Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Soul winning completely changed my life! After I had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit it seemed like God was speaking to me more and more about the lost. I had started carrying a burden for them, but didn’t know how to actually lead someone to Jesus! It wasn’t until I came to the River that I learned how to become an effective soul winner! At first I thought I’d hate soul winning with the Gospel Soul Winning Script! I was so afraid of what people would think. But once I stepped out and started doing it I began to get bolder and bolder and now soul winning is just a part of who I am! I’ve never had a day out with the church soul winning where I had more people reject the gospel than people who received Jesus as their Savior! I remember one day I was with the Church and I began to pray and ask God for more boldness.

As soon as we got out of the car I saw two people. One was smoking pot and they were covered with piercings and tattoos. They definitely looked like someone who’d want nothing to do with religion! So thankfully, I didn’t offer them religion but a personal relationship with Jesus. They both got saved! It’s so awesome seeing people melt when they hear the Gospel and come to know Jesus! It’s completely changed my life, and the more I do it the stronger my passion for souls becomes! I never truly realized the amount of people who were hungry and desperate for a relationship with God. And I’ve learned to stop judging people on how they look or act.

Most of the times the people who you’d never think would want to hear the Gospel and the most receptive! Thank God for the Holy Spirit that convicts their heart as we share with them the love of God! Soul Winning is totally supernatural and totally life changing!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

December 13th of 2009 was such a monumental day for The River at Tampa Bay! 349 souls got saved at the altar. Hallelujah! The joy of the Lord touched every age group from the Nursery to The River Kids to the main Sanctuary. We rejoiced as we gave away many toys to deserving children. It is such an honor and a privilege to be under a ministry with Pastor Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne. They have such a vision to save 100 million souls this decade! I am fortunate to be a part of it.

Here at the River the word of the day is SOULS. Well, today there were two words, souls and toys! I worked in the Nursery this Sunday morning and many of the children’s faces reflected how they felt, grouchy because they missed their parents. In the Nursery, we prayed over every child that we held and played with. Little by little you could see the love of God that was in us overflow to the children.

“Lord, make this toddler a mighty man (or woman) of God for You. Teach them to walk in Your paths and guide them as they daily seek Your face. Thank You for Your abundant grace and love that is poured out on this innocent one. Give them a boldness to speak Your word. Thank You for saving them as they accept Jesus in their pure heart!” I prayed this prayer with such fervency.

1 Peter 4:8 in the Amplified Bible says, “Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].” Many of the children came in crying but as the volunteers in the Nursery prayed over them, God touched their hearts. As we gave the child back to their parent, some of the parents told me that they seemed much calmer. It is amazing what the Word of God can do! At the end of service, each one received a toy and their face lit up even more. God continues to do amazing things at The River at Tampa Bay! We are blessed to be a blessing.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

I learned many important values from Pastor Adonica’s class, Matters of the Heart. I learned that the attitude of your heart will determine where you will end up in ten or twenty years down the road. Since God looks at the heart and he is a discerner of it means that the attitude of someone’s heart is probably the most vital issue. Even with small issues someone can become defiled, but not if you keep your heart right. This really helped me learn how important it is to guard my heart and the content of my thoughts. Out of the abundance of the heart my mouth will speak. That is an important way for me to tell the condition of my heart. I found it interesting to learn that my heart has an alarm system that my brain corresponds with and that if you go with your heart you will have peace. Peace should rule your decisions.

I also learned that it is never a good idea to make important decisions when you are angry or upset and to always strive to walk in the love of God and let offences go. We should always come to the Lord with humility and avoid arrogance or pride at all costs. Walking in the love of God is something I personally want to accomplish on a daily basis since perfect love casts out all fear. I learned the importance of being teachable and receiving correction and not to even get involved with someone else’s offenses. Pastor Adonica taught us that you never want to major on manifestations and to do only what God wants you to do. Bitterness was another issue we were taught to avoid and that hidden sins of the heart can take you out and how whatever someone tries to protect from sinning will be lost anyway. Another issue that I thought was good to know was how someone can do the right thing with a wrong heart and be wrong. I felt like this subject is something that could be taught for an entire year and you would still be learning, but Pastor Adonica did a great job with it in only one week. It is amazing how God can give you a ton of knowledge in a short period of time. Isn’t God awesome!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Sunday was amazing here at the River. We had hundreds of kids show up all expecting gifts and ready for the word at the toy give away. It is truly a blessing to have been able to be apart of this, realizing that God rewards His servant’s and that it is always better to give than to receive. We have such an outstanding helps ministry here and all the helpers were more than eager and willing to devote their skills and time to make this event happen. Lives were changed as people came hungry for God. Over a hundred and fifty children came forward to the altar and gave their lives to Jesus, declaring Him as Lord and Savior. We bused in eight charter buses full of people who came to church ready for the main event. There were over 1,300 people in attendance and 350 people gave their lives to the Lord. With over 300 workers ready serve in so many different facets of ministry from giving out food boxes and distributing toys to camera operators and ushers. The crowds came in and we were ready to welcome them into the family with open arms just as God loves us and welcomes us in His arms when we surrender to His will and call for our lives. There truly is no greater reward for serving in the Kingdom of God than the reward from what we saw here at the River with the harvest of souls on Sunday as lives were changed, and people begin to experience the unending love and power of God. There is no limit to what God can do if you just yield and allow Him to do the work.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

The entire week of camp meeting was eye opening I was continually challenged in my daily life. I walked away each day with my faith increased as I prepared for the battle that was quickly approaching me. One thing that really spoke to me was the 2pm service on the Friday. The Lord had actually been dealing with me since the beginning of the year about pruning. I knew that the Lord was going to prune certain things from my life and from the ministry that I am involved in and I was ready for it. But on that Friday Pastor Rodney spoke about enabling cut of branches. It just really spoke to me because the exact passage that the Lord had been using to deal with me was John 15 which speaks of Jesus being the vine and the vinedresser and we the branches and Jesus will cut away the branches that do not produce any fruit. I didn’t realize that in my not standing up against someone who was doing wrong I was actually enabling them as cut off branches and I was even hindering them as well as myself because God could not use them until they were moved and graphed to the vine in another location. It just amazed me because this wasn’t even the sermon he was planning on. It was a commentary he was making before the offering. It was even more astounding that he used the exact terminology that the Lord had been using with me. That was the step that allowed me to rally up my courage and speak to them with loving firmness and even though I feel anger and dagger like resentment from that person I know in my heart that the Lord is using this as a means to grow us both and to further His kingdom. I am truly grateful and I thank God that Pastor Rodney yields to the Holy Spirit whenever possible because I’m not sure where I would have been without those words of knowledge in my life. Thank you Pastor Rodney