Hey Fam! Hope you’re doing great!
What a week we just had! Even though I really missed having our usual fellowship and prayer gathering (hope to see you tonight btw!), it was such a blessing to see the movie Sound of Freedom last Thursday. Of course, the movie was incredibly eye opening and inspirational on a number of levels, but what hit me most is that the story of Tim Ballard rescuing those children was the perfect illustration of something the Lord told me many years ago about evangelism. He said that evangelism was like going into the enemies’ camp to rescue His lost children that have been kidnapped by the devil. We truly are like spiritual Tim Ballard’s- isn’t it crazy to realize that? Also important to know, is that when one of God’s children get brought home, His jubilation is infinitely greater than that of an earthly father having his child returned home. Be encouraged in that- you mighty rescuer!!!
Last Friday, our rescue mission got off to an interesting start. While Jeff and I were unloading the van, suddenly a man came up to me and frantically asked if we had seen his bag. He said that he left it in the park and that it had all his important traveling documents in it. I told him that I hadn’t seen it, but before he left, I prayed for him to find it. About 20 minutes later, he came walking back holding the bag and with a big smile on his face, he yelled- “I guess your prayer worked!” He went on to say that he was a believer and was also a pro pickleball player, in town to play. I could tell that the Lord did this to get the man’s attention back on him. Before he left, I spoke a few words over him, and he was really thankful. Here’s us afterwards:
Shortly after, while we were having our pre-service prayer, a young man came up and joined us. Afterwards, Augast and I were praying over him, and while she was declaring some words over him, he broke down crying. He said he had not had an experience like that before and we could tell that it was a gift from God to strengthen his faith. Here’s a video I took of him while she was praying:
We had some incredible worship that night too, which drew many people over. Here’s one video of that:
There was even one point when a woman in a rainbow shirt came over (who I was sure was gay), and she listened for about 10 minutes and then walked away without saying anything. I wholeheartedly believe she was touched. At another point, we met this couple from Indiana, who got activated in boldness and did a song with us. Here’s that:
There were also a number of people that came over the hear the preaching and several people prayed with Mike to surrender their lives to Christ. One lady even said she got healing in her back. Super cool! Here’s a video of Mike preaching. You can see several people who stopped by to listen:
On top of that, we had many believers coming over and encouraging us, and for the second week in a row we had unusually low humidity. All in all, it was a great night! BIG thanks to Abagail, Augast, Diana, Jeff, Isaac, Lilly, Mike K, Rochelle, Sara and Thom. Great work everyone!
On Saturday, we had an army of evangelists and an army of worshippers. It was amazing! Our brother Ruben (who got inspired to minister at Riverwalk after seeing us two weeks ago), was back again with a whole crew from his church. I think they had 6-7 with them. Most of them stayed with us throughout the night, and we also saw two other teams of evangelists in the park. One team had signs and both teams were handing out tracts. So cool to see the army rising up!
We also had an incredible band with guitar, keyboard, drums and multiple voices. I truly marveled as I watched and listened. Here was one video I got while Mike was next to me praying over someone. David would be proud!
There were fewer people at the park in general because it looked like it would rain, but thankfully there were still Divine appointments. Maria said she talked and prayed with four people about surrendering their life fully to the Lord and one lady was even crying. At another point, a woman came up and began to worship and she received some serious prayer for breakthrough. At another point, a man came up to me and told me that he was the one who maintains the website for my business. I’ve talked to him on the phone for years, but I had never met him in person. He was so encouraged by what we were doing, and he told me that he had just given his life to Jesus a few months ago, which was so cool to hear! Later, a man who walked by and told me that I prayed for him last year at Bayfront Park and that he’s been following our ministry online ever since. Great to hear that God multiplies our seeds!
BIG thanks to Chuck, Daniel, Debbie, Fred, Isaac, Karina, Maria, Mike K, Mike V, Paul, Rene, Renee, Rochelle, and Ruben and his team. Great work!!
On Sunday, when I got to the beach, the clouds started rolling in and it sprinkled for just a few minutes. Luckily, it didn’t get any worse than that, but the sprinkle was enough to open up a handful of parking spots so we could park pretty easily. Thank you Jesus! As the night went on, tons of people came to the beach, so we ended up having a really big congregation. Lots of believers came by to encourage us during the first few hours too, which was great. The coolest part of the night for me though was seeing our new brother Lucas come back and minister with us after having been baptized there the week before. He was delivered out of some super dark stuff, and now he is on fire! He was telling everyone his testimony and encouraging them to do the same thing he did! It was amazing! Here’s clip of him sharing:
At one point, I even had Lucas come with me into the drum circle to pray for their salvation. I know something happened in the spirit when we did that!
Later, as I was preaching, a 12-year-old girl came and listened for a few minutes and then Rochelle went and talked to her. The girl prayed to receive Christ and then got breakthrough for self-hatred. So amazing! Here’s a picture of Rochelle praying over her:
A little later, some people came to be baptized that Mike and Rochelle had invited. Here’s a video of that:
A little while later, as the worship was going on, a woman came to listen and ended up receiving prayer from Rochelle. She said she was a Jehovah Witness. That night, she prayed to receive the true God, she got baptized and then she got set free of bitterness that she had held for 40 years! Here’s a video of that:
Here’s few more pics of people getting prayed over. So cool to see so many coming over!
BIG thanks to Amber, Dan, Diana, Dinijah, Faith and her two friends, Isaac, John, Lucas, Mike K, Mike M, Rochelle and Stanley for coming out to serve! Great job!
This weekend our schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (173) at 7
Saturday at Riverwalk (100) at 5
Sunday at Siesta Beach (278) at 4
Please pray and please come when you can!
Also, the other night I was with my friend Vasili who heads up a local evangelistic ministry called Vital Gatherings. He told me about several evangelism methods that he and his team are using with tremendous success, and he offered to do a training for any of us who would like it. I’m hoping to get that scheduled in the next few months and we would probably try to do it on a Saturday morning. Let me know if that is something you are interested in.
See you soon! Blessings and love!
Chris