I never thought I would sit where I am currently sitting, or know God how I know him, or for that matter even be alive if it weren’t for the effect that Revival Ministries International has had on my life, and the lives of my family. I thank God for Pastors Rodney and Adonica.

I came to live in Tampa two years and one month ago. I moved here with my mom shortly after my father passed away. My dad was a pastor of a Rhema church in Kissimmee Florida. It was a sudden and devastating loss; I was only sixteen years old at the time. I grew up in a Pentecostal church my entire life, but I had never fully received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I really did not know God. I knew about God but I never knew him as my Heavenly Father. I thought I had a free ticket into heaven because my father was a pastor. I was oblivious to the truth.

When I was 15 years old, my dad, my sister and I went to the Great Awakening Tour in Miami Florida. One night after the service my dad and my sister and I got a chance to talk to Pastor Rodney. While we were talking he told my sister and I that if we ever wanted to attend RBI or RSW that we would have scholarships. I picked up an RSW pamphlet and started talking to my dad about how I would love to go there one day, but that I wanted to go to Rhema like he did. I had other plans for my self but God knew what he was doing. When I got the scholarship I had no idea that I would one day end up living in Tampa while my mom would attend RBI.

At summer camp, with Pastors Allen and Kristin and the youth group August of 2010 God spoke to me and told me that my Rhema plans were not what he had for me. I had already gone to their college weekend and I was really trying to make it work so I could go there. God also informed me that I was going to go to the RSW. This past august at summer camp God confirmed his word again. The Fire of God touched me in a way it never has before. I literally felt fire all over my body and my face. I was screaming, crying and laughing all at the same time. While he was touching me he was showing me all the times in my life where the devil tried to steal my joy and how it DIDN’T work. He was showing me that I had victory in him. I knew from that night on that I was in the right place.

This RBI/RSW revival had been utterly life changing. God has really broken down walls I had no idea even existed. I now have an intense passion to be a radical giver. He has shown me how sewing and reaping REALLY works! On Thursday of the third week I gave my purse, my iPod and my electric guitar away as seed. I believed God for a laptop, a Mac Book specifically. On Sunday Dave Leszchek asked me to come out to the lobby and handed me his laptop which was exactly the laptop I had been believing God for! I was overwhelmed with joy and I just felt the love of God all over me. I was just blown away by his goodness. He provided for me exactly what I needed. He is so faithful.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me this year! It feels amazing to be doing the will of God and be directly in the center of what he has for me……Christa J.