Hey Fam! Happy Thursday! And Happy National Day of Prayer!
Last week we had such a beautiful time of fellowship and prayer at our house. We are looking forward to taking that atmosphere to Payne Park tonight as we join hundreds of believers from across the region for prayer at 6:30 pm. I hope you can join us! It is always VERY powerful.
Last weekends’ outreaches were great too, despite the CRAZY weather.
On Friday, it was actually quite nice outside, so there were a lot of people in the park. I’d say more than usual. We also got to pray for more people than we usually do, which was great. Two of those Divine appointments really stood out to me. One was a couple that just moved here from New York, and they wanted prayer for their marriage. Words of knowledge were flowing during the prayer and the woman was in tears afterwards. The man was clearly not as strong spiritually as she was, so it was really neat to see him walk over and listen intently to the music afterwards. We gave them some church info and she said she said she was so grateful to have met us.
The other was a Hispanic couple that had just moved here. They were currently homeless but living in a hotel. We got to pray for them and their kids, and then we talked to them for nearly an hour. They said that it was a huge encouragement and will likely also lead to them getting better connected here.
Another fun moment was when a group of people came walking up from Labarge and two ladies (who had probably been drinking a little) threw their hands up in worship as they heard the music. They started praising God and then they each gave me money and thanked us for being there. It felt like a little revival happened in their hearts, which was so cool to see!
Here’s one video that was taken that night. Big thanks to Amber, Abagail, Carson, Cheryl, Jeff, Laney, Mike M, Nate and Thom for coming out!!!
On Saturday, we had plans to minister at Riverwalk and then we were going to take the Jesus Party to the Hernando De Soto Parade that was happening along Manatee Ave. They were expecting 100,000 people at the parade, so we were really excited. However, about 20 minutes after we got started at Riverwalk, the rains came, the winds came, and all I can say is thank God we were under a bridge! What was nice though, is that everyone around the area took shelter under the bridge so we had a captive audience for well over 30 minutes. Here’s a video from the beginning:
Not only did these people hear the Word, but we also got to pray for some of them too:
As the evening went on, the rain and wind persisted so they ended up canceling the parade. With few people left at the skate park, we began winding down to leave, but before we did, I got to share the gospel with a young boy who said he hadn’t heard it before. The boy then prayed for Jesus to make Himself real to him, which was so cool! Here’s a picture of him. He stayed and played in the rain for a while after we prayed:
Then, just as we were about to leave, a teenage boy came up to me and said that he was a believer but not doing well. He said he was going to church but hasn’t in a while, and it was pretty clear that he was up to no good underneath the bridge. He said that he cried as we were singing and playing and that he really needed prayer. Talk about a Divine appointment. Here’s a video of some of the worship from that night:
Afterwards we went to Zeko’s and celebrated our brother Paul’s 41st birthday! We love you bro!!!
Big thanks to Andrew, Andrew’s dad, Cheryl, Daniel, Jackson, Jeff, James, James’ wife, Paul and Ricardo for coming out to serve!
Sunday was a pretty crazy weather day too. Luckily there was no rain, but the wind did get pretty fierce. We could actually see the sand blowing at our feet, and sometimes it even made its way to our mouth, nose and eyes. Definitely a night to remember! LOL!
We didn’t have live music or much open-air preaching, but we did have the beach all to ourselves (with the drum circle in the pavilion) and many people stopped for gifts and prayer. It was really beautiful. There were words of knowledge flowing, supernatural encouragement, God tears, and one lady even got physically healed! She came by using a cane and I asked her if she wanted prayer. She said “yes, please pray that I can bend my knee.” Turns out she had a stroke and the leg problem was a result of the brain damage. I prayed for her, she thanked me, and then she left to go towards the water.
About an hour later, she came back and walked by while I was praying for someone else. She stopped and told Laney that God had already begun to answer the prayer. She then lifted her cane and walked without it, bending her knee as she had hoped for! How amazing! God is so good!
Here’s a video of the crazy wind:
Here’s some pics of some of the people we prayed for. So awesome that we get to be His ambassadors!
Big thanks to Amber, Andrew, Diana, John, Laney and Mike M for braving the wind and coming out!
Also, let’s give the Lord a big shout of praise for what He is doing in our brother John! John got baptized at Siesta a few weeks ago and got set free from some serious strongholds. Now he’s been evangelizing with us for the past two weeks, he’s going to the front, and he’s going hard after God. So proud of you John!
This weekend our schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (163) at 7
Saturday at Riverwalk (90) at 5
Sunday at Siesta Beach (267) at 3
Please pray and please come when you can! Hope to see you tonight at Payne Park also!
God bless!
Chris and Sofiya