ft. Lauderdale is only about 5 weeks away! If you’re able to go, please let me know asap.
Love and appreciate you all so much!
Chris and Sofiya