Hey Fam! Happy Thursday! And Happy Independance Week!
Isn’t it amazing what God has done through our nation over these last 247 years? We’ve sent the Gospel to more places than any nation in history, we’ve defended Israel and been instrumental in her resurrection and restoration, we’ve helped protect the world from communism, nazism, and other forms of tyranny, and despite all the darkness we see in our nation, we STILL have a calling, a mandate and a covenant with Almighty God that NOTHING can break.
Back in 1620, when the pilgrims first arrived, they dedicated this land “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith”. 247 years ago, inside Independance Hall (pictured below), 55 Bible believing, church attending Christians and one man (Ben Franklin) whose faith was growing by the day, came together to declare that the tyranny that Britian was trying to thrust on them would not be allowed without resistance.
6 weeks earlier congress had called a National Day of Prayer, Humiliation and Fasting, and entered a national prayer into its official record. In the prayer, they asked God to forgive their sins, and to turn the hearts of their enemies away from doing evil. They finished it by asking God that if the British did not repent, to give them power to win the war. You can see a copy of this declaration here- Religion and the Congress of the Confederation – Religion and the Founding of the American Republic | Exhibitions (Library of Congress) (loc.gov)
As you know, the British did not repent, and God gave our tiny army the power to defeat the biggest superpower in world history. What a story! And what proof that Gods Hand has been on America since LONG ago!
Here’s a few cool 5-minute videos about this that you’ll enjoy. This is about the British invasion, the National Day of Prayer and the miracle deliverance God gave our troops in the first major battle of the Revolutionary War- https://youtu.be/dhBd36E-c4Y
Here’s PROOF that America was founded as a Christian nation in 1776- https://youtu.be/hEXEHAtuzOU
In partnership with The Front, we had an epic July 4th worship event, celebrating God and the nation He birthed. I’ll tell you about it in a minute but let me first tell you about the absolutely amazing weekend we had!
Friday at Bayfront Park, not only did we have an army with us, but God turned the humidity level down to 40% just as we were getting started! This made it so much more pleasant than usual, and it caused many people to come to the park. Early in the night, a man with rainbow socks on came and sat down to listen to the worship. Shortly after, Rochelle and Laney talked to him, and it turned out the man was involved in witchcraft and was even wearing a crystal. He ended up surrendering to Jesus, renouncing his witchcraft, getting filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Then he gave his crystal to Rochelle as an act of repentance. So cool! Here’s him and here’s the crystal-
Alot of people got in to the worship that night too, which was awesome. Here’s a video of a handful of people gathered to enjoy the presence within the praise-
At one point, Laney was talking to young girl about Jesus and she ended up receiving Him into her heart! Then, another young girl did the same thing! Both of them were Hispanic, and Laney got to pray for one of the families with the little girl as the interpreter. The woman was crying her eyes out, encountering God, as Laney prayed for her. It was powerful to hear about it. Laney shared a bit of the testimony on the microphone too-
Here’s her sharing about the other little girl. Both have the calling of an evangelist on their lives! Imagine, one day we might be seeing those girls out sharing THIS story with a crowd, while telling everyone to come to Jesus!
Later, a woman came by with a friend and Rochelle got a word of knowledge that she was a worshipper. Rochelle then called her up to join us, and she did. Her name is Jerusha and it had been a while since she sang for Jesus, but God really activated her that night and she wants to come back. Here she is:
Then, a little later on my brother-in-law Max and sister-in-law Solomiya came and I had Max share his testimony on the microphone. Max’s father and grandfather were both imprisoned for preaching the gospel in the former Soviet Union, so there’s a strong generational anointing on him. In this video, you can see a man who ended up coming to surrender his life Jesus after Max gave an altar call. So cool!
Then, just as we were winding the meeting down and were about to pray, a man who had been sitting on the bench listening to us with his family, got up to go to his car. A woman who was sitting next to him said that we should see if he was ok because she thought he had been drinking. Max and I went to his car and talked to him right before we left, and he said that he hadn’t been drinking but that he was so moved by what we were doing that he almost cried while listening. He said that he and his wife hadn’t been to church in a long time but had been talking about going back recently. Seeing us was like confirmation for him. It was so cool to know that this was happening to him, and that we didn’t even know about it. In fact, we wouldn’t have known unless we had come to his vehicle and asked him if he’d been drinking, so it made me realize that there’s probably hundreds of stories like that, we just haven’t heard them. Such an encouragement!
BIG thanks to Amber, Augast, Isaac, Jeff, Laney, Max, Mike K, Mike M, Nate, Rochelle, Solomiya and Thom for coming out to serve! Great job everyone!!!
Saturday, we had an amazing night too and once again, the army showed up! We were especially blessed to have our new friend Karina back with us. She was at the park last week and got so inspired that she asked to minister with us. Then, she came back on Saturday and so many people were drawn in to the worship. Rene and Maria even led two ENTIRE families to the Lord while the worship was going on! You can see some of them in this video:
Speaking of people getting inspired and joining us, earlier in the night I met a bilingual Hispanic man named Reuben. Reuben was at the park last weekend too and he saw what were doing and he also got so inspired that he wanted to do it too. He ended up coming to Riverwalk from about 10am-5pm that day, and he preached on speakers and had his daughter sing songs. I met him in the parking lot when I was pulling in and he told me the whole story. So cool!
Later that night, he brought his wife, his brother and his daughter out to minister with us and he has already heard from God that he is supposed to minister not only with us, but during the mornings at Riverwalk as well. Here’s a picture of he and I and here’s a flyer for his outreach. So cool to see the Tabernacle of David spreading!!!
As the night went on, I got reports that at least 5 other people prayed to receive the Lord including Antonio, who was radically encountered and delivered. I met Antonio by the gift table, and he told me that he was in a bad place spiritually and hadn’t been to church in years. He also said that he had recently become homeless and was battling several addictions. I introduced him to Mike, and one thing led to another- Antonio surrendered his life to Christ and decided to be baptized. As we were praying for him in preparation for the baptism, the Spirit of God hit him so hard that he fell to the ground and started manifesting. He shook and wailed for 5 or 10 minutes and even coughed up blood. Afterwards, he was in such peace. Once he got baptized, he got filled with the Spirit, was speaking in tongues and he felt like a new man. Here’s him getting prayed over:
The next day, he went to church, and he has been ministering with us ever since! This is him singing worship at Riverwalk, just a few days later as we ministered on 4th of July:
Such an amazing night!!! BIG thanks to Carlos, Fred, Herman, Isaac, Isabella, Karina, Laney, Maria, Mike K, Paul, Rene, Ricardo, Rochelle, Rueben, and his wife. Great Kingdom work everyone!!!
On Sunday, once again we had an army. I was amazed that when we started the service, we even had about 18 people praying. Here’s a video:
With that many hearts joining together in faith, I figured it’d be a good night, and God did not disappoint.
As I was speaking, near the beginning of the service, a young man named Chase came up and got right down on his knees and started crying out to God. A few of our team (including Antonio from Riverwalk!) circled around him to pray. He told us that he had stopped by the abortion rights petition table, which was set up right by the drum circle, and he signed it and walked away. He said that afterwards, he started feeling kind of bad for doing it, and when he saw us- conviction hit his heart. He has been far from God for a long time and has been addicted to heroin. He ended up repenting of his sins and deciding to get baptized. Here’s him by the tent:
Then, we took him to the water to get baptized and a bunch of people came to watch. Here’s a video of that:
Then, as Rochelle and I were ministering at the shore, I felt led to call people up to receive the Holy Spirit- and a bunch of people came over. Here’s one video I took while I was down there. You can see Chase on his hands and knees at the end:
Then, we went back up to the tent, and right away we met Lucas. Lucas had come for the drum circle, but when he heard the worship, he came over to check it out. Karson preached shortly after, and the Spirit gripped his heart and he repented and gave his life to the Lord while we were at the water. He later told us that he was raised Catholic, but had turned away from God at age 10. He then became an aggressive atheist for years and had gotten into drug and alcohol abuse. Later, he even embraced witchcraft and paganism. That night, he renounced it all and surrendered to Jesus. It was amazing!
Here’s him sharing at the tent:
Once again, while at the water, God moved on the hearts of many people to come and watch. I love seeing this happen, it really feels like a little revival! Here’s a video:
Then, amazingly, Lucas shared his testimony with a bunch of people on the shore right afterwards. He went pretty deep into his story, so I just included a short clip here. You’ll love this one though, he says he feels better than he has in 25 years and that the baptism was the greatest moment of his life. Here it is:
It is so cool to see what has happened in this man. He has since gone to church with us, and he also went to see Sound of Freedom with us. He’s hungry for God and he is a changed man. So cool!
Then, once we got back, there were many people that came to hear the Word, and all through the night many people were coming for gifts and prayers. To cap off this epic night, a bunch of people joined us in the prayer circle, which made it bigger than I’ve seen in months. I counted 34 people in the circle, even though several of our team were still ministering at the time. Here’s a video of it while Isaac is praying for Gen Z to be set on fire for Jesus:
Then, we finished it out with an epic Team Jesus cheer, check it out:
After this, you could tell that revival was in the air because people lingered to worship for about another 20 minutes. So powerful to have believers from all over the country together doing that!
BIG thanks to Amanda and her kids, Amber, Antonio, Cheryl, Dan, Danijah, John, Laney, Karson, Isaac, Mike K, Mike M, Nathalie and friends, Paul, Rochelle and Zack
Then, just a few days later, we had one of our biggest ministry opportunities of the year- Riverwalk during 4th of July.
For the past 9 years or so, my home church The Front has been putting on a worship event at Riverwalk on the 4th, and two years ago I began to partner with them. This year, there were between 100-200 people that came to worship, many people prayed for and drawn closer to God and many gifts given away. probably over a thousand people had a seed sown into them too. It was SO fun! Here’s a video of the worship:
Here’s a video of the “afterglow” where I got to share the gospel with a TON of people. In this clip, I finish my rap song and a bunch of people cheer.
One girl even got baptized out there, which is super cool!
Many people came that night to serve, too many to recount. You know who you are and thank you for coming!!!
This weekend our schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (173) at 7
Saturday at Riverwalk (100!!) at 5
Sunday at Siesta Beach (277) at 4
Please pray and please come when you can!!!
Love you so much!
Chris