Wow, what a year we’ve just finished! Out of the 7 years that we’ve been doing outreach ministry, 2024 was in many ways our most fruitful year ever.
I did some math the other day, and our little army of over 50 mighty warriors, representing over 10 different churches, did nearly 160 local outreaches, and were able to sow the Gospel in to (by conservative estimates) nearly 20,000 people here in the 941. And, if it hadn’t been for the hurricanes causing traffic to slow at our 3 locations over the final 4 months of the year, that number would be MUCH bigger.
On top of that, our team ministered boldly at some of the biggest (and darkest) events in our state, including- Gasparilla in Tampa, Spring Break in Ft Lauderdale, Pride in Miami and St. Pete, and Fantasy Fest in Key West. During these mission trips, we likely reached at least another 10,000 people easily.
During all these outreaches, we were able to give away close to 12,000 gospel booklets, 5300 bottles of gospel tract water, and 300 God’s Promises books.
We also prayed with hundreds of people to receive Jesus and baptized over 60.
In 2024, we also partnered with our home church- (The Front) and had three multi-church unity events at our outreach locations, gathering around 800-900 people total.
We also had two people on our team begin to lead outreaches at their local churches (The Sarasota House of Prayer and Church of Hope), and we’ve seen others on our team get activated into taking the gospel across the nation.
During our outreaches, we also saw MIGHTY moves of the Spirit like we’ve never seen before. In fact, 3 separate times in 2024 we broke our previous record for number of spontaneous baptisms (which was 10) when we saw 20 one night, 11 another night at 17 another night.
We also saw incredible responses to the preaching of the gospel at Riverwalk, including 5 straight weeks where between 6-10 kids responded to the altar call at the same time.
Scroll down to see some of the pics and videos of these incredible Kingdom moments.
It’s also been amazing to see how God has used the testimonies from these outreaches to reach countless others online by causing them to be viewed 10’s of thousands of times on social media. All that to say, it has truly been a year for the books.
I’ll begin my more detailed recap with the 3 unity events we were able to help put on.
MULTI-CHURCH UNITY EVENTS
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity”
Psalm 133:1
On January 7th, about 100-150 believers from multiple local churches joined together with us for worship on Siesta Beach with international ministers Georgian and Winnie Banov. The Banov’s were worship leaders at the famous Toronto Revival of the 90’s and were featured in the hit film “Finger of God.”
We called the event: Beachfest.
It was a real Jesus party too. The oil of gladness hit the beach like a tidal wave, and we were all swept up in it. It was so fun!
Here’s a few pics:
Here’s one video:
Many people were drawn in by what we were doing, and for a while, we even had a bigger crowd than the drum circle!
At the end, Georgian prayed and prophesied over me, and he told me that he LOVES what we are doing. He even sent Michelle Skorski this text later that night:
The success of this event motivated the organization of another big event called Easterfest, which was on Saturday March 30th at Riverwalk.
Over 20 ministries came together for this event, and Jeremy Rosado, who we play on The Joy FM, was also there to lead worship. The estimates were that upwards of 500-700 people came throughout the day. Here’s a little video recap:
Then, a few months later, we partnered with The Front for the 4th year in a row to do a July 4th event at Riverwalk. There we saw over 100 believers from multiple churches come together to lift up the name of Jesus as thousands gathered for the fireworks. Here’s one clip from early in the night.
We’re believing for more of these types of events to happen in the days to come, because we believe that the unity of the brethren is one of the main ingredients to seeing a greater move of God in our region.
“I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me”
John 17:23
This is also one of the things that I believe is most impactful about this ministry- that we are a rallying point for believers from many different churches and ministries. And, through our unification- a blessing is released upon us (Psalm 133), and something gets unlocked in the spirit that allows people to know that Jesus is the Son. of God (John 17).
Maybe these events were partly why we saw such fruit this year, who knows??
MASS BAPTISM MOMENTS
“John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”
Mark 1:4-5
Before I share the mass baptism testimonies, let me give some context. In the 7 years of doing outreach on Siesta Beach, we’ve probably had at least 30-40 different times where we’ve baptized people. Nearly every time we do this, we make a bold public announcement about it at the shoreline and call others to repentance and baptism as well. During maybe 10-20 of those baptisms, others have responded and asked to be baptized too.
Out of those 10-20 times, we’ve had only 2 that have REALLY stuck out- one in March of 2020 (right before the beach closed for COVID), where we saw God turn 1 baptism into 9, and one in the summer of 2021 where God turned 2 baptisms into 10. Outside of that, it’s usually 1-3 people that will come for baptism after they see and hear about the first one.
So, to see what we saw in 2024 was truly historic. This is an excerpt from my written testimony after the first mass baptism event on April 7th.
“Going into Sunday, I felt as strong sense of anticipation. It was week number 316, the first outreach of our 7th year, and the last one before the “Nineveh Eclipse” the following day. Little did I know, it would be one of the most powerful nights we’ve ever had…and that we would SHATTER our all-time record for baptisms.
Early in the evening, I was preaching the gospel, and I saw an unusual number of people gathered to listen. I decided to do something I rarely ever do- I asked people to raise their hand if they wanted to receive Christ during the altar call. 5 people raised their hand. After this, they all prayed to receive Christ.
I was so blown away by what I had witnessed, that I thought this was going to be the memorable moment from week number 316. Then God blew all our minds even more.
ONE person came to be baptized, and we made the announcement on the shore. Over 100 people came to watch, and what happened next was nothing short of revival. Person after person came asking to give their life to Jesus and get baptized. We ended staying by the water until sunset, and we had about 20 baptisms total. People were also getting deliverance on the shore and getting filled with the Spirit. SO many people came to watch too. This video shows some of the moments of what I will forever call “The 316 Revival”.
We also got amazing reports from the people who were baptized about how much God did in them that night. One woman even went all in for Jesus and began traveling the country with some of our friends and ministering in various places with them.
She came back to Siesta in September and shared her testimony about how God changed her life that night. So cool!
The next mass baptism came a few months later, on June 2. We were on the beach, and a woman came over and received prayer. We came to find out that she had been dabbling heavily in witchcraft and used to be married to a warlock. She had come to the beach to bring her young children to the drum circle, but God had other plans. The woman got radically delivered right by the walkway.
As she was being delivered, a man named Brian came over and asked me what was happening to her. He had no grid for it, so I explained it as simply as I could. Then he asked if we could pray over him too. Brian got touched by the Holy Spirit and both he and the woman prayed to receive Jesus.
Then, the woman went to get her kids, and Brian went to get his brother. All of them ended up receiving Jesus too. Then, we went to the water to baptize them, and more people ended up getting baptized. Some got radically delivered also. When all was said and done, 11 people had been baptized.
Here’s a short video of clips of this mighty outpouring that took place:
The third mass baptism happened in September, on the Sunday before Hurricane Helene. Two people came to be baptized, and dozens of people came to watch after we made the announcement. After the baptism, one man came and asked to be baptized also…and made a plea with everyone watching to do the same.
God moved, and over the next 90 minutes, we baptized at least 17 people.
We got very little video of the baptisms, but I did put this little 1 minute reel together to show some of the highlights of the night starting in the pavilion. Check it out below:
Several people were ministering to the people getting baptized, so I didn’t get to see everything that happened, but one womans experience was very memorable. I got a word of knowledge that someone watching had pain from their past keeping them from connecting with God and I spoke it out over the megaphone. Before I could even get the entire word out, a woman came up to me, put her arms around me, and started travailing. She got baptized shortly after.
Another girl that got baptized sent Rachael this text the next day:
These 3 outpourings at Siesta were not only historic, but we also believe they were a sign of the new thing God was doing over the land, specifically regarding the ministry at Siesta.
If you have a few minutes, read this prophetic recap of our first year ministering at the drum circle. We got prophetic words early that year that have been our roadmap to nearly everything we’ve seen in the ministry there so far. I’ve included those words, and the stories of their fulfillment in the recap- 2022 Prophetic Recap – Awaken941
MASS RESPONSES TO THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL AT RIVERWALK
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15
Siesta wasn’t the only place where we saw historic responses to altar calls in 2024, we also saw similar things at Riverwalk.
Just to give you some context, in the 3.5 years that we’ve been ministering at Riverwalk, I’ve rarely ever given an altar call while preaching. Usually, I will just preach the full gospel in between songs and people just come up here and there throughout the night.
During the first outreach in May though, there was one point where I sensed a strong anointing and an unction from the Lord to give a firm altar call and to ask people to come to the platform to receive Jesus. To my amazement, about 10 people (mostly children) came up and prayed to receive Jesus, and thankfully someone got it on video. Check out that video below:
The following week, we went to the park earlier than usual and there were only a few of us there to minister. As I was finishing preaching the gospel, I got the same sense that I should call people up to the platform to receive Jesus, and to my amazement, for the second week in a row, about 10 of them responded to my altar call. It was awesome! Here’s a video:
I came to Riverwalk the following week with great expectation, but also with a sense of sobriety. Although seeing what I saw the previous two weeks was super encouraging, I had to come to grips with the fact that even if the same thing didn’t happen again, I shouldn’t get discouraged because of how unusual it was for it to happen in the first place.
Then, amazingly, for the 3rd week in a row, the same thing happened again. A group of young kids came up and prayed to receive Christ all at once after I gave the altar call. It was so cool!
Here’s the video:
At this point, I was pretty mind blown.
Then, the following Saturday, for the fourth week in a row, we again saw a large group of kids come up and pray to receive the Lord after I gave the altar call. This time, several of them were also touched visibly by the Holy Spirit and two were even water baptized. One of them even said that her parents were going through a divorce, and she had been very sad lately. The Holy Spirit brought healing to her that day.
Watch the highlights of this in the short video below:
I hope you’re not getting bored with this punchline yet, because the following week, for the 5th week in a row, multiple children came to receive Christ after I gave the altar call. There were several that came early on:
Then two more, plus a teenager came later:
Interestingly, since these great outpourings on May 4th, May 11th, May 18th, May 25th, and June 1st, we’ve only seen something similar happen one other time and that was on July 6th. That day, kids came up for prayer and a bunch ended up getting baptized in a huge puddle that had just been formed by the rain!
How cool that they got to be baptized in water that had just come down from heaven!
When I think back to 2024, I will certainly remember these incredible (and for us historic) displays of God’s power at Riverwalk.
STATEWIDE MISSION TRIPS
“I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.”
Joshua 1:3
2024 was also marked by some epic mission trips, where we saw fruitfulness beyond what we have ever seen. The recaps are pretty lengthy, but SUPER encouraging. I’ve provided links to the different pages where I recapped each one here-
Gasparilla in Tampa- Schedule, Announcements and Testimonies- February 1-4, 2024 – Awaken941
Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale- Schedule, Announcements and Testimonies: March 21-24, 2024 – Awaken941
Miami Pride in South Beach- Team Jesus Update- April 18-21, 2024 – Awaken941
St Pete Pride- Team Jesus Update: June 27-July 2, 2024 – Awaken941
Fantasy Fest in Key West- Team Jesus Update: November 1, 2024/Key West Trip – Awaken941
A FEW MEMORABLE INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONIES
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”
Romans 1:16
In this section, I will share just a handful of the many stories of people who were touched at the outreaches.
One Saturday, we had to shift plans at Riverwalk because of an event happening at Rossi Park. We met at the skate park instead, and that set up an opportunity for us to meet Danielle. She was out walking, and Mike and Rochelle started talking to her. They prayed over her, and the power of God hit her so hard that she fell to the ground. She began immediately repenting of her sin and she confessed that she had been in an adulterous relationship. Her husband knew about it and had been praying earnestly for her to repent.
That night, she surrendered her life to the Lord and got baptized. She renounced the affair as well. What was so crazy is that the man she was cheating with actually came to Riverwalk that night, not realizing she was there, and saw her getting baptized. What sign to him!
After the baptism, she told him they were done, and she went back to her husband. Hallelujah! This is her:
One night at Bayfront, a mom and her daughter were walking through the park, and when they heard the praise, they stopped and listened. When we went to talk to them, we could tell they were quite moved, particularly the mom. She told us that it was the 7-year anniversary of the day her sister died of cancer. She said that every year, that day was really tough, not only because of the loss, but also because her death really tore her family apart. She said her parents even lost their catholic faith as a result of it.
The woman was overwhelmed with the love of God and was so amazed at how He timed our outreach to be on that exact day. She saw it as a sign that God was still working in her life, and it moved both her and her daughter to make recommitments to Jesus. It was powerful. Here they are:
Another night at Bayfront, a man struggling with transgenderism came by and spoke to me for a while. We had only seen him 2-3 times at the Bayfront, and he had always been very open to what we share with him. The last time we saw him was about 9 months earlier, but he came to the park hoping to see us there. He told me that for several months he had 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:
After a week or two of pretty intense spiritual warfare (and contemplating going back to his old life) he renewed his commitment to God, and he sent me this text:
Then he got baptized!
Then he went with me to Goodwill so he could get a brand-new wardrobe.
He is now gearing up to join a discipleship ministry in North Carolina, where he will get trained up in the Word and be prepared for ministry. Such an amazing trans-formation!!!
One night at Siesta, two girls came by the table. They talked with Laney, and she got a word of knowledge for the 23-year-old that she had a broken heart. The girls left the table after that, but they ended up coming back around and talking to her again. The girl shared that her fiancé had recently died and that she was indeed heartbroken. The 13-year-old was the deceased fiancés sister and both of them encountered the Lord powerfully and were moved to fully surrender to Jesus.
The 23-year-old girl gave her life back to the Lord and her 13-year-old friend gave her life to the Lord for the first time. Here’s them being prayed over.
This is them being baptized that same night.
Another powerful moment of that same night was hearing a woman share that she had been healed of severe carpal tunnel syndrome after being prayed for at our outreach two weeks earlier. She came back not only to testify, but to also bring her husband to receive prayer for a heart condition that he was recently diagnosed with. Here’s a video of her sharing her testimony.
One night at Riverwalk, a group of soccer players from Cincinnati came over to talk to us. Mike Kramer asked them if they knew Jesus and they said they didn’t. He then asked if any of them had pain, and one boy said he had been hurt in a game and couldn’t run. Mike asked him if he wanted to be healed, and the boy said yes.
Mike prayed for his leg, and the boy quickly realized something was different, so he tested it out. After realizing the pain was gone, the boy literally took off running, came back, and had the biggest look of shock on his face.
All his friends were going nuts too, as they realized what had just happened. Then they all listened intently as Mike shared the gospel, and they all prayed to receive the Lord. Here’s a pic:
One night at Siesta, a man named Michael came over and listened to me preach for about 10 minutes. Howie talked to him afterwards, and after a few minutes it seemed like it was going nowhere. Michael was holding on to the belief that all roads led to God, and he even seemed like he was close to debating.
Howie then asked if he could pray for him, and Michael said yes. The power of God hit him so hard that he fell right to the ground and began repenting.
Then, he received Christ, said he wanted to be baptized, and was practically running to the water! We made the announcement and about 30 people came and watched, and many were even praying over him before he went out. This is him after:
The following Sunday Michael came back, and this time he brought his brother to hear the gospel. His brother got touched by the Lord too and ended up praying to receive Jesus and getting baptized, along with his daughter. So cool!
This is Jack. He was one of the many young people that we saw come to Christ during our mission trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Jack came to spring break from Buffalo, NY with the intent to get wasted and lust after women.
God met him in that bed of sin and Jack threw his drugs away, gave his life to Christ, got baptized in water, filled with the spirit, left his friends, and ended up staying with us until we had to leave Ft Lauderdale.
He slept over for two nights, got some solid discipleship, and he ministered with us for two days in a row. He literally held up Jesus signs like this for hours each day. Such a transformation!
I gave him a ride home before hitting the road, and he is a changed man. He even wants to leave his secular college and go to bible school.
Here’s a video with way more testimonies from Ft. Lauderdale and the backstory of why it’s such an important mission to the Lord.
One Friday night, a family from Illinois walked by us as we were praying and said yes to my invitation to join us. After we all prayed, they told us that seeing us was such a miracle because they had been praying all day for some kind of sign that their daughter should move here and go to school. After this, we prayed over them, and God gave me a word of knowledge for them. The mom started crying and the daughter was stunned. They told me after that it was right on. The mom then said she wanted to get a picture of all of us to remember the moment because it was so meaningful. The daughter also said she had never seen God work like this before and that she was blown away. Here’s the picture of all of us.
We spoke with them separately for over 30 minutes afterwards, and the parents told me that the daughter had been living in rebellion towards God for a long time. The daughter had also admitted to Laney that she has struggled with homosexuality. To see God orchestrate this miraculous moment, touch this family so profoundly and cause this girls heart to open up to Jesus was such a blessing.
One night at Siesta, around 7:30 it looked like it was going to rain, so we packed up and moved into the pavilion. This was where we were supposed to be because many people ended up getting ministered to up there. At several points, handfuls of people were coming to listen to the worship too. Here’s one video:
At one point, an 11-year-old boy came up to me while I was preaching and asked if he could translate for me. As he did, about 5-6 people responded to our altar call, some of them Hispanic. It was so exciting!
One summer night at Riverwalk, a young man whom I first met back in early 2023 was there. He had prayed to receive Christ the night I first met him, and then I didn’t see him for many months. He came to Riverwalk again back in the spring of 2024, and he told me that he moved to Tampa and that he was plugged into a Church up there. He also said that God had been blessing him and his family in a major way ever since he surrendered his life to Jesus at Riverwalk, and that he was really growing in his faith.
This night, he came to Riverwalk again, and this time he told me that he is going to bible school in Tampa and plans to become a pastor. How amazing! Here he is:
We really just never know what God will turn these little seeds into once they are sown. So cool!
One Friday night, I went to Bayfront around 7, but the rain was coming down until around 7:30. Once it stopped, I got out of the van, started setting up, and the first people I met was a family from Kentucky. We got to talking, and they told me that they were all singers and musicians and that they had led worship at the Asbury Revival in 2023. I was stunned. I also came to find out that two of the daughters were students at Asbury and one of them was on the worship team at the February 8th Chapel service when the Holy Spirit fell. This is a picture of the two daughters:
It was such a God thing. They had originally planned to vacation in Destin, but they couldn’t find anywhere there to stay. They decided last minute to come to Sarasota, and they were on the last night of their vacation when they decided (also last minute) to come to the statue. Then God made sure the rain stopped right when they got there so they’d be sure to meet me. It was AMAZING!
I listened to their testimonies of what the revival was like, and I was in awe. I asked the girls if they could sing the song that was sung when the Holy Spirit came down (Mighty One) and they did. Then we all prayed for a move of God to touch our region just like it did at Asbury. I have to believe that God orchestrated this to prepare us for us for such a thing. So amazing!
One Saturday night, it was cold, but there were still hundreds of people in the park. A good number of children were coming up, listening and getting ministered to, and at one point, four young kids came up and two of them asked me if I remembered them. I had met them a few months ago and they said, “we told you we would be back!” They were greatly impacted by us ministering to them the last time and they were anxious to come back and see us again.
They ended up going around the park with us and handing out tracts too, which was so cool! Then, before they left, Mike K asked them if they wanted to receive the Holy Spirit…and they did! I mean VERY tangibly too. They were all crying and visibly showing how their hearts were being moved. I’ve never seen anything like it happen to kids that young. They were even speaking in tongues afterwards.
We couldn’t get many pics but here are a few:
One Sunday, two young guys came over to talk after I asked them if they wanted prayer. They told me that lately they had been praying and trying to seek God but didn’t feel like they were getting anywhere. They asked me what they should do, and I came to find out that they didn’t really know much about Jesus or the Bible.
I shared the full gospel with them, and they both prayed to receive Jesus. It was truly a fish jumping in the boat kind of a moment. Then, right as I was telling them all about how God sovereignly orchestrated the entire thing and how He is right there with us, a man walked by with a tattoo of Jesus’ face on his arm that was facing us. I pointed it out to the guys, and they were stunned. Below the tattoo it even said “te amo” which is Spanish for “I love you.”
They then took bibles, tracts, and Gods promises books, I gave them a little discipleship and then connected with them on social media. They were so moved by the entire experience. Here they are:
One Saturday, we did Riverwalk early so we could be at the St Pete pride parade, and it was Gods timing because a group of women came by the gift table who were from a local halfway house. Four of them prayed to receive Jesus right there and the leader told us that she had been praying for that to happen for a while. She also said that they often come to Riverwalk in the early afternoon but never at the time that we are usually there. The fact that we changed times because of the mission trip was such a God set up!
One Sunday, at one point I could really feel the anointing as I was preaching the Gospel, so I gave an altar call and maybe 6-7 hands went up, including 3 of the girls that were sitting at one of the tables. Afterwards, I asked Rachael to talk with them and all 5 ended up praying to receive Christ!
One Saturday, a woman came up to us and asked us what church we go to. We had spoken to her briefly before, and ministered to her kids several times, but this time she was really showing hunger for God. She joined us for prayer, and the Lord gave me a word for her. She then started crying and she told us how much the ministry has meant to her. She said that she has been coming to the park for years and that she has seen us many times. She said there were moments when she felt such despair when she came, and God used us to touch her. She also said, “even when you don’t think people are listening, they are, and you are making a difference.” Here she is:
What was extra cool was that this happened on the night of our third anniversary at Riverwalk, which made it really sink in how important it is to have been consistent out there (and the other locations), every single week no matter what.
One Friday night, we had really small crowds, because it was right after Hurricane Helene, but we had one powerful Divine appointment with a woman named Angel. Angel was with her two cousins, standing by a bench in front of the statue when I walked up. I turned on some hype worship music, and she and her cousins started dancing. She was wearing a 2-Pac shirt, so I figured she wasn’t saved.
She came and talked to me, and I found out that she is from Jamaica, and that she used to lead worship in a church. She told me that she hadn’t been to church in 4 years though, and was not where she needed to be with God. I prayed over her and the Lord ministered to her a revival fire. She then sang a few worship songs, which were great. It was the first time she sang in 4 years:
She seemed to really get touched by the Spirit while she was singing, and she ended up doing about 4 songs even though she initially said she would only do one. It was exciting to see what God did in her that night.
One Sunday night, we met this young Indian man who prayed with us to receive Jesus. He said his dad was a believer, but he had never accepted Christ. We ended up meeting the dad shortly after, and although he didn’t speak much English, you could tell that he was super happy. He even took this picture of us before they left:
Another cool moment that same night was seeing the man on my left, whom I first met at Siesta about two months ago. That night, he said he and his wife were having major problems and he wasn’t sure what the future was for his marriage. He and his wife are believers, but he was backslidden for a while until that wake-up call. That night I counseled him and prayed for his marriage, and this time he came back and told me they were back together and doing much better. I was so happy about that! Here’s us along with his friend:
One Saturday, there was a birthday party in our usual spot at Riverwalk, so we set up a little bit to the side. Throughout the night person after person was getting drawn over by the Lord, and one by one, they kept coming up to me for prayer and ministry. About 6 of them ended up praying to receive Jesus, it was awesome! Here’s one pic we got.
Many children received prayer and ministry that night too which was awesome.
One Saturday, during our prayer circle, a young man named William came up with his little brother and prayed with us. I ended up talking to him for a while and he told me that he was 15 years old and had been away from God for a long time. I asked him how he fell away from God, and he told me that his little sister was murdered several years ago, and that after that he stopped believing in God. He said that just recently he started to think about coming back to God though, so meeting us was perfect timing. He and his brother prayed to receive Jesus that night, and I shared with him a TON about how to be a true disciple. He took it all in and was very thankful for the counsel.
At one point, his friend came up to him and asked him to hold his phone. When William looked at his home screen, he commented on how cool it was that he had Isaiah 60:22 on his screen- “When the time is right, the Lord will make it happen.”
This is him. And that is the cross that I gave him (because he asked if he could have it):
William then came back two weeks in a row and brought friends with him to hear the gospel. We got to pray and counsel them too which was awesome.
Interestingly, when I first met William, he told me that he wanted to join the military and go to war one day. I told him that God was recruiting him for His salvation army, and it was so cool to see it happening right before my eyes!
One Friday night, there were hardly any people at the park, but God still moved. At one point 3 teenage boys walked by and I told them God bless you. They thanked me and then walked over towards O’leary’s. About 15 minutes later, they came back towards the statue and sat down while I was preaching. When they sat down, I was actually winding down my message, but I sensed that they came back to listen, so I kept preaching for another 10 minutes or so. They listened to the entire message and bowed their heads and prayed during the altar call.
After this I spoke with them for about 20 minutes and shared more with them about how to follow Christ. One was catholic and two were largely unchurched. They all prayed with me to receive Christ, and they took all our materials. It was awesome. Here’s we are:
One Saturday night, there was a group of people that came out to celebrate the birthday of young girl who died last year at age 6. Our brother Bruce talked to them and the Lord moved on their hearts. They could see that the Lord orchestrated the meeting on that day (which was the girl’s actual birthday), to reach them, and they all prayed to receive Jesus. Here they are:
One Friday night, we met a man named Donovan. He told us that his girlfriend broke up with him on Monday, and that night he cried out to Jesus, asked for help, and the next day he woke up feeling great. He was never very close to God, so he was asking God what to do to grow and he ended up at Bayfront Park that night. When he heard me preaching, he was drawn to come over.
We talked to him for well over 30 minutes and he prayed to receive Jesus and began renouncing his idolatry. What was also powerful was that someone had approached him earlier that day and told him that God was going to do something as a sign to him that day. Shortly after, a lizard crawled onto his hand and literally didn’t leave his body for like 10 hours. Donovan felt like it was a sign from God, and he still had it on his hand when he met us. How wild!
Interestingly the lizard had wounds on his legs that were not fully healed, and I felt like the Lord was saying that Donovan was being given a wounded creature to care for as a sign of how God was caring for him in his woundedness. It really ministered to him when I shared that.
You can see the lizard here.
One Saturday at Riverwalk, the park was near empty, but God still moved. Early on, two teenagers came up and asked for water. I talked to them about Jesus for a while and they both told me that they had believers in their family but that they hadn’t ever surrendered to Christ…and that they really didn’t know what that meant.
I shared with them for a while and they both prayed to receive Jesus and took materials. I could tell that we were an answer to their family members prayers, and it was so cool to see God work like that! Here they are:
That same night, Sarath came over with a man about my age whom he saw listening to my message as I was preaching. He told me that he was at the park the previous week and came back to hear us again. He was backslidden and is a father of 7 kids. He encountered God and began crying and repenting right there at the park.
One day, one of the main leaders of the Siesta Key Drum Circle, whose name is Mark, called me. Mark was crying on the voicemail, and he said that he and his girlfriend have had some MAJOR issues lately and he wanted me to pray for him.
Here’s the voicemail- https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xsrq5n0zouj3vtmecfotr/ACADzuKdPLKhMaXUDLD_ctY?rlkey=a31nhew7iag4quyhmeb3xzf97&st=x82agjve&dl=0
I went to his house that day and ministered to them for over 2 hours. I gave them biblical counsel, they both prayed with me, and they both opened their hearts up to Jesus. He also said that he is never going back to the circle again. I messaged Mark a little bit throughout the week, and he told me that he had still been praying.
He also met up with us on Christmas Eve and got ministered to. God is really working on him so please keep praying!
These stories are just a small snippet of what God did in 2024 at the outreaches. You can see way more testimonies by reading the weekly mission field reports via the links below:
TEAM FELLOWSHIP AND PRAYER GATHERINGS
“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer“
Acts 1:14
We were also blessed to get together with some of our team for fellowship, worship and prayer nearly every Thursday night in 2024. We call these meetings “Housefires.” We find that the more we pray together before the weekends, the more we see God move. Here’s one video from one of the bigger Housefire’s we had:
OTHER MINISTRY INVOLVEMENT
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-13
Outside of our outreach ministry, we are also blessed to be partnered with several other local ministries. One is The Sarasota House of Prayer, where we lead “harp and bowl” style intercession every Tuesday morning, based on Revelation 5:8-9:
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song,
It is a very dynamic form of intercession because it combines prophetically inspired music and singing, with biblical prayers. Below, I included a link to a recent meeting where we were praying over the drum circle. Before I began praying, I shared the details of what happened with Mark the drummer, and then we went to war over the souls of the drummers and against the powers of darkness over the beach.
At one point, while Pastor Roger was praying, our brother Yamuel had the anointing come over him and he began to release a very prophetic drum solo, which felt like an Isaiah 42 war cry.
Take a listen below.
Learn more about the Sarasota House of Prayer here- Sarasota House of Prayer
We have also been heavily involved at The Front on Monday nights. This year I shared multiple messages there as well, mostly about prophetic signs and messages as well as God reports from around the nation.
You can access those messages here: 2024 Messages: Chris Vercelli – Awaken941
Learn more about The Front here- The Front | G6:2 | A Generation Made Ready
We were also blessed to spend every first and third Saturday at Woodland Village Retirement Community, providing a church service for the residents. We usually had anywhere from 8-15 people there each time and some are very faithful. It’s been a huge blessing for us to be part of that.
It was also great to partner with Pastor Chuck Kennedy, the publisher of the He’s Alive Newspaper, to share our daughter’s healing testimony.
The newspaper is distributed all across the state of Florida:
Learn more about the He’s Alive Newspaper here- He’s Alive – Website title
And it was also great partner with one of the biggest ministries on earth- The Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), to feature her story on their flagship program- The 700 Club on Christmas Day.
You can view the segment below. They estimate that about a million people watch this show every day.
You can learn more about CBN here- Homepage | CBN
2025 VISION
Although, 2024 was an amazing and truly historic year for us in this ministry, we believe that God is preparing us for an even greater work. In March, we will celebrate 7 glorious years of ministry, and we are currently on week number 354 at Siesta Beach, week number 250 at Bayfront Park and week number 177 at Riverwalk. We have no plans on slowing down this year on our local outreaches, and we have set a goal to have at least 160 of them throughout the year.
This will be our weekly ministry schedule in 2025. Woodland is only twice a month though and from time to time we have to miss Thursday or Monday.
We also have a packed mission trips schedule this year, with 9 cities planned.
We also aim to connect with more churches and leaders around the state and to launch an outreach in Charlotte County as well. Let’s see what the Lord does!!!
So, if you’d made it this far, you must REALLY love all things related to Gods Kingdom, so may I close by asking a favor?
Would you please partner with us by participating in, praying for, and/or investing into this work that God is doing for His Kingdom? We always need more laborers, more prayers and more finances. The more of these we get, the more people we can reach, and the more Gods Kingdom expands.
If you have any questions about how to do any of those 3 things, please call or text me at 941-735-6223.
And, if you are already doing any of those 3 things, let us say from the bottom of our hearts- THANK YOU!!!!! We could not do this without you, and you will SURELY receive your reward in heaven!
With great love,
The Vercelli Family- Chris, Sofiya and Natalie
P.S. If you are in to supernatural and prophetic stories, check out a little recap of some of the things God has done and said over the years to lead us into this type of ministry. I think it will encourage you- Awaken 941 Prophetic History – Awaken941