Hey Fam! Happy Thursday!
For the past two nights, I’ve been worshipping my heart out (and doing ALOT of dancing) with about 500 teens at the YEX Youth Camp at Christian Retreat. The meetings have been AMAZING! They’ve been doing these for close to 40 years (I’ve been going almost every year since 2009) and it is always so encouraging to see so many youths going after God. Here’s one video of an altar call from Tuesday night.
Shortly after this moment, our new brother in Christ- Lucas (who gave his life to Christ at Siesta two weeks ago) got prayed over and he got baptized in the Spirit! He’s never seen or heard of anything like this before but as he was being prayed for, he fell out in the Spirit and when he got up, he said he felt fire from his to head to his feet. It was so amazing to witness! Then, last night he brought his 13-year-old sister who had never been to church before, (who just came out as being “trans” not too long ago) and she accepted Christ! What a move God is doing in that family! Lucas will be joining us for fellowship tonight too, so hope you can make it.
The weekend was amazing too. Friday night we had an army, and tons of people were out at the park. Here’s one video of a bunch of people that I had just preached to. I heard a few young kids had just come over asking for bibles too!
Throughout the night, many people were drawn into the worship and the preaching, we handed out lots of gifts, we prayed for many people, and we saw some great Divine appointments. There was even one girl who recognized Isaac from Tik Tok and came and ministered with us that night and Sunday night. Hilarious! Here’s one video of the worship where you can see several people getting ministered to.
Really cool also was the fact that Lucas showed up and shared his testimony of how great things have been since he got saved. Here’s a clip:
At the end of the night, we had a beautiful time of prayer with about 17-18 people and it closed with everyone praying over Sofiya and I which blessed us SO much! Here’s one clip of the prayer time:
BIG thanks to Karson, Lucas, Abagail, Jeff, Thom, Mike K, Mike M, Rochelle, Ashley, Debbie, Augast, Isaac, John and Diana for coming out to serve! Great work!
On Saturday, I was the only person there to serve for the first 30 minutes. It was totally God ordained though because as soon as I got to where we set up, I met a man named Ricky, who hadn’t been to church in over 7 years and was backslidden. He had also just been kicked out of his house and he was living on the street. He was very transparent with me, and he knew that meeting me was a sign. He gave his life back to God that night and he ended up staying the entire meeting and even coming out to fellowship with us after. What a way to start the service! Here is a picture of us:
As the night went on, not many came out to serve so Sofiya and I had to take over all the preaching and worship ourselves. God took our tiny offering and used it though. I even saw something I hardly ever see- people responding to my altar call in real time! It felt like a tiny crusade! Sofiya was on the keyboard, but she managed to get one picture that at least shows part of what happened.
Right before this, 4 teens came over and listened for a while and then they responded to my call for prayer too. So cool!
One of the adults that came over was Aysha. She surrendered all to Christ that night and she was in tears encountering the love of the Father. It was amazing. Here she is:
Then, as we were about to pray at the end, a man came up, sat down, put his head in his hands and started weeping. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that he had just lied to someone and gotten them to give him a 10-dollar bill (which he had in his hand), and that God was convicting him, and he felt horrible. He went on to confess more sins and then he poured his heart out to God and just kept asking for forgiveness and cleansing. It was pretty wild! Here’s a pic of him getting prayed over:
As I often say- you don’t need a big team to make a big impact. All you need is Holy Spirit!
BIG thanks to John, Jackson, Olivia and Fred for coming out to serve! Great job!!!
On Sunday, we had an army again and God was moving mightily all night!
During our preservice prayer, a man came up and watched us for nearly 10 minutes. As he was standing there, he began to cry and was clearly being touched by God. I asked him if he wanted to come and pray but he just stayed right there watching and crying. I could tell he was doing serious business with God.
Shortly after, an unmarried couple came up and they said they wanted to be baptized. He had just given his life to the Lord, and she wanted to rededicate. I could tell God was speaking to them, but I told them very nicely and directly that I could only baptize them if they were going to commit themselves to purity. Sadly, NOBODY had talked to them about this yet and I got to share a lot with them about obedience and putting God first. Even though they didn’t get baptized that night, they received everything I said, and I know it was a strong seed that God needed to be sown into them so that they will later lay down their lives fully. Keep them in prayer!
A little later on, a man came up to me after I got done preaching and he asked me if I was on a Tik Tok page that he follows. I told him no. He was kind of shocked because he said that my voice sounded just like his. He told me that this guy was harassing him on Tik Tok, and he came to listen to me because he thought I was him and he wanted to confront me. The Holy Spirit gripped his heart though because right after that he started telling me that he needed to get his life right with God. He told me that he was raised Catholic and never gave his life to Jesus. I introduced him to Mike K and shortly after, he repented and asked Jesus into his heart. Here’s Mike talking to him:
After that he got baptized, and when he came out of the water, he said everything felt different. He even said, “I feel like I just won the Super Bowl!” Here’s his baptism:
Afterwards, he came back, and he was telling me what a profound experience it was, and we were both laughing at how God used such a strange thing like this guy harassing him on Tik Tok, to help draw him to Himself. You can’t make this stuff up!
A little while later, a 10-year-old girl named Sophia came over and said she wanted to surrender all and be baptized too! Here’s a video of the announcement at the water:
Here’s a video of people coming over to watch the baptism. These are always my favorites because it’s like you can see the revival springs bubbling up in them as they drop what they were doing and come and watch. I also discovered something wild at the shore. Someone had gone before us and wrote “Jesus Loves You” in giant letters right where we just happened to come for the baptism. Definitely not an accident! You can see the people and the message in the sand on this video:
Then, as we were down there, a woman came up, surrendered to Jesus and asked to be baptized too! Here’s her getting prayed for:
Here’s her getting baptized:
Another cool part of the service was when I went into the drum circle to juggle, pray and talk to the drummers. While there, I saw Scott, the man who used to be our biggest nemesis but has lately been super nice and friendly. He had been telling me every time he saw my Jesus surfing shirt that he loved it and this time, he saw my “Jesus Loves America” shirt and he said, “I like it, but not as much as your other one.” Then he said the reason with a smile on his face… “Because Jesus loves everyone not just America!” I about flipped! This dude is seriously changing, it is amazing!
Another incredible thing that happened in the circle was I got to pray for one of the drummers who said she was Christian. Of all things, she asked me to pray for more unity amongst the drummers. She said that there was still some contention and she even said, “were not like you guys, you guys are all united, we need to be more like that.” Again, I about flipped! To hear her literally say that they were seeing a John 17 sign coming from us that they were envious of, was amazing.
We finished the night with an epic afterglow at the unloading zone and 4 people joined us to dance and pray. It was awesome! Then, right as we were joining hands and about to do the team Jesus cheer, I prayed and asked God to give us grace to keep on fighting the good fight for the sake of those who are chosen (2 Timothy 2) and at that exact moment, we felt the first sprinkles of the night. It was such a beautiful sign! Here’s a video of the afterglow:
BIG thanks to John, Mike A, Thom, Amber, Mike K, Rochelle, Deb. Sara, Ashley, Mark, Danijah, Faith and friends, Vitaly, Olga, Monique, Ester, Diana, Nathalie, Isaac, Debbie, Natasha, Lance, Olga, and Evelyn for coming out to serve! Great Kingdom work!!!
This weekend the schedule will be:
Friday at Bayfront Park (week 175) at 7
Saturday at Riverwalk (week 101) at 5
Sunday at Siesta Beach (week 279) at 4
Please pray and please come when you can! Love you guys!!
Chris