Jequié, Brazil Soul Winning Festival - Victory in Jesus

When 10% of a City Prays for Salvation

Jequié, Brazil is located deep in the interior of the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. The population of the city is 150,000 and on the final night of our Gospel crusade this week over 15,000 people gathered in the center of the city to hear the Gospel. Virtually every hand was raised when I gave the invitation to receive salvation. For the local pastors who often work for years without a single conversion, this is a harvest of unprecedented size.

For the past month, excitement has been building in Jequié. Billboards and thousands of posters announced that Jesus would do miracles. A huge stage was erected in a parking lot in the middle of the city and people streamed to the grounds anxious to see what God would do. Lively music greeted them. The atmosphere was full of excitement. On the first night of the crusade, Jesus did not disappoint the expectant crowd. Three people who were deaf in one ear claimed they were miraculously touched by God and were able to hear. Because of the miracle testimonies, the crowd sized doubled the next night.

On the final night of the crusade, I preached a simple Gospel message contrasting the kingdom of darkness with the kingdom of light. I asked, “Why come into the kingdom of God?” I answered, “Because there is joy, forgiveness, and healing in the kingdom of God.” I invited those who wanted to receive Christ to come to the front of the crowd. Counsellors from the local churches greeted them. The new believers gave us their names, phone numbers, and addresses. We presented each of them a beautiful Bible.

The next day, local churches used the decision cards to call each person who made a decision to follow Jesus. The churches formed teams who went out two-by-two to visit every person who got saved. They arranged a time to meet together to study the Bible. The ultimate goal is to get every new believer plugged into a local church so he or she can be discipled.

The church in this part of Brazil seems weak. Small neighborhood churches of 15-20 members are scattered around the community but it is estimated that before we came to Jequié there were less than 9,000 believers in the entire city.

In São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte the evangelical Church is growing quickly. Mega-churches with thousands of members are flourishing. However, in the northeast of Brazil, there is a great untouched harvest field of souls waiting. The church in the northeast is anemic and it is estimated that only 2-3% of the people in the interior of northeast Brazil are saved.

Over fifty million people live in northeast Brazil, six million of these live on the coast, the rest live in the interior of the country. The rural area is affected by constant droughts and is plagued by great poverty. Approximately sixteen million people live in villages. Thousands of these villages don’t have a single Christian witness. The landmass of northeast Brazil is three times larger than all the Central American countries combined.

Salvador, the largest city in the state of Bahia, was the center of the Brazilian slave trade during the mid-sixteenth century. African slaves were captured and taken to Brazil and they brought their traditional tribal religions with them. Today, their descendants continue to practice ancient superstitions. They often mix tribal and indigenous religions with Catholicism and evangelical Christianity.

Witchcraft is common. One woman who came to the crusade was unable to walk because of a curse that her neighbor placed on her. She got saved on the first night of the crusade and started to walk. Many people here are afraid of curses, hyper-aware of the spiritual world, and practice rituals similar to voodoo. Dozens of demonic manifestations took place as we took authority over the powers of darkness. Jesus set people free from a lifetime of demonic oppression.

I worked with Rubens Cunha, a Brazilian evangelist who has done over forty crusades in the northeast of Brazil. He says, “If I was to do a crusade in every city in the state of Bahia with a population of between 30,000 and 100,000 people, I could do one crusade a month for seven and a half years. If you have a passion for evangelism, please come and help us reach this ripe mission field.”

Over the next three years, the eyes of the world will be on Brazil as first the World Cup and then the Olympics are held there. As people stream to Brazil for sporting events, it is important for the church to come to northeast Brazil to evangelize. The harvest is ready, will you help bring in the harvest? 

Spiritual Earthquake Hits Haiti - Haiti Miracle Crusade

A Plea for Haiti

In January of 2010, Haiti suffered from an earthquake; this past week Haiti experienced a spiritual earthquake. Evangelist Daniel King traveled with a team of twenty-seven Bible school students to the Caribbean nation for a massive Gospel Festival. Their ministry impacted thousands of lives in Kawdé Bouké, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. In addition to conducting a five-day crusade, the team visited orphanages, poverty-stricken villages, and conducted a women’s conference, a pastor’s conference, a Kid’s Fest, and a healing conference.

Thousands of people made a commitment to live for Jesus. One life that was changed is a twenty-seven-year-old man named Wilnack Saint-Fort. One month before the Gospel Festival he saw team members putting up posters around the city. He asked if he could help. At first the team refused his help because he was obviously drunk.

Something about the team’s attitude attracted the young man. Every day for a month he followed them. After several days of building a relationship, they allowed him to pass out flyers and glue posters to the walls. After the festival platform was built, Wilnack volunteered to sleep under the platform to help guard the sound equipment.

He said, “One night I dreamed a dream. In my dream I was in a beautiful place and I saw many beautiful houses. I saw a Man in a white robe walk toward me and just as He opened His mouth to speak to me, I woke up. I knew that Man was Jesus and so I decided to live my life for Him.” On the second night of the Gospel Festival, Wilnack gave his life to the Lord. When he heard the question, “Do you want Jesus to forgive your sins?” he responded by raising his hand. He prayed the prayer of salvation and Jesus became his Lord and Savior. He plans to attend a branch of Victory Bible Institute that is being planted in his neighborhood.

“Follow up for new believers is extremely important to me,” says Daniel King, “We work closely with the local pastors and we distributed 10,000 “Life of Jesus” books to the new believers. My home church of Victory Christian Center, led by Sharon Daugherty, wants to plant Bible schools in every town in the nation of Haiti.” 

Every night, the team invited sick people to come to the front for prayer. God touched many people and they came to the platform to testify. Arms, eyes, necks, backs, and stomachs were healed by the power of God.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. After the earthquake, millions of dollars were poured into Haiti to help people. But the nation continues to need help. The pastors of Haiti need encouragement; the people need an outpouring of compassion, and the children need food. Daniel King says, “After the earthquake, the world’s attention was focused on Haiti for a short period of time, but now many have forgotten to care. Please don’t forget to pray for Haiti or stop giving to the ministries that are working there.” 

One in a Million - The Testimony of Wilnack

Wilnack is twenty-seven years old. One month before our Gospel Festival in Kawde Bouke, Haiti he saw our team members putting up posters on the walls. He asked if he could help. At first the team refused his help because they saw he was drunk.

Something about the team’s attitude attracted the young man so every day for a month he followed them around. Finally, they allowed him to pass out flyers and glue posters to the wall. After the festival platform was built, Wilnack volunteered to sleep under the platform to help guard the sound equipment.

He says, “Two times, I dreamed a dream. The first time was at the beginning of the month on the night after I met the members of the publicity team, the second time was the night before I got saved. In my dream I was in a beautiful place and I saw many beautiful houses. I saw a man in a white robe walk toward me and just as he opened his mouth to speak to me, I woke up. I knew that man was Jesus and so I decided to live my life for Him.”

On the second night of our Gospel Festival, Wilnack gave his life to the Lord. When he heard the question “Do you want Jesus to forgive your sins?” he responded by raising his hand. He prayed the prayer of salvation and Jesus became his Lord and Savior. Now Wilnack is smiling because he has been born-again! 

Pray for Haiti Crusade

A Face I Will Never Forget