my first Festival with Johannes

Last night I participated with my first SOS festival with Johannes. It was the moving experience that I expected.

We arrived at the Festival site around 4pm to a crowd of thousands. Local choirs and worship leaders were leading the pumped crowd in worship. We were told that people started bringing their sick loved ones for healing as early as 10 am! Temperatures were around 100 sweltering degrees, and almost no shade to be found.

Off to the side, 4 generators were grinding away, producing electricity for sounds systems. There was a stage setup, and a tent where troubled souls were being taken for extended deliverance prayers. It was over full with Pastors helping people as fast as they could.

Johannes preached a powerful salvations message, while dealing with spotty sound systems, an interpreter that was really struggling to keep up, and endless other issues going on all around him. He stayed amazingly focused and incredibly in his element. You can really feel that he was born for this AND he that he has carefully developed and protected his gift. It really is awesome to see that in anybody.

But above and beyond all that, I felt the Holy Spirit's dancing, singing, and crying with sheer joy! There was joy over eternal life about to be found in the hearts of hundreds of people that He had brought. I felt Him tremble with excitement that hundreds would find eternal life tonight, and be healed. It is such an incredible, indescribable, powerful joy to feel Him in that kind of mood. I am a complete addict to that experience.

And it came. First salvations- hundreds of them. As Johannes gave the altar call, hundreds of people with tears streaming down their faces, came. And the healings. I was too busy working with people to get it all, but I saw a lady pushing her own  wheelchair home, and heard stories of blind eyes being opened. The atmosphere was charged with the sense that any crazy good thing might happen.

This city has never had a festival like this before. It is an unreached city- or it was before this week. But after this week, thousands more will know Jesus and we will get to know them in eternity. Tonight, thousands more will gather- probably double the 4500 that might have been there last night. The next night might double again.

The Apostle Paul said we should be addicted to stuff like this- to good works.

Done.