Hey Fam! Happy Thursday!
What a great week we had! It started with a great time of fellowship and prayer last Thursday, where we discovered that God has been answering specific prayers that we’ve been praying for each other during our prayer meetings! This was a huge faith builder right before we interceded for the outreaches.
On Friday, it rained quite a bit but praise God, the weather was really nice by the time we got there. Way cooler and less humid. There were also many people at the park and the vast majority of them were very open and warm to us. We got lots of thank you’s, thumbs ups and other forms of encouragement. One lady even walked right up to Thom as he was preaching and told him thank you and gave him a hug. It was very different than usual. Laney and Diana had some pretty powerful prayer times with a few homeless guys there too. One even fell under the power of the Spirit as they were praying for him. I only got one video from that night, but in it you can see them praying for the man.
BIG thanks to Abagail, Dan, Diana, John, Laney and Thom for coming out to serve that night!
On Saturday, we began the meeting with the nice surprise of seeing that our brother Howie was back from his 10-week road trip. Howie got to spend a lot of time worshipping and ministering while on the road, so he was pretty charged up when he came back. We had some really nice times of worship that night and many people were coming over to receive gifts and prayers. At one point, a 9-year-old girl even came over and received Jesus, which was so sweet. At another point, a group of young children (maybe ages 7-9) came by and asked us if we remember them. It took me a second, but I did. It had been months since we’d seen them, but they remembered us well and were so happy to see us again. The Lord really impressed on me at that moment that we are making a much bigger impact than we realize.
Later, just as we were about to close down and transition to prayer, two police officers came over while I was preaching. They started talking to Sofiya, and while they were standing there Howie yelled to me “we’ve got 3 baptisms!”
I made the announcement on the microphone and the officers seemed to be happy about it. They talked to her for about 30 more seconds, and then they turned around and left. Sofiya later told me that they were called because of the volume (we were using two speakers instead of one) but they told her that they like what we’re doing and that we should keep going. So cool that now we’ve been “endorsed” by police officers at all 3 locations. Talk about favor!!!
The first person to get baptized was our friend and ministry partner Jackson. He is 15 and hadn’t been baptized yet. Here he is-
The others were a young couple that we just met that night. Howie asked the man while they were walking by if he wanted a water, and they came over and started talking to him. Both were raised catholic and neither had ever received Jesus. Howie prayed for the man, and the power of God hit him, and he fell to his knees. I got this video shortly after:
After this, they both knew that Jesus was real, so they both prayed to receive Him right there on the spot. Here they are getting baptized:
The man later testified in the prayer circle about what God did for him that night, and you could tell he had been touched in a powerful way. So cool to witness!
Then, just as we were closing down for real, a young man walked up to me, handed me a wad of money, and said “Chris Vercelli…here you are sir.”
Right as I saw him, I realized who it was- Nathan Dunham, the most popular kid from my old middle school and high school. He and I were never very close friends, but I’ve known him since 7th grade, and we used to run in some of the same circles. I hadn’t seen him since high school, but he later told me that he has been following me on Facebook for years and that he is so proud of what I’m doing with my life. Nate and I used to associate with (and be) some pretty dark people, so for him to see me walking in such light was a sign and a wonder to him. I confessed to him during our conversation that I used to really look up to him because of his popularity, and he told me that he now looks at me the same way. He even said he wants to be more like me! Can you imagine the most popular kid from your high school telling you that, 23 years after graduation!? Talk about God’s redemption! After this, I prayed for him and his girlfriend and then we got a picture together:
After the meeting, several of us went out and we had a great time of fellowship. BIG thanks to Cheryl, Chuck, Dan, Debbie, Fred, Jackson, John, Howie, Paul, Michael V and Shirley for coming out to serve!
Sunday was a great day all around. I got to spend some time with my dad and son for Father’s Day, and then we had a great service on the beach. God worked everything out beautifully too. We had a number of people out because of the holiday, but our friends Mike and Rochelle were there with a crew of about 6 others, so we were still able to minister to a lot of people. A number of people were prayed for, and at one point 3 young men prayed to receive Jesus. We also had some great worship too:
At one point, we started getting a little nervous because of the dark clouds, so we packed up and headed to the pavilion. While we were up there, we had an opportunity to preach to a large captive audience, and Howie got the idea to sing along with the drumbeat, which worked pretty well.
Here’s a few other pics from the night:
Just before we left, one other REALLY cool thing happened. Sal, one of the main drummers, came up to me in the parking lot and he thanked me for continually being out there ministering. Sal used to minister in the jails and has assured us that he is fully on our side and trying to minister to the drummers as well. He told me “what you’re doing is really making a difference. I can tell that it is changing how these guys think about God.” Is that amazing or what!? That totally made my night! Afterwards, we capped it off with another great time of fellowship. BIG thanks to Amber, Howie, Mike, Rochelle and their crew for coming out to serve!
This weekend our schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (170) at 7pm
Saturday at Riverwalk (97) at 5pm
Sunday at Siesta Beach (274) at 4pm
Please pray and please come when you can! Also, please come tonight for fellowship and prayer, we’d love to have you!
Also, This Saturday we are finding out the sex of our baby, so we will be excited to announce that!
Lastly, be praying into coming with us to minister in Key West this fall. This portal needs to be closed in Jesus’ name- Official Fantasy Fest Website – Key West, Florida
Love you!
Chris and Sofiya