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.

I am very thankful for what God has done through me during my internship. Although it has been a very trying road, I have grown more during my internship than I have my entire three years of Bible school. This has been such a time of refining for me. It has been such a time of having a servant’s heart, submitting to authority, learning, growing, believing God, trusting in the word, and a time of teaching. This has been a time of preparation for later ministry. It has been such an honor and privilege to serve under each pastor and department that I have; from outreach with Pastor Daniel and Pastor John, the youth department with Pastors Allen and Kristin, and now ending my internship managing Studio C in productions under Mr. Chris Williams. From each different department I have taken away different things and grown in different areas. It is also very stretching to work with so many different people because it forces you to learn how to relate to different authority figures. Some pastors that I was under gave me so much responsibility and trusted me to get the job done and others like to micro manage which also is okay. I definitely learned that in ministry you need to be able to work with all different types of people and leaders and you can always continually learn. Even if you know or have worked in your area for many years, there is always room for improvement somewhere and you should always remain teachable with a humble spirit.

–Nicole

We had a big outreach this month many people got blessed with presents but most of all people received Jesus in the heart as their lord and savior.  It is really cool to see people receive Jesus in their heart.  The Lord has been showing me this month that Jesus is our best gift we can ever receive.  For God so loved the world that he what, gave his only son that who should believe shall be saved – John 3:16.  During a GAT in Alaska, many people’s lives have been changed and set free.  There was a man by the name of Ralph who will never be the same again.  We have to have that revelation of Jesus that he is our reward.  It was a lot of work in our department. We made phone calls to all the people that came out to the Christmas outreach for the first time.  But thank God for His grace we can do all things through Christ who strengths us.  The greater one lives inside of us.  We have to pull on the inside of us to get the job done.  God will enable you to do what is needed as long as you humble yourself.  He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.  That is Bible so you have to follow that if you want to do great things for God and his kingdom.  Thank you Jesus.

–David

I have seen faith in action through God’s many blessings in my life. Recently, the Lord has been dealing with me about seeing His hand in all the small things in my day to day life. This past week I had someone put $40 of gas in my car, buy me lunch, both of my roommates made me dinner, and someone else took me to lunch another day. Having said all that, just a few weeks ago the Lord really spoke to me in regards to seeing his hand in every single blessing, whether big or small. He then gives increase in the midst of our thankfulness and us honoring him.

This was really a HUGE lesson for me and a very timely one as well. Questions had begun to build up that I allowed to almost becoming a burden. I am always believing God for provision in my life and other specific things, but I had become discouraged because people had blessed me with things that were close to what I was believing for, but not exactly what I wanted. So in my mind I began to question whether any of it was God, because it wasn’t perfect, and God IS perfect. If God is the God of “more than enough,” why is everything not coming in as “more than enough?” So instead of thanking the Lord for the increase and what He was entrusting me with, I became discouraged because I didn’t think any of it was God.

But then I spoke with a friend of mine and he began to encourage me with Luke 16:10, “To be faithful with the little things” and that as I walk in a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness that God will honor that and begin to make me ruler over more. So rather than getting caught up in the details of what I thought I wasn’t getting blessed with, I began to get caught up in every single blessing in my everyday life that were totally undeniable! I began to see the hand of God in everything that I did and the blessing and faithfulness of God in my life became almost overwhelming! It seemed so simple but for me it is huge – this change of perspective changed everything! My faith is being strengthen day by day because I know that I can do nothing in and of myself, that I did not create the blessing that is on my life, and that James 1:17 says “whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father!”

–Davis

During these past couple months of internship the Lord has really been teaching me how to trust Him and just flow. He has taught me to flow and listen to the Holy Spirit in every area of my life. From finances to time management, and crazy as it seems but even what clothes to wear every day. (I almost wore some really warm clothing on a day I was to do some intense sweating. Thank God for the Holy Spirit!) It’s amazing what can happen and how much more efficient you can be when you listen to the Holy Spirit. Another thing I’ve been learning these past couple months is to be proactive. I like to be active and everything, but it has gone to a whole other level. The Lord has taught me to be proactive and do things with excellence in every aspect of my life or in my work. In the Bible it says if you’re faithful with the little He’ll make you ruler over much. That really came alive to me these past couple of weeks because even though we think that what we do sometimes is little, God sees everything. I’m excited to see what more God has in store for the rest of this year.

–Michelle