Hey Fam! Happy Thursday!
I hope you had a great week!
Today is a special day. At sundown we begin the Biblical holiday of Shavuot, which is the commemoration of when God gave Moses the law on Mt. Sinai. Thousands of years later, on this same day, God poured out His Spirit and 3000 were saved. Devoted Jews believe that the giving of the law was similar to a husband giving his wife a wedding ring, so every year on Shavuot they “renew their vows” to the Lord.
Of course, for us as believers in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit in us as a sign of our marriage to God, so it’s a great time for us to do the same.
Here’s a great devotional I read today about Shavuot and Pentecost. I think you’ll enjoy it- Shavuot (Pentecost): The Festival of Weeks – CBN Israel
All that being said, we’re believing that tonight’s prayer meeting will have an extra measure of Spirit power on it so I hope you can make it! Sofiya will be back, and we will meet at 7:30 at our home. Message us for details.
All last weekend, I felt like a little kid again. I was celebrating my 17th year with the Lord and all weekend I was reliving the entire experience. It was beautiful. The Lord definitely made it a memorable weekend on the mission field too, with one amazing Divine appointment after another.
On Friday, the first person the Lord highlighted was a man named Joel. As soon as I met him, I spoke the Joel 2 prophecy about the Holy Spirit coming and he was very intrigued because he had never heard it before. We got to talking and it turns out that his wife died a few years ago and about a year and a half ago he got saved. He said that he had resisted for years but finally gave in during that season of brokenness. After this he shared with me that he was struggling a lot with loneliness, and I told him all about our relationship with Jesus as our Bridegroom and he was blown away. He had never heard anything about the deeper things of God and how to connect with Him on an intimate level. The Lord encountered him so powerfully there that night and he told me that it was such an answer to prayer. Here’s a picture of us:
A little later on, a man walked through, and we asked him if he wanted prayer, and after we prayed, he started crying and walked away saying God had just answered his prayer. Not sure what he meant but it was definitely encouraging! A little while later, I was preaching and during the altar call a woman came up to me and said she wanted to receive Jesus. The girls prayed for her, and the Lord met her. Here she is:
Then, just as we were getting ready to pray and pack up, a woman came by and said she wanted to pray with us. I asked her if she wanted us to pray for her first and after some pondering, she said sure “how about you pray for me to have more peace?” We prayed for her to receive the peace of God, and she said she felt something. Then, we got talking to her and we found out that she had never given her life to Christ. She even said that she believed other religions were equally valid and that it wasn’t for her to judge what was right or wrong. Praise God, the Holy Spirit showed up and revealed the truth to her that night. By the end of the conversation, she asked God for forgiveness and made a full declaration of faith. It was such a supernatural thing to witness!
After that we talked to her until after midnight and she kept telling us how different she felt compared to when she first came. “I was so heavy when I got here, and now I feel so light” she kept saying. It was amazing. Here’s a picture of us:
BIG thanks to Abagail, Amber, Carson, Diana, Thom and Yvonne for coming to serve on Friday!
Saturday was a great night too. When I arrived, there weren’t many people at the park yet, but there was one couple sitting on the steps near where we set up. I asked them if they wanted water and then asked them if they knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The woman told me that she had been “struggling with that”. I asked her why and I was shocked by her answer- “I was raped inside of a church by one of the pastors” she said. “He even video recorded the entire thing.”
Luckily her fiancée was a believer so as I shared Jesus with her, he was backing me up. I ended up talking to them for almost an hour before we started the service and I found out that she had also just left her abusive husband. Her daughters were there too and the older one told me about the abuse that she experienced as well. It was SO sad to hear their story. Praise God though they stayed for another hour+ and received lots of counsel and ministry from several of us. It was a blessing to see God meet them in such a broken place. Here’s a pic of me and her fiancée. The woman is behind us with the flower lei on.
The rest of the night was great too. As the night went on, many people came to the park and heard the Word. It was great see kids came over and write Jesus messages too. Here’s a few pics of those:
One 9-year-old boy named Malachi even came by and got so inspired that he even shared on the microphone, which was super cool! Later on, a handful of people came to hear the worship too, which was great to see:
People were getting drawn into it for hours, so we ended up staying until after 9pm. This video taken around that time, where you can still see 3 people videoing. So cool!
BIG thanks to Cheryl, Chuck, Dan, Debbie, Jackson, Michael V, Paul, Ricardo and Shirley for coming out to serve!
Sunday was amazing too. I started the day by going to the church where I got saved 17 years earlier, so I came to the beach extra filled up and expectant. Right off the bat, the Lord was showing me that it was going to be a special day. This never happens on such a busy beach day, but literally right after Mike and finished unloading, I got in the van to go look for a space and right as I began to drive, someone in the front row pulled right out. I couldn’t believe it. I parked in that spot and when I came back, I noticed that a guy was standing there watching the entire thing. He told me that he was impressed with our “magic”. It gave us the perfect open door to witness to him, which he received. So cool!
Once we got set up, people were coming for gifts and prayer right away. In fact, within just the first few minutes both Rene and Maria told me they had prayed with someone to receive Christ. Rene’s testimony was wild. A Hispanic man came up to him and asked him why he had his name on his shirt. Rene asked him, “your name is Jesus?” The man said yes. Rene told him that it was referring to Jesus the Messiah and the man said he did not know the gospel. After hearing it, the man gave his life to Christ on the spot! So cool that God can use such an obscure way to reach someone!
Several others prayed to receive Christ that night at the gift table too, including an entire family from Nicaragua!
The craziest thing that happened though, happened in the drum circle. Around 7, I went into the circle to juggle and talk to the drummers, and I met this 20-year-old girl from Orlando. I asked her if she had received Jesus as her Lord and Saviour- she said no. I asked her if she had ever heard about Jesus and what He did for her- she said no. Then, just as I was about to share the gospel with her, another young woman came up to me, got in my face, and tried to get me to leave her alone. She accused me of talking to her for inappropriate reasons. I lovingly stood my ground and resisted her intimidation, and after a minute or two of debate, she left.
Once she left, I shared the gospel, and right there inside the drum circle, within just feet of all the drummers, the girl prayed to receive Jesus into her heart. It was so cool!
After that, I brought her over to the tent to get a bible and receive counsel from some of the girls, and she ended up staying with us for well over two hours. We came to find out that her mom is into witchcraft and has been getting her to dabble in it as well. She even told us that her mom brought her to the beach that day and pressured her into dancing sensually in the circle for everyone to see. The girl ended up going through serious deliverance right on the beach (pictured here) before being taken back home by her mom.
It was a huge breakthrough for sure, but given the situation she is going back to, she definitely a lot of prayer. Luckily, we got to talk to and pray with her mom too, so were believing that things are going to change!
If all that wasn’t exciting and encouraging enough, one last God moment happened just before we left. As you’ve heard me share, the culture of the drum circle has changed dramatically over the past 17 months. They went from hateful and combative towards us to friendly, warm and respectful. Some have even prayed to receive the Lord. There’s one guy though that was still the holdout, his name is Scott. Scott is always the one who tries to drown us out in the pavilion, and he has told us bluntly “I don’t come to the beach for church!”
On Sunday, as he was leaving, I ran into Scott on the walkway. He came right up to me and said “hey man, I know we have different opinions about things, but I have to tell you, I friggin love that shirt!” Referring to my Jesus surfing with no surfboard shirt. Then, after I pointed out that he had no surfboard, Scott said with a huge smile on his face “yeah He doesn’t need one does He!?” Then he hugged me, told me to have a good night and left. I was stunned!
Between seeing the last of the contentious drummers have their walls broken down AND seeing someone literally receive Christ inside the circle on the same night…I feel like God is giving us a sign that we’ve broken through to another level out there. Let’s keep believing!
BIG thanks to Amber, Cheryl, Dan, Deb, Joe, John, Maria, Michelle, Mike M, Rene and Zack for coming out to serve!
This weekend the schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (166) at 7pm
Saturday at Riverwalk (93) at 5pm
Saturday we will also be at the worship event at Lennard High School that our brother Paul is organizing. We will aim to be there around 1:30/2pm and we encourage you to come also.
Sunday at Siesta Beach (270) at 4pm
This Sunday is also Pentecost Sunday, and we will be participating with One Christ Won City in their “Baptism’s in the Gulf” mission. It’s pretty cool, they have churches and ministries participating all over the west coast and there will be baptisms happening from Clearwater to Naples. We’ve been assigned Siesta, and we will have at least 3-5 baptisms beginning around 3pm. Come early if you’d like to be part of that!
Also please come tonight if you can, but if not please join us on zoom by clicking here- https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73952803301?pwd=WuhuDfUs1otaJJaIdanx8YnbwgZdRl.1
Love y’all so much!
Chris