Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke took his soul-saving mission to Vero Beach, Fla. this weekend during a two-day Gospel Fest.
An outdoor tent set up at the Vero Beach Airport drew at least 5,000 worshippers from across the country hungry to hear the simple gospel Bonnke preaches—and sit under the anointing of the evangelist who has invited multiplied millions of souls into the kingdom.
“Every time I take the microphone I have one burning desire in my soul …”Bonnke told the crowd on Saturday night. “To see hell empty and heaven full!”
Bonnke is best known for his crusades in Africa and for his cry, “All Africa shall be saved!” More than 55 million Africans came to Christ under his ministry from 2000 to 2009 alone. During the Saturday night Gospel Fest the evangelist was focused on lost souls in America. Bonnke declared, “All America shall be saved!”
Bonnke preached from John 8—the story of the woman caught in the very act of adultery. In his masterful gospel presentation, Bonnke brought to life the perspectives of the adulterous woman, the scribes and Pharisees who brought her to Jesus for judgment, and the God-Man Christ.
At one point, Bonnke fell down on his knees, explaining that if he were at the scene described in John 8 he would have run up next to the woman, knelt down, and asked Jesus to save him. After an emotional message preached under an electrifying anointing, Bonnke invited the crowd to come to the altar for a salvation prayer.
Hundreds responded to the call. Some came and knelt down just as Bonnke had during his message. Others wept uncontrollably. Still others lifted their hands to the God that saves.
Following the altar call for salvation, people who needed healing were invited up for prayer. Again, the altar was flooded. Local ministers, including Dr. Chauncey Crandall—the physician who God used to raise a heart patient from the dead—laid hands on the sick. Many were slain in the spirit and some testified of healings, including one woman who reported a tumor disappeared from her arm. She did push ups in front of the crowd to demonstrate her healing.
“Powerful move of the Holy Spirit,” says Ron Bauza, president of Word of His Grace Ministries International. “Hundreds coming to Jesus, hundreds healed by the power of the Holy Spirit! Beginning of a great move of God in Florida!”