Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Soul winning, for me, was the hardest aspect of my first quarter of Bible College. I was very afraid to go up and talk to people because I feared rejection. Even after having it explained to me that people were rejecting the gospel and not me, I still struggled. However, after having the opportunity to go out on the streets every week and going on a couple of Great

Awakening tours I was catapulted out of my comfort zone. It was a process. One of my favorite things to do now is being able to pray with groups of children. During outreach one Saturday morning we went to a local apartment complex. We had drinks because it was really hot out and that, of course, attracted a crowd of little eyes anxious for free stuff. Once the kids were all circled around I began to do the gospel soul winning script with them. A group of about ten children with blue and purple tongues from juices prayed without hesitation.

That always hits me straight in the core of my being. Children are also the fastest evangelists you ever want to see. I had them all go tell their friends or their family who weren’t already outside to come. Soon there was group after group of kids, moms, siblings, and grandmothers all gathered around who thought they just came to get a free soda. They wound up leaving with Jesus living on the inside of them. It’s amazing that something so little and seemingly cheap can draw someone in to receive what will change their eternity. With experiences like that it just proves that God can use anyone and that if we can affect children with the gospel when they are young, their whole family and surroundings can be affected as well.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

I remember when I first started attending The River Church. I would hear people say they had this many souls and really didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. I started to see how others reacted to others soul count and thought to myself, “This soul winning thing is a big deal.” I still wasn’t sure why though. Then I heard about The River Bible Institute. I knew I was supposed to go and figure out more about the Bible and I wanted to know what everyone was so excited about. Man, did I ever learn!

I went to The River Bible Institute about a year or so later. I remember all the classes taught me so much, but one day in Soul winning they announced we would be going soul winning on Saturday. I went that Saturday and was in the projects. I had no idea that from that day I would become an avid soul winner. We started praying for people reading right off the script that was given to us and people were accepting Jesus right there in front of their homes! I thought back to when I was little and living in horrible situations and what if someone from a church came and talked to me like I was doing to these people. I asked one lady if she would pray with me and she told me no probably 10 times. I would ask her every time I saw her, but I didn’t believe her because every time she would say no and go away she would come back and start sweeping by me or just standing outside. I knew her spirit was speaking to her. So, I kept calling her Donna and that wasn’t her name. I really had no idea why I was calling her that, the next thing I know, she says, “Why do you keep calling me Donna?” I told her I didn’t know. She said, “That is my twin sister’s name.” It was so neat, and then she finally gave her heart to the Lord.

Winning souls has become a passion of mine. Just think if someone hadn’t come and told me about Jesus. I am so grateful for the obedient people of God! I am so excited to see all the souls that are in heaven all because of my obedience to what God told me to do. The Lord has some great plans for us all. We just have to be bold and obedient and miracles start poppin. The Lord has allowed me to pray for two of my family members. One of them said they felt a gush of wind and the devil came out! Another member of my family said that they could hear something murmuring in her head and felt it go from her head!

By learning soul winning with the script, I had a chance to lead my grandfather to the Lord right before he died! It was literally two hours before he died! He couldn’t speak and I told him to blink twice if he was repeating the prayer and he did! Thank you LORD! I also had a chance to speak with my father about my Uncle whom had end stage cancer. I told my dad to make sure he was saved. My father actually prayed with him right before he died! Now they will spend eternity in Paradise! Thank the Lord for all he has done and I thank him for sending me to this church where the Pastors are truly lead by God and are 100% souled out to his plan for them and us. Thank you.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Going onto the streets and soul winning has completely changed my perspective of people. Sometimes going through the everyday routine of life you can become so self-absorbed that you become calloused to the predicament of everyone else who is hurting around you. Soul winning has opened my eyes to view people as Jesus would, to let his compassion fill me for others and let my heart become one with his. Jesus’ heartbeat is souls! The other day I prayed for a man who was so hungry to hear the word of God.

As I spoke the word, his heart opened. He fought tears as he committed his life to the Lord. Looking at him initially, I would have never thought that his heart could be so tender. When I told him about our church services, he committed to coming this Sunday! Another man I spoke with told was already saved but had not been to our church before. He said that he was wanting to come to church but he was too tired Sunday mornings to come to church because he stayed up to one o’clock in the morning on Saturday nights.

I challenged him to get to bed early Saturday nights and make a decision to come Sundays on our bus to church. He admitted that was what he needed to do and recommitted his life to God at the moment! God’s presence filled that man while he prayed with me. As I turned to leave, there was a joy in his eyes that was not there before hand. Being on the streets has also enabled me to vocalize my faith to others. As I share my faith with others, God’s Word rises up inside of me and I speak things from his Word that I did not even realize was inside of me!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

On the last Sunday in November 2008, Pastor Rodney moved me to the local outreach department here at the River Church. We organized our first outreach that launched just a few weeks later on December 20th, 2008. Over 3,000 people showed up on the church property and there were 1,739 recorded decisions for Christ by the end of the day. Since December 20th, 2008 up to today, we have recorded 99,843 decisions for Christ here in the greater Tampa area. Souls are being won in Tampa, Plant City, Clear Water, St. Pete, Sarasota, Largo, and everywhere in between.

Tomorrow will be exactly sixteen months and seven days since we started tracking the decisions for Christ here in the greater Tampa area (50 mile radius). By the end of the day tomorrow, we will break our goal of 100,000 recorded decisions for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Tampa area is being shaken with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This week alone, the local outreach department has scheduled four major outreaches in our community. Two will be focused on inner-city communities, one will be focused on a Spanish community, and one will be focused on reaching Plant City (an area only 11 miles from the River Church). By the end of this week, we could easily reach another 1,000 people with the Gospel. Jesus himself declared that the harvest is ripe!

Last Saturday, I spent a few hours fishing with a friend of mine. Just before we pulled the boat out of the water, I used my phone to pull up Dr. S. M. Lockeridge’s message on YouTube entitled “That’s My King.” We were so stirred after we listened to the message that we immediately pulled the boat out of the water and went about the park leading people to Jesus! In a span of about 10 minutes, we prayed the sinner’s prayer with 16 people.

Sunday May 9th is Mother’s Day (just two weeks away). This week we start our big push to see the altars at the River Church packed with people surrendering their hearts to the Lordship of Jesus Christ on that day. Flyers will be distributed throughout the city, doors will be knocked on, and hundreds of phone calls made to see the altars packed on Mother’s Day. Jesus himself declared that the harvest is ripe! All we have to do is put our hands to the gospel plow, “Go” as He commanded, and the harvest will come in. Glory to God!