Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

As Christians it is our duty to take the gospel and share it with those we come in contact with. According to the great commission Jesus says in Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, go ye into the entire world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We ought to be soul winners because Jesus Himself was a soul winner. As Christians we should strive to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Mark 1:17 tells us “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”

As we begin to exercise the great commission we produce fruit by winning people to the Lord. Acts 11:21 confirms “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.” When we share the gospel it is inevitable that people will be saved and the hearts of people become touched and changed. When you go into a lost and dying world the wonder working power of the gospel is seen and healings are seen, it builds you up in your faith and makes the gospel that much more real to you. When you do the work of the kingdom and begin to seek God to reach people through soul winning the Holy Ghost empowers you. According to Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

As children of God, the born again believer we are witnesses and examples for the world to see the very character of Christ. Our conduct as Christians is a witness to the unbeliever as to who Jesus is. When we go soul winning people will be drawn to Christ because of who they see Jesus is in you. Therefore it is important to always teach and lead by example. Matthew 28:19 says “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” When you teach people the gospel and you are passionate you carry the presence of Jesus Christ with you. In praying for people I become excited about the work God is doing because of the overflow of the work the Lord has done in me.

Because He has carried me, strengthened me, and healed me. When ministering to people they pick up on that and they are instantly drawn to that and they desire to dedicate their lives to Christ. We must be zealous in our efforts and approach people with confidence because of the gift we carry that is so precious. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” When we share the gospel openly it sets us free and edifies our faith as people turn to the Lord and you are able to impact their lives for eternity.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Ever since I started going to The River my life has changed I always feel a joy inside of me and a passion for the things of God. I remember while we were remodeling the church I stopped and looked around and saw all these people just working around the church and I thought to myself, this can only be love, the fact that everyone is working and not expecting anything back is love! That was something that really hit me and I was just amazed on how everyone helps each other out.

During the toy distribution I was playing in Studio B (kid’s church) and I thought it was so awesome to see 156 kids answer the altar call and get saved. I remember looking down at the kids during worship; it was so amazing to watch them worship God and I remember looking at one of them while he was talking about what Jesus did for us, he used me as an example to play Jesus and I’ll never forget, when I looked down at the kids I saw tears running down their faces and that’s something that’s just so hard to describe! All I can say is that it was such an amazing thing to see those kids connect with God. One thing that was really cool is how before the kid service started you get to talk to some of the kid’s and then when you meet up with them after they answered the altar call everything about them has changed, from their face expressions to how they talk to you. There is so much peace in their eyes. To me I love seeing the work of God in the lives of Younger People because that’s an encouragement to me, it makes me want to tell other people that anybody can be saved and can get smacked by the power of God. I can’t wait until the next toy distribution, and to see more people get saved!!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

I love this topic! I was so excited to hear that Pastor Adonica was going to be sharing with us for a week, not only because I enjoy Pastor Adonica as a teacher but mainly because I love a challenge.
This year started out a little slow for me but it has definitely and quickly might I add gained momentum. For example this class; I absolutely love and appreciate the Holy Spirit and the way he uses different and even creative ways to show me the matter or state of my heart. I have heard this teaching before but am always thrilled when I get to hear it again because I know I can always learn something new and pull on the anointing for something fresh.

I got several nuggets out of this teaching but one of the things that really blessed and encouraged me, not that I’m in any way perfect in this area, is when Pastor Adonica said this, “spiritual maturity is not about knowing all the big stuff and being blessed it’s about walking in the love of God daily”! Wow does that need to be preached more often! So many times I tend to get down on myself for not being further along in my walk with the Lord, as if I even know where or what that’s even supposed to be like, but it blesses me to know that no matter what people think of me or say about me or judge me unfairly as long as I keep my heart right, forgive and walk in love; that’s really all I have to be concerned about. The rest will work itself out. If I’m wrong, I trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to show me how and what I need to change in the most loving way as He always does. I was talking with my roommate a couple of days ago and we both were saying how that’s probably the biggest thing we’ve learned from being at the River and what I’m most thankful for, is how to keep your heart right and guard your heart from offense. I would argue to say that, that is what takes Christians out the most, is offense more than anything else. When I feel offense trying to get the best of me I meditate on this 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 specifically, it totally helps me gain perspective. Without a humble and pure heart how can we succeed in anything else we try to do, for out of the heart the mouth speaks.

I’m so thankful for this class as it was such a great reminder and confirmation to what Gods been showing me, I could go on and on but I will close with this. Thank you so much for your obedience to Gods call on your life, it really is a blessing for me to have the two of you as an example. God redeems the time. Love you!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Sunday the 13th of December 2009 The River at Tampa Bay Church had a huge toy and food give away. I had the great privilege to work with our bus ministry. I was put on bus route 3 with Rod and his wife Carolann. It was only the second time I had gotten to work on the buses and I saw the people who do it week after week get all excited about seeing the people. Even the bus driver who was a contrite driver excited to see all the people that would get on the bus. I was getting really in to it. Getting to help register all the kids to get toys seeing all the people coming to church it was so amazing. I also was in kids church when we got back to the church and dropped the people off at the front door. Ok I had the boring job of helping take the kids to the bathroom for three hours just getting to see there happy faces when they were in service was so sweet. Joe is so great with the kids getting them involved with the service and scramming there heads off. I have been to concerts that were more quitter then kids church. At the end when they gave the alter call to make sure all those awesome kids had Jesus in there harts it was awesome. I remember what Joe said “everyone of these kids count”. I remember as a kid wanting someone to tell me I count for something. That Jesus loves and cares for every last one of those kids individually. Then as soon as church was done it was back to the buses to hand out the toys to the kids on our bus. I could keep on going on all day but the point is I got to see people lives changed and I cant wait to watch them grow in the things of the Lord for weeks to come.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Winter Camp Meeting this year for me meant new experiences, lasting memories and a better understanding of what God wants from me. I guess it started in class when Pastor Nick Coetzee asked me if I wanted to play the drums for the 2p.m. services. It would be my first time playing for such an event. I was so honored and thankful that God chose to use me in this way. I had always wanted to work with Pastor Nick and be under the anointing that he operates in. There was obvious opposition from the moment I said yes. One of them was my job. I would have to get the whole week off and seeing as though this is peak season at my job it wasn’t going to be easy. The Saturday before camp meeting I was playing basketball with some friends and I tweaked my back really badly. I said to myself ” Lord is this your plan for getting me out of work”. Needless to say I could not function at my job because it requires some heavy lifting. So I went into my managers office and let them know the situation. They gave me the week off without pay because it wasn’t a work related injury. But I was so happy that I had the week off that not getting paid for that week didn’t faze me. I knew God would provide. But the pain was unbearable. I was tempted to call Pastor Nick and cancel but I knew God had called me for this camp meeting and I didn’t want to make excuses. So I prayed over myself and played for camp meeting. It was amazing the grace God gave me to play. Whenever I sat on the drum stool to play the pain would go away. Then it would come back less and less when I wasn’t. By the time camp meeting was over I had been completely healed. I was so blessed playing with Pastor Nick and lead people into the presence of God.