Happy Thursday Saints! Hope you are doing well!
It was another great weekend on the mission fields!
On Friday, we had some really good foot traffic and had some great conversations, mostly to encourage believers. A number of tracts were given out too which was great and there was a very warm feel from most everyone we saw. Several people even gave us money which rarely happens.
On Saturday, there was less foot traffic than usual because part of the Rossi Park is closed for renovations. Despite that, many people were drawn to Jesus. In fact, right after I preached for the first time a big group of young boys came over to pray with us to receive the Lord. Here’s most of them:
Throughout the night people were steadily coming over getting gifts and prayer, and then towards the end another group came over after preaching and giving a call:
Very cool to see that!
On Sunday, there was quite a crowd at Siesta because of it being Memorial Day weekend, so likely thousands of people had seeds planted in them. TONS of tracts were given out, many were prayed over, and many stopped to listen to the preaching and the worship. Here’s just a few pics:
Here’s a few clips of some of the worship. A good crowd was being drawn during much of the time it was going on:
BIG thanks to all who came out with us to win souls- Amber, Susan, Mike M, Paul, Chuck, Debbie, Jacob and family, Eduardo and family, Ricardo, Ken, Laney, Bram, Gavin, Diego, John and Michelle. Proud of you all!
On Sunday afternoon, after church, we stopped by the Freedom Truck, which was in Bradenton for the weekend. It was awesome.
It’s basically like a mobile museum of American history, and it doesn’t shy away from showing the Christian roots of our nation. Here’s a video from inside:
It will be in other cities in Florida over the next few months too. Full schedule found here- Freedom 250
As for things with Azalea, there has been an interesting plot twist that I’m still trying to understand.
Last Friday was the final day that we were legally allowed to visit her in the morgue, and given that it was Shavuot, I had high hopes that Friday would be the day that she would rise. When she didn’t, I shared some of my sadness with Emily (the one who heads the morgue), and she said to me “it is not over Chris! She can still rise, don’t give up!”
Of course, I believed that too, but I also felt like if the Lord was going to do it, He would have done it while the morgue door was open. So, after that, I shared this entire message on Facebook about her middle name and tied it in to where we were at with everything. I’ve copied and pasted it below:
Azalea Yovale Vercelli 
A family update and the prophetic story behind her middle name…
Back in June of 2025, the Lord began speaking to me profoundly about the year of Jubilee, written about in Leviticus 25-27.
“You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you..”
Leviticus 25:10
He told me that because America was about to enter its 5th Jubilee year beginning on July 4th, 2025 (our 250th year overall), that I needed to learn about the promises of this special year.
(Interestingly this exact verse is inscribed on our Liberty Bell, which is where its name comes from.)
I began by looking up the Hebrew word for Jubilee, which is the word “Yovale”. This word literally means “rams horn.”
This word is only used in 3 places in the entire Bible- Leviticus 25-27, Joshua 6 and Exodus 19.
In Joshua 6, it was what the Israelites blew before the walls of Jericho came down-
“The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew the trumpets…so the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”
Joshua 6:13, 20
The Lord told me that in the year of Jubilee, walls surrounding seemingly impenetrable strongholds would come down.
Interesting that on the first day of the year of Jubilee, the nations largest ab*rti*n provider lost its federal funding (which it had since 1970), leading to dozens of its “clinics” closing over the past 10 months.
There are several other examples of stronghold’s coming down this year as well.
In Exodus 19, God Himself blows a Yovale from the top of Mount Sinai and calls the Israelites to the foot of the mountain after He invites them into His covenant.
“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel…When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.””
Exodus 19:5-6, 13
Interestingly, this was also the year when we saw record breaking Bible sales, a surge in church attendance, and the Gospel proclaimed to the largest audience in human history (at Charlie Kirk’s memorial).
Also profound is that this was the year when our own government decided to “blow the Yovale” by calling the entire nation back into covenant with Jesus just days ago.
All this to say, when I discovered that my baby was conceived and would be born in the year of Jubilee, the Lord told me to prophesy over her by giving her the name “Yovale.”
Fast forward…in her 31 days outside the womb, I have definitely seen her be used by God to tear down strongholds of unbelief and disunity, while also serving as a trumpet blast to call people to a deeper walk with Jesus.
Even just days ago, her testimony led a man to faith in Christ for the first time ever. How amazing!
It’s also kind of wild that the Lord timed everything so that today would be the last day we were able to legally contend for her life in the morgue.
Wild because TODAY is the Biblical day of Shavuot, which is the day when Jews commemorate the Lord blowing the Yovale on Mount Sinai and making covenant with them.
Side-note- It’s also the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, which we call Pentecost.
Although my deep hope was that God would blow into her (like He did the Yovale on Mount Sinai) and use her as a trumpet to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus to the world…that didn’t happen today.
Despite that, I wholeheartedly believe that for many years to come, the impact she has made on people’s hearts and the testimony that her death carries will do exactly that.
Because of this, I will always consider her a martyr (which means “witness” in the Greek) for Jesus, in that her death has and will continue to- advance the Kingdom of God on the earth.
I want to DEEPLY thank all those who joined us on this journey. There are hundreds if not thousands of you out there who prayed and contended for this miracle with us.
God is pleased with your faith (Hebrews 11:6) and your obedience (Matthew 10:8) and we are SO SO grateful for all of you.
Thank you also to those who gave money, food, time and other precious resources to help us in our darkest moments. We will never forget it.
We aren’t sure what the exact next steps are but we would love to have a celebration of life for her with all those who were on this journey with us. We will keep you posted on that.
I’ll close with a quote from Job, spoken after all 10 of his kids were martyred-
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.””
Job 1:21
Love you all 
*********
So, this is where I was at on Friday afternoon. On Friday evening, I called the funeral home that Emily recommended, and I found out that the man who owns it is a Spirit filled believer.
He also told me that his wife is an ER nurse at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and that she knew about our situation from the start. I guess word got around that there was a family contending for resurrection.
His wife had told him about us early on, and after he found out, before he even knew who we were, he had already decided in his heart that if we ended up bringing her to his funeral home, then he would allow us to continue to contend for her life.
AND, if that’s not crazy enough, he and his wife were at Siesta Beach two weeks ago and they saw us ministering and were very moved by it. At the time though, they had no idea that we were the same people. He only found that out when Emily shared that with him when she called to set up the transfer.
Now, I actually have unrestricted access to Azalea (with no barriers and no time limits, which was not the case at the morgue) and I can continue to pray over her as long as she is in his care. Is that crazy or what???
(her face is smooshed because her head is propped up)
He even told me the other day that I could bring others in there too and that he would even give me a key and let me stay all night with her if I wanted to.
So just to recap, here’s the crazy open doors/favor we’ve had so far
On night 1, we were told that we had one hour with Azalea before she would have to be taken away. Then, after the nurses saw us praying over her, they changed their minds and let us keep her.
On Day 2, they sent the woman up who runs the morgue to assess the body, and she told me that we could keep her as long as we wanted. She also told me that she went to Siesta two weeks earlier (for the first time in years) and she saw me preaching and that she loves our ministry.
On Day 5, when we were about to be discharged, that same woman advocated for us to be able to keep Azalea in the morgue until she had been asleep for a month. While there, she made time to bring me there so I could pray over her EVERY day.
On Day 31, Azalea got transferred to this funeral home and now I have full access to her until she is buried.
I’m actually very encouraged by all these signs of God’s Divine orchestration over this whole situation. I mean, what are the chances that a woman like that (who also gave birth to a stillborn in January and has a personal passion for seeing resurrection in a stillborn) would be placed in that position AND would be sovereignly connected with us weeks in advance?
And on top of that, what are the chances that a strong Christian brother would own a funeral home in the area AND also be sovereignly connected with us weeks ahead of time?
All I can say for sure is that God is clearly opening doors for us to contend for this resurrection. What it means though, I don’t know. But honestly, after seeing His hand over the situation with the funeral home, I’m still about 50% convinced that she will rise.
We shall see!
Anyway, that’s all for today. Hope to see you at our house or on the mission fields soon!
C, S, N & AY