Last week, over 60 people gathered in the middle of the city to, in the words of the psalmist, "make known his deeds among the peoples," and to "sing praises to him." (Psalm 105:1-2) We set up a stage and a sound system in the middle of a downtown plaza and many people began to share testimony after testimony of how God had saved, healed, freed, provided, protected, grown and encouraged them. This was all in the midst of a powerful worship set where curious onlookers heard the name of Jesus being praised earnestly and beautifully. Loud cheers, claps and praises for the name of Jesus could be heard emanating from the plaza.

 

Three 10-20 minute powerful salvation testimonies were shared and then the mic was opened up to anyone who wanted to share a testimony. The open mic produced some very encouraging testimonies we captured for this episode of the podcast. Lastly, a special testimony from Tom Stewart, a man who endured terrible sexual abuse at the hands of his scout master as a child, shared how God healed him and freed him from the bitterness and anger. A movie is in the process of being produced about his story.

 

Throughout the event, passersby couldn't help but stay and listen to whole testimonies. People seemed to feel very welcome to join in. At one point a man smoking a joint just sat down and listened right next to the gathering. Before the event even started, a woman walking by shed tears at the sight of people praying and the worship team sound-checking. She confessed that she wanted to recommit her life to Jesus.

 

We're still tallying all the reports of people who gave their life to Christ or felt encouraged in some way, but the overall sense from the reports we've received is that it was not only encouraging for all those who attended to hear the testimonies, but it felt spiritually significant to be boldly proclaiming the truth of Jesus in public, like so many generations of Christians have before. There was a palpable connection to the believers in Acts who gathered to worship their King in temple courts or the market streets.