Seek & Save: Columbus for Jesus

During the week of July 24-29, 2023, people from around Ohio came together to saturate Columbus with the Gospel of Jesus through partnership with local churches, the Ohio Ministry Network, and the General Council of the Assemblies of God. The weeklong outreach included neighborhood evangelism, prayer walks, sports camps, neighborhood & park clean-up projects, antihuman trafficking ministry, church revitalization projects, and two block parties. Here are some of the amazing results that we were able to capture:

• 333 recorded engagements with individuals

• 311 people prayed for

• 143 Salvations

• 2 spontaneous water baptisms

• 252 total volunteers from 42 different churches & organizations

• 5,000 bags of groceries packed and distributed

• 1,750 people attended the block parties

• 4 local AG churches were directly impacted by this week of outreach.

Each of those numbers is a person who is valuable to God, and we celebrate them; they represent hearts impacted and lives changed. Below are just a couple of the stories our teams shared with us after Seek and Save: One team was walking the streets and talking with people when they encountered a young lady trying to change her tire. They stopped to help her and asked to pray with her. By the time the prayer was over, there were tears in her eyes, and a team member sensitively obeyed the Holy Spirit as he spoke into her life with an anointed word and led her into a relationship with Christ. Another team was on their way to lunch after a hot and humid morning of ministry. A truck pulled up, and a distraught woman got out. The team leader sensed this was a God moment and asked if she could pray for her. The lady was blown away as she shared that she had tried to commit suicide the night before with a gun to her head, but it misfired. She knew this was the Lord sending that team to her because she needed hope. They talked and prayed with her, and she accepted Christ as her Savior and her whole countenance was changed as a result.

There were countless God-ordained moments, like these, all over the city. From street corners to leading people to Jesus in the middle of Walmart, God was at work. This time of ministry brought stronger unity in the Body of Christ for everyone who participated. Lifelong friendships were made, pastors were encouraged, the mayor of Columbus met with 30 of our pastors, and partnerships were forged with local organizations, law enforcement agencies, and churches. One of the most encouraging things was to see so many young people serving, helping our local pastors, and saturating Columbus with the gospel.

The end of the week culminated in a block party on each side of Columbus. These events featured a gospel message from one of our Ohio evangelists, and many people gave their lives to Christ during those events as a result. The people we engaged with during this week of ministry were so open to the gospel, and I was brought to tears a few times watching the Body of Christ at its best – bringing Christ to the culture. The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Let us pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into the field.

Thank you to Pastor Choco DeJesus and the General Council of the AG for making this event possible. We also want to thank our site pastors, TJ Wolfe (Multiply Church) and Steven Steward (Revive Church), for their hard work in organizing each part of ministry on their side of the city. So many amazing people and churches who helped support this outreach, but we especially want to thank our churches and pastors who opened their buildings and grounds for pieces of the outreach – Aaron DeLong (Simple Church) and Ken Keene (Trinity AG). Finally, thank you to our local coordinator, Kelly Zimmerman, for using her administrative gifts to organize the leaders and volunteers.

Columbus for Jesus! Ohio for Jesus! All things are possible!

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Al Yanno

OCMN Director