Rodney Howard Browne South Africa

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I wish I could list all of the ways that this camp meeting has challenged me. Every night it was something different. The first way was just going using what He’s already given me for the gospel. The next area was in changing my way of thinking about generations. The most important way, for me personally, that I was affected was in holiness.

Being around men and women of God who are breaking down barriers everyday stretches me to give my all for God. However, sometimes looking at everything that those who have gone before have done could be overwhelming. I would think to myself, “God what do I even have that you would want or that you could use?” James Levesque knocked that out of the water with his testimony. There are so many ways that God has gifted me and many times just because of not thinking like God thinks I haven’t used those gifts for the kingdom. Now I have no excuse not to use what’s in my hand.

Next is the generation gap which really isn’t a gap at all. Being a youth leader has recently made me feel really old. I look at some of the students that I get to spend time with and pour into and think, “Why wasn’t I doing the things that they are at that age?” Of course I didn’t know about soul winning and my church didn’t really do outreaches, but the thoughts came. Then Pastor Rodney said, “If the Lord didn’t think you had what it took to live in this time, you would have been born in another time!” God can use me right where I am.

Finally, I must come to an area of holiness. It’s not that I was out sinning or living worldly, but it’s time to go to the next level. The Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about holiness for a while and it came out so much in all of the messages. If the pure in heart are the ones that are going to see God then I want to be pure in heart. I must.

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Soul winning has changed my life. When I was first introduced to the ministry of Pastors Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne and The River Church of Tampa Bay I was in no way a soul winner. I truly didn’t understand the love of Jesus and the commission we have all been called to do. Since leaving my home of Texas to pursue the call of God I found out really quick that soul winning isn’t just a program, it is a passion.

I have nearly finished the first year of school at The River Bible Institute and soul winning started out being a weekly event. Since then the power of the gospel has changed my life to becoming a daily soul winner. It has taken months for the Lord to prepare my heart to speak in love toward others regardless of their reactions, but mostly to build the character of being bold when approaching someone.

The Holy Spirit is real and he needs us to stop and listen so work of the kingdom will not go undone. Every Saturday me and my 2 boys (Ages 9 and 5) wake up with the anticipation that God has divine appointments for us. What a joy to see what God is doing in my boys and in my family. To hear them pray and lead someone to the Lord, there are no words to describe it. I know that not only our lives have been changed but the gospel has brought freedom to the captives.

There are so many testimonies of Gods goodness and grace. I have witnessed supernatural healings, seen the hearts of people break down and repent, and I have also seen the blessings of the Lord. I have seen the love of Jesus flow through me in I way I couldn’t. There is nothing greater than doing the work of the kingdom and allowing God to use you. In all I do I will Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

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I’ve never experienced the power and love of God like I do when watching someone accept Christ. Soul winning has changed my whole perspective of life. One night I was driving home from church and noticed a group of teenagers standing on the side of the road, shooting off fireworks. As I was driving by, I knew I had to stop and tell them about Jesus. I pulled over and ran over to them. They seemed to think I came to join their party; I asked them if anyone ever told them that God loved them and had a wonderful plan for their life. Some no and some said they didn’t know. I shared what the Bible says with them and all thirteen stopped playing and prayed with me. Everyone was so thankful.

I was shopping at the store another time, minding my own business. A girl was standing right next to me. The Holy Spirit told me to go tell her about Jesus. The second I asked her if she had ever heard that God loved her she burst into tears and looked me in the eyes “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. How did you know I’m going through so much?” I said I had no idea, but that God knew and He had a plan and a purpose for her life. The hope that came into her eyes was unexplainable.

Seeing God touch and change people’s lives is what makes life worth living. When I began to feel God’s compassion for souls, and His love for people; it will wreck you for life. The joy of giving away the life of the one living inside of me is unexplainable. Seeing the transformation take place in an individual from depression to hope and joy is what motivates me to keep on going strong.

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Soul winning has been a wonderful experience for me.

I get so excited every time I go out on the street to win soul for the kingdom of God.

I remember back home in Haiti at a young age before I move here to the U.S. a couple yrs ago, I was never allowed to go out on the street even when the church was going out soul winning if my parents weren’t there I could not go for security reasons. Haiti is a country with no security you got to pray and trust God for protection. If it wasn’t for God, I and my family would not be here today. That gives me more reason to want to serve him and bring more people into his kingdom. My dad always explained to us as a Pastor’s daughter the reason he would not let us go out with the church or on our own is because he wanted to protect us from rebels and angry people that just hate preacher and the gospel so he was being very careful. As he was preaching the Gospel, getting people saved and casting out demons… the devil would always try to find a way to hurt him by going after his family.

We went thru some rough period in Haiti there was a period that people was out kidnapping preachers children, murdering, I‘ve seen preachers and family murdered and killed. Because the Country political situation we were not allowed to go out with other people or on our own unless of course whenever my dad or mom was present if they were going on a mission trip in a safe area they would bring us with them. So as a young girl even growing up each time I would go visits Haiti I was always afraid to go out on my own talk to people. Here in the Us I would go and witness to people but not in Haiti. Until recently God broke that fear out of me.

When I came here in the U.S., of all the churches I’ve been to American or Haitian, not one of them have the fire and the heart to go after the lost like The River church. They are so caught up in religion like pastor Rodney always says… and u have to be members to even participate in any religious activities that they are doing. I was so fed up; I could not find any church like our church in Haiti. Whenever I needed prayer or hungry for God I wanted to go back home to Haiti because our ministry there is the same focus as Pastor Rodney. I was hungry for more and wanted God to use me to bring the lost to his kingdom. I was a Christian, my parents raise me up to always love and serve God but I was hungry for more I wanted to do more for God. I wanted to be a blessing to other s.

In 2007 God spoke to me in a vision that he is coming back soon I have to go and had to continue the race, He has plans for my life I had to cancel all of my plans for 2008. I did not know how it was going to happen. I was pregnant with my second son I told God I know I always get so sick when I’m pregnant there’s no way that I was going to be able to go out in the street and witness .. I told God If you plan to come back now I guess you’re going to be so disappointed or get mad at me. In Feb 2008 God send me to the river, I was about 4 months pregnant when I started to learn about soul winning or how to win the lost into the kingdom and really going out and tell the world about Jesus.. I would go out on Saturdays with the River Team soul winning and I felt led one week to go thru my neighborhood I was about 5 months pregnant. I went from door to door, red the scrip and invite them to RMI church.

I found myself sometimes laying hands on the sick and they would get healed. They would come to me and give awesome testimonies. I thought wow this is awesome. I had 1 family saved a day at the end of the month I had 25 families in my neighborhood saved. I was so excited and said wow God u really calling me to do this! I would start shouting, jumping praising God for the souls. Then I went on continue soul winning thru the rest of my pregnancy. Afterwards I just let the Holy spirit Gide me and I’ve been on fire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others whenever I come across someone.. I get so excited every time I get the opportunity to share the good news with someone or getting someone else saved it’s just awesome!

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The realization that the whole purpose of my Christian walk is about carrying out the Great Commission Matt 28:19-20 with the fruit of seeing souls won from the Kingdom of darkness over to the Kingdom of Light has radically transformed my life.

Having been equipped with this knowledge and the tool to reach the lost means that I am without excuse not to seek out and win souls. I have become bold in approaching total strangers and leading them to Jesus. When I go on the street about my every day business the Holy Spirit never ceases to prompt me to speak to someone about Jesus, someone who I would otherwise have passed had I not been equipped with the Soul-winning Script which makes it so easy to lead someone to the Lord.

I have been going to nursing homes; bus shelters, communities (knocking on doors, bible study outreach). It never ceases to amaze me to see the look on the faces of the people after they have repented and asked God to come into their hearts, most of the time a smile breaks out on their face registering their realization of the shedding of a heavy weight and the dawning of a new day with Christ.

I have moved from being able to count on my one hand the number of people I have won to the Lord in 10 years to winning hundreds of people to God within the past 9 months of attending the River Bible Institute.

My country does not have the limitations and restrictions of the USA, when it comes to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is wide open and the harvest is ripe, I can’t wait to get back home to teach and empower individuals and churches to win souls for the Kingdom of God.

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Soul winning has greatly impacted not only my life, but my family’s life as well. Soul winning has become a culture to me, and it is not just something that is required of me to do because of being in bible school. I love when I, wife and two boys get to go out soul win as a family. As I see my 8 year old and 5 year old lead not only kids who are around their age, but adults as well, it puts a huge smile on my face.

There are times that I am not able to go out on the streets during the week at the allocated times due to me work schedule, however, there are times I will make calls from the bus ministry phone list on Saturdays. During this time, I have the privileged in not only leading some of them to the Lord over the phone, but I also have the opportunity to pray with people concerning specific needs in their life. In my life, soul winning is about giving my time to others to share the good news and walking in love to all.

Soul winning is something that is done every single day of your life, twenty four hours per day, and three hundred and sixty five days per year. It personally took me time to yield to the Holy Spirit and to be sensitive when He is prompting me to lead someone specific to the Lord. I have learned to be bold and yield to the Holy Spirit. Soul winning has forever changed my life and I know I will never be the same person again. The only thing that I will be able to take with me when I go to heaven is souls, so I am going to make sure that I can do everything in my power to help populate heaven and plunder hell.

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What an amazing day. It was a lot of fun. I was impressed by two things. My husband and I are in the Food Ministry every Sunday so we get to see the regular people come through. This Sunday, we were blessed to see many new faces. Many of the new people were from Plant City. We’re reaching past our immediate vicinity and touching more people for Christ. We are sowing into peoples’ lives. In a way, it’s sad because so many people need help, but on the other hand, this is a ministry and we have the ability to give assistance. Some of our men were talking to the people, teaching them to sow an item of food into their neighbors’ lives. That is really awesome. Our church is showing people how to take what they have and sow even when there’s little to give. We are showing people the Biblical way to move away from lack.

The other thing was how many people from church were helping. We all were wearing orange or yellow safety vests so we could tell who were the volunteers. When I looked across the parking lot, it was like watching ants. Everyone was so busy with toy distribution, food ministry, bus ministry, hot dog sales, music, etc. The really great thing was everyone was smiling and friendly. It was warm and hectic, but we were having so much fun blessing people. If I was a first time visitor watching the members, I would definitely want to come back and visit again or even become a member because of the love that people show.

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Last Sunday on December 13 2009 was such an amazing day, It was my first time working in the Childrens Church and most certainly will not be the last, there was so many kids getting saved and they just loved the lord and loved that he loved them, they had so much fun and loved hearing the story’s a bout Jesus Christ that was told in class, it was also very good to see that most of them were not really there just for the presents and had a lot of fun, I have to say the future looks very bright and not only just that, the parents were great and greatly Impacted as well. I have to say i had no idea what to expect on this beautiful Sunday morning especially when it was my first time working in the kids church, the kids were all so cool and smart young kids, especially for the age of 5 years old, they were all so joyful and happy to say that they except Jesus as there lord and savior and invited him into there harts, I would love to see what great things the lord has in store for all these kids. I believe the seeds planted in them on this beautiful Spirit filled Sunday morning will be wonderful and I can’t wait to see how many of them will come back next week. I only wish that I spoke Spanish for some of the kids who didn’t understand me although we did have people who spoke Spanish and I know that they got to these kids just the same, glory to God and all his wonderful works.

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I never thought I would do bus ministry, my brother had done bus ministry and I remember him always talking about the people and how rewarding it was. Well, he was right, I’ve been involved in a lot of helps ministry at the River but this is by far my favorite because I’m walking in my destiny simply by meeting the needs of the people; ministry. That’s what ministry is all about no matter if it’s in Tampa or across this country or even on the other side of the world, and I must say its nice not to have to be jet lagged in order to see hundreds of people get saved and blessed and lives changed. We can do what the bible talks about in Acts 1:8 “….and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” This past Sunday The River @ Tampa Bay that’s exactly what we did, we hosted “Operation Raven” where we gave away hundreds of boxes of food and toys to underprivileged families in need. I was lucky enough to be a part of this seeing first hand the faces of the children and the parents get on the bus feeling exhausted and beaten done with the cares of life and after service feeling refreshed and blessed, saying “you don’t know how much I needed this food”, or saying “I love this church, this is a good church,” I overheard another lady on my bus talk about how at home she felt and comfortable because she wasn’t able to dress up at other churches she felt embarrassed or out of place but at ‘her church’ she knew she would feel loved no matter what she was wearing. This is what ministry is all about, and I’m thankful that I can be apart of a church who practices what it preaches. I’ve been down here five years and every year God stretches and grows us, I can’t wait to see what He will do next!

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My overriding impression of the Winter Camp-meeting centered around Pastor Rodney’s vision of making the church available to as many people as humanly possible. This is not to say to specifically make his church, but to make “church service” available to all.

Returning guest speakers Ted Shuttlesworth and Ron Kussmaul are legends in their own right. They have taken the gospel to ”all the world.” Drummond Thom and his sister, Robyn were also a joy to have join us, along with other notable personalities. The fellowship: praise and worship supported by Becky’s healing song and the contributions of Big John Hall, and the voice of Tim Gidley brought the entire church body closer together. Surely, each felt as though a great spiritual bond; a direct connection was made between our worship and our soul and spirit as the entire assemblage was brought into one common voice.

Throughout the camp-meeting The River received countless phone calls and E-mails from viewers participating over the internet or by TV satellite. There is no way to estimate how many souls were reached in those eight days.

Both regulars and new faces arrived nightly through the church bus ministry. There was an opportunity to experience a world outside the small box that had been their world. This taste of today may have sparked some to look further into a life outside poverty and lack.

Prior River students returned to reconnect and update themselves with the growing vision of the church. They witnessed the new and latest electronic technology tools now available to win individual souls as never before.

Pastor has taken the message outside the four walls, sic, in steps. First, with street evangelism, then with tents, then the “Great Awakening Tour”, more street evangelism, and now electronically it is finally possible as never before in the history of our planet, he and the church can satisfy “The Great Commission”.
Our Pastor’s vision to reach as many souls as possible in the uncertain time available has propelled him and his church into using all that God has accumulated to date in the realm of electronic technology. Interfacing with available broadcasting from the church 24/7 now underway over the internet and by way of satellite TV, together with the aid of inexpensive antennas, make individual church broadcasting available and affordable to nearly every size church on the planet. This is no small accomplishment. Only God could bring and satisfy this vision. He would not have said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel” and not make it possible, finally, in this hour.