Happy Thursday good and faithful servant! Hope you are doing amazing!
What a week it has been! I’ll get to the God reports from the mission field in a moment but first some other news.
As you probably know, we’ve been praying earnestly for Amendment 4 (which would legalize abortion in Florida up to the point of birth) to be torn limb from limb. This week we got some good news to that effect- our state has uncovered evidence that thousands of the petitions gathered to put it on the ballot, were fraudulent. There is now a full-scale investigation underway, and if there was widespread fraud, it may get struck off the ballot.
Please be praying!
Also, this week, Sarasota County has formally opposed Amendment 4, declaring it to be bad for the health, safety and welfare of our area and our state.
I praise God for putting such bold, courageous and Life loving leaders over us! Let’s pray that many other Florida counties follow our lead!
Just a reminder, every Tuesday morning at The Sarasota House of Prayer, we lead a harp and bowl prayer meeting for soul winning and evangelism from 10-11…and now we are also leading a harp and bowl prayer meeting from 11-12 for the ending of abortion in Florida. PLEASE come and join us if you can, it REALLY makes a difference!
Thank you to all who came out onto the mission field this weekend too, it was awesome!
On Friday night, we had a pretty lean crew, but God was moving. Many people heard and a good amount received gifts, tracts and prayer. I spent the bulk of the evening in 3 different conversations. The first was with a young man who just gave his life to Jesus 5 months ago. It started with me giving him counsel on how to study and learn the bible and it ended up with him opening up to me about his struggles. I was thankful that he spent over a half hour with me and received a lot from our conversation. His name is Jordan, please keep him lifted up.
The next conversation was about 30-40 minutes long also and it was with a couple that just got saved a year ago. They listened to me preach and then we spoke after. It was great to be able to encourage and disciple them in the Lord. I didn’t write down their names, but let’s keep them lifted up too.
The best moment of the night though came shortly after this couple left. A man struggling with transgenderism came by and spoke to me for a while. We have only seen him 2-3 times at the Bayfront, and he’s always been very open to what we share with him. The last time we saw him was about 9 months ago, but he came to the park that night hoping to see us there. He told me that for several months he has been feeling like he needed to stop this “transition”, give his life to Jesus, and walk in his identity as a son of God. After he said this, I talked to him about what it means to surrender all to Jesus…and he ended up praying to receive Christ, he renounced transgenderism, and he began declaring over himself that he is a son of God. It was an amazing thing to see. This is us after:
I’ve been speaking to him this week and although he’s still having struggles, he is breaking through. He wants to come to fellowship tonight too so I’m excited about that!
On Saturday we had a great time of ministry at the retirement home where I shared the testimony of what happened with James (the “Goth Boy”) from Riverwalk, and how we prayed for him for an entire week and then he came back and prayed to receive Jesus. Check out last weeks’ update if you missed that testimony-Team Jesus Update: September 5, 2024 – Awaken941
I then tied this testimony to the parable’s that Jesus taught in Luke 11 and Luke 18 and encouraged everyone to continue praying for their loved ones to be saved. It was a message that I really needed to hear too.
On that note, before we went to the retirement home, I went to visit my sister, who is in town from Germany and staying at my parents’ house. While there, my mom asked me to pray before our meal. It was the first time she ever asked me to do that in front of my sister, who has always been a vocal opponent of my faith in Jesus. My sister bowed her head along with us though, which was awesome. I have to believe that God is working on her!
Speaking of that, I got word this week that Natalie’s segment for the 700 Club will be filmed on October 29th and that it will air during Christmas time. I’m believing this will make way for an acts 9:41-42 move of the Spirit that will cause my unsaved family members to come to faith in Christ!
Later that night, we had a great time ministering at Riverwalk and it really got started with a bang. When I asked people in the beginning to raise their hands if they love Jesus…many kids raised their hands. I then asked them to come up and pray with me and about 8-10 kids (ages 6-13ish) came up. They all prayed to receive Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit, then they all took tracts. It was awesome!
Throughout the night many tracts and gifts were given out too. Maybe hundreds. We got to pray for many people also and a number of people made professions of faith. Hardly any pics though unfortunately.
At the very end, a mom and daughter came over and listened to my message and then talked to us after. They were believers, but they were really struggling. Geraldine talked to them for over an hour, and they encountered God powerfully. The mom even forgave her ex-husband and had a huge breakthrough in her heart.
Such a great night!
On Sunday morning I was asked to speak at House Chapel, a small Church in Sarasota. Pastor Robin and a few of his congregants had been coming out to minister with us for a while and they wanted me to come and stir the people up to evangelize.
I shared a message about the importance of evangelism and how we are part of the “Salvation Army” along with the angels and The Holy Spirit. I also shared about David’s Tabernacle and how we use that model for our outreaches. I finished by sharing some miracle testimonies of things that have happened over the last 6 years of ministering, and people were very encouraged. The Pastor said after that he wants to bring his worship team (which is amazing) and his congregants out 1-2 times per month to join us, sometimes at Riverwalk and sometimes at Siesta. I’m super excited about that! Keep them lifted up!
On Sunday night, we had an amazing time at Siesta and got to reach lots of people. Tons of tracts were given out (maybe hundreds), lots of conversations were going on and many people got prayed over.
Another cool highlight was that a woman who had rededicated her life to Jesus and been baptized at the outreach back in April, came back and shared her testimony on the mic. She shared about how she had come that night to go the drum circle, but when saw us she fell under the conviction of the Spirit. It was powerful. Here’s a clip:
Another highlight was that early in the night a Jewish man walked by Lucas and I wearing a star of David necklace. Lucas tried to get his attention, but he didn’t hear him. We prayed that he would come back by us later and he did. Lucas ended up sharing the Gospel with him for a while and it looked like he really considered it all. Let’s be praying for him too:
The most interesting moment of the night for me though was at the very end. A woman calling herself Coco came and joined us in the prayer circle, and before we finished, we prayed over her. While we were praying, she sat down in the middle of us all and I felt like the Lord gave me a word for her about how she had been abused and traumatized by her father and how God wanted to heal her. After I released this, she got into a fetal position and began weeping intensely. She kept crying out to God, calling Him Father and then at one point, after a few minutes of doing this, she began wailing about her earthly father. Then she suddenly got up and left in a very angry way.
I’m not sure what exactly happened there, but the picture I got was of someone who has been so abused and brainwashed that part of her can’t fully renounce her abuser, similar to what happens to people in cults. Please keep her lifted up, we are believing that she will be back and will get set free!
Then, after she walked off, a man came up to us and asked us if we knew where she went. He had been dating her a little bit over the past month and they had come to the beach that day together. We spoke with him for a while, and he told us that he didn’t really know much about Jesus but that he was open and seeking. I shared my testimony with him, gave him a tract, and then he prayed for Jesus to reveal Himself to him, which was awesome! I’m praying and believing that God will encounter his heart, and he will be saved very soon! Dylan is his name, please keep him lifted up also.
BIG thanks to Thom, Amber, Tatiana, Cory, Gene, Michelle, Paul, Abagail, our new Hispanic friends, Mike F, Mauricio, Jenny, Trish, Stephanie, Chris, Geraldine and family, Jack, Rachael, Mike M, Steven, Lucas, Kristina and Sarath for coming out to serve!
If you have any testimonies to share, please send them to me.
Love and appreciate you!
Chris and Sofiya
P.S. Also super fun this week was sharing last night with the men’s group at Resonate Life Church in Bradenton. I spoke on how Biblical worship will give us victory in our spiritual battles. It was only recorded on Facebook, but you can see it by clicking here- https://www.facebook.com/share/v/n2gYWQa1em27TLK8/