Happy Thursday Saints! Hope all is well!
It’s been another great week in the Lord. He is moving!
A few of the encouraging national God reports that I’ve seen this week are that:
Another college got hit with a wave of revival, this time NC State- Hundreds Accept Christ as 6,000 Worship Jesus at NC State: ‘All Glory to God’ | CBN News
And the most famous porn star from my BC days, recently got saved, baptized and activated with boldness for the Gospel
So cool!
More on that here- Jenna Jameson baptized, helps others find Jesus after adult films | Fox News
It was also a great week in the 941. First off, BIG thanks to all of the team who stepped up this past weekend in my absences. My son recently made the Varsity soccer team again for Sarasota High School, and Friday night he had a game in North Port. So, after ministering for about an hour at Bayfront, I left everyone in charge and drove to the game. I heard all went well though so praise God!
Then, on Sunday, I stayed back to celebrate Sofiya’s birthday, and I was so proud of everyone for persevering through the rain at Siesta! Well done team!
Saturday, we had a fruitful time at Riverwalk and saw many people get drawn by the Lord. We prayed with close to 10 people to receive the Lord, shared the gospel with one young man who had never heard it before, and spent a good amount of time discipling a woman who had recently come back to the Lord after many years of being a prodigal.
Here’s a pic of 3 hungry girls that came over while Gene was preaching.
Sidenote- we REALLY need more laborers at Riverwalk, so please come when you can.
Another big highlight of the weekend was teaching an evangelism class to a youth group at The Christian Retreat.
It was during a retreat that they called a “God Encounter” and each of the kids had voluntarily signed up to immerse themselves in the Presence and Word of God for the entire weekend. I was invited to be the final teacher of the weekend, to give the kids a strong charge to take the Good News to their friends and family.
At the end, an altar call was given for those who wanted to commit themselves to the work of the Great Commission, and every one of them came forward. They got anointed with oil and received prayer and I also armed them with lots of Gospel tracts. I’m so thankful for our sister Laura, who is the youth pastor. She really takes seriously the need to get kids activated into evangelism and she will be bringing her youth out to minister with us in the future.
Super thankful for the great feedback I got from her too:
What was so wild about this was that I actually heard the gospel for the first time ever, at a God Encounter, at Christian Retreat, 19 years ago, and got saved there. 7113 days later I was there sharing my testimony and teaching kids how to reach people that are lost just like I was. Truly a full circle God moment!
This week I also discovered something VERY interesting that I’d like for you to pray into. I learned that the origins of the Siesta Key Drum Circle (and all other American drum circles) originated as Voodoo ceremonies performed by enslaved Africans, going back to the 18th and 19th century. The place where these ceremonies we first performed in America was at Congo Square in New Orleans.
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This led to voodoo becoming mainstream and even commercialized in America
Interestingly, drum circles kind of died off for about a century, and then they became popular again during the 60’s and 70’s as new age and witchcraft became more common in culture. In the 90’s, a group even revived the Congo Square drum circle, and it just so happened to be right around the same time that the Siesta Key drum circle was launched. Now Siesta Key has the largest drum circle in America:
As you pray for the Siesta Beach outreach, please go to war against this principality. Also, keep me lifted up as I prepare my heart for a mission to Congo Square to do warfare in the spirit. I will likely be going in the next month.
Never a dull moment when you’re retaking ground for the Kingdom!
Love and blessings to you all!
CV
P.S. No fellowship tonight, as my son has another soccer game.
P.P.S. Hope to see you at the party this Saturday!
