Happy Thursday Beloved! Hope all is Glorious!
I can’t believe that 5 months of 2023 have already came and went! Time sure does fly when you’re having fun!
I did a count the other day, and our core team has done 71 outreaches already this year. If you count the teams that minister with Monte and Jeanine, it’s close to 71 more. So amazing that God is doing so much in one area!
On that note, our friends from Victory Church have also been getting in on the fun. They’ve had a few outreaches like ours this year already and this Friday they are having another one. The Tabernacle of David is truly being rebuilt!
This past weekend was really special too. Our friend Jim Fouby, who leads One Christ Won City, helped orchestrate a movement of baptisms to take place from Clearwater Beach all the way to Naples on Pentecost Sunday. There were 204 people baptized and we had the honor of doing 3 of them on Siesta. It was supposed to be 8-9 but several people got sick, and a few went to Venice Beach instead because of the insane traffic on Siesta. The baptisms in Venice even made the local paper!
Click here to see the articles- Past Events — One Christ Won City
You can see a video of the baptisms on siesta here- https://www.facebook.com/chris.vercelli/videos/257963193447555/?mibextid=cr9u03
One person we baptized that day was also celebrating her birthday, and drove all the way from North Port for the baptism. Afterwards she sent me this message/testimony. So cool!
While we were at the water doing the baptism, a Christian couple on vacation from South Carolina saw us and came up to talk to me as we were about to walk back to the pavilion. She was sobbing, telling me over and over how beautiful it was to see us doing this and they were both telling me how badly she wanted to be that bold. I talked to them for a few minutes, prayed with them, and then told them that the perfect way for them to get activated was to stay and minister with us. They ended up ministering with us the entire night and they were both very bold! So cool to see! Here they are on the beach (April and Darren) and here’s a pic of April passing out gifts towards sunset.
They were even talking about coming back to do it again in the future and bringing their kids. So fun to see the Acts 4 boldness spreading!
We got to pray with a number of people that night too, and several prayed to receive Christ. Here’s a group of 3 young girls who prayed to receive Him with me
A number of people came to listen to the worship and preaching too. Here’s one video of some people gathered as the sun was setting:
One of the most memorable moments of the night came early, when a late 20 something man and woman and a young boy came up and listened to me preach for about 5 minutes. They seemed to be very engaged, so I was excited to see them there. When I finished, the woman came up to me, got right in my face and started yelling at me. She said she was gay and that I was oppressing her. She got even more vicious when I told her that I used to struggle with homosexual desires and God freed me. As she was yelling at me, the young boy, who was probably 10 or 11, kept asking her if being gay was wrong and was being told “absolutely not!”
I tried to get her to talk to me more calmly, but to no avail. As they left, they even accused me of spreading hate speech. Never a dull moment! Blessed are those who are persecuted for His Names sake!
HUGE thanks to Alexa, Amber, Diana, Laney, Michelle, Sara and Zack for coming out to minister with us!
Saturday was also pretty epic. In addition to The Holmes Beach, Siesta Beach and Riverwalk outreaches, our brother Paul also had a Jesus Party at the High School where he was fired from for being so bold for Jesus. It was really fun, and the weather was so much nicer than what we usually get this time of year. Several students even came to minister with us, which was really great. Here’s one video I took of us praying before the event launched off.
That same day there was also a Jesus March in downtown Tampa and 2000 people attended. About 100 people prayed to receive Christ there also, which is amazing! Some pics can be seen on www.unitedrevival.org
At Riverwalk, God was moving strongly also. One really cool thing that happened was that the family who we ministered to for hours the week before, came back and got a ton more ministry. They said they were looking forward to it all week. They even brought their cousin with them! Here’s a pic of us:
It was also really neat to see the young man who asked us months ago to pray for his mom to released from jail and to be reconciled with him…show up at the park…with his mom! They both thanked us profusely and were so happy that God answered the prayers! This is what is so cool about being at these places week after week- seeing the ONGOING move of God!
Chuck, Debbie and Laney had some powerful Divine appointments at the gift table too. One woman they met just lost her husband last week and another just had a death in the family that day. Both were hurting badly and God touched them both as they received prayer and counsel. So cool. Here’s some pics.
Several children prayed to receive the Lord that day too, which was amazing, and one little girl kept crying after she did it. One of her little friends asked if she was sad and she said “no, I’m so happy!” Amazing to see how Holy Spirit can encounter these youths! Here’s a picture of a few of the girls.
Many kids were also expressing their love for Jesus with the sidewalk again chalk too, which was awesome.
Another cool highlight was meeting Michelle and Stephanie from The Front Port Charlotte. They heard about the outreach and drove over an hour to come and minister with us. They sang beautifully and helped draw in many people. It was a real blessing! Here’s a few videos of their worship. They even broke out some Spanish songs, which was muy fuego!
Jackson even received a physical healing that night in his leg, and then on his way home from the outreach he had a Divine appointment at the skate park. Here’s a text we got from later:
BIG thanks to Chuck, Debbie, Jackson, Laney, Michelle and Stephanie for coming out to serve!
Friday night was great too. We were impeded a little bit by rain, but we still got to sow into a lot of people and pray for several. At one point, a man came up to us and started having a little personal revival. He just kept praising God and talking about how good He has been to him. He even bowed down in worship right in front of the banner.
BIG thanks to Amber, Diana, Laney, Jeff, Mike M and Thom for coming out to serve!
This weekend we REALLY need all hands on deck because I am going to be gone on Friday and Saturday in Ohio and Sofiya could REALLY use the help.
The times will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (167) at 7pm
Saturday at Riverwalk (94) at 5pm
Sunday at Siesta Beach (271) at 4pm
Please pray and please come when you can!
Love and appreciate you so much!
Chris