A New Generation Steps Forward in Jacksonville

This past August was fruitful as we rented one of the Carmike Theaters, made and distributed tickets for a special free showing of the Mel Gibson movie the “Passion”. We had a full house for both showings and we saw over 50 saved!

As the Summer concluded and the temperatures began to drop with the return of Fall, the spiritual temperature of God’s people continues to rise. Fall is synonymous with Harvest and we have been blessed to partake in a great new harvest in our city this year as men and women burn on with renewed Holy Ghost Fire. In September we took a step of faith with our Battle of the Bands project. We invited secular bands to compete amongst each other at one of our local high schools. We hosted this event with a redeemed “Blues Brothers” duo, and concluded the competition with our own teenage group (who was not competing) singing the last song accompanied with clips from the movie “the Passion”.

The Spirit of God was present and conviction fell upon over three hundred young people. As the altar call went on over fifty young men and women came forward and surrendered their hearts to Jesus Christ. What was so amazing immediately following the altar call, the whole auditorium began to cheer and spontaneously praise God. That is truly amazing when over 90% were raw sinners whom originally attended with other intentions.

That night it was so clear to young and old alike the contrast between the distorted, depressing sounds, screams and lyrics of death that blared out of the speakers from the secular bands and the clear Gospel message of Life and Hope from the music of our band.

Many high school students that night went out of their way to thank our church for putting on an event like this. It was almost as if they were trying to say in so many words “Thank you for opening and our eyes to Jesus Christ and giving us an alternative to the black hole of MTV and Hollywood”.

In September we had our Pioneer Rally with a dynamic lineup-Pastor Mitchell, Campbell and Campo and the preaching was no doubt strategically organized by the Holy Ghost. Every sermon preached linked one message to another as God clearly spoke to our hearts and challenged us to the days ahead. Our church not long ago celebrated 20 years since it was pioneered and the preaching really focussed on defining the future in lieu of this landmark.

At the end of October we had our haunted house –outreach project: “In the Mind of Madness”. During three nights we had over 800 people in attendance with 150 people praying for salvation. As folks left the last room in our haunted house where we conducted the altar call they entered into our café area where they were greeted with refreshments and conversation. It was great to see these visitors stay and ask questions as workers continued to share the gospel and assure these new converts of their new life in Jesus Christ. This outreach was immediately followed with a potluck dinner, and as a result we have seen a large retention of fruit from this outreach. The opportunities before all of us are truly as bright as God’s promises and indeed it is a great privilege to labor in the Lord’s harvest.