For the past four years, Bibles For The World has partnered with the Luis Palau Association, providing Scripture for their festivals all over the world.

“We’ve been to Burkina Faso and Malawi and Côte d’Ivoire in these last four years, along with Haiti and Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, and we’ve been so blessed by this partnership, working with the Palau organization and being able to provide Scriptures,” says John Pudaite of Bibles For The World.

“We are always looking for places where we can be strategic with the distribution of God’s Word, as strategic and effective as possible,” Pudaite says.

The Luis Palau Association had the roots, and Bibles For The World had the Bibles. Together, they’ve been able to enhance each other’s work through festivals.

These festivals focus not just on open-air sermons and Bible distribution, though those are also major draws for the festivals. “They’re also involved in medical clinics, visits to schools and orphanages, visits to prisons, and other kinds of outreach like that,” Pudaite says. “They’re reaching a much broader community.”

(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)

The upcoming trip to Colombia is special. Colombia is the same country where Luis Palau had his first festival more than 50 years ago in 1966. The indigenous Church is excited about the upcoming trip and optimistic about the festival.

“You’ll find that the people of Colombia will turn out for this — those who need to hear the Word and need to hear the message of salvation — so we’re just looking forward to a very wonderful time,” Pudaite says.

But the trip isn’t without its challenges. Luis Palau was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer several months ago, but he is still keeping the trip on his schedule.

“We’ve stood firm with him, even in this time when it’s been a little bit unsure whether the festival will come together, and we want to be there and provide God’s Word, to support their work and the ministry and outreach that’s happening in and around the festival.”

Pray for Luis and his health, the organizers as they figure out the logistics of the trip, the team and workers involved in making the practical pieces come together, Andrew Palau as he prepares to speak, and Bibles For The World as they pull together resources to send. Most of all, pray that the Holy Spirit works in Colombia before, during, and after the festival.

You can help Bibles For The World support this festival by clicking here.

(Header map courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

The purpose of this festival? Revival.

City Fest Meeting

Randy Hekman hands the mike off to Bill Brownson during the City Fest Prayer Meeting held at Calvary Church on December 7, 2017. (Photo Courtesy Beth Stolicker)

The evening focused on a time of worship followed by three individual presentations.

After each presentation, tables were given the task to pray based on what was on their hearts, but also relating to the scriptures provided and bullet points given in the following categories of praise, repentance, and supplication.

The night began with a brief history of revival and prayer for God to do it again in a presentation given by Randy Hekman.

Bill Brownson shares a presentation during the City Fest Prayer Meeting held at Calvary Church on December 7, 2017. (Photo Courtesy Beth Stolicker)

The next presentation came from Dr. Bill Brownson, who has been praying for revival for the past 50 years. He urged attendees to pray the big prayers.

But first, Brownson encouraged people to ask for revival in their own hearts. And then, not to stop praying until God answers.

“When do we pray the huge prayers that are world changing?” Brownson urged from the stage. “Pray for the greatest awakening the USA has ever seen.”

The night came to a close with Duffy Johnson and Mary Sterenberg presenting prayers for West Michigan.

They again urged attendees to continue praying not just for revival, but also for the Church’s unity in West Michigan. And also for all hearts in the region to be prepared for the Gospel when it is shared next September with an entire city.

Join the Efforts

“From tonight, it’s my hope that people caught the vision to pray. That we can’t do this by ourselves, God must be with us, He must go before us,” Cornerstone University’s President, Joe Stowell commented.

A table prays together during the City Fest Prayer Meeting held at Calvary Church on December 7, 2017. (Photo Courtesy Beth Stolicker)

City Fest wants to revive West Michigan believers and awaken non-believers to the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, City Fest planners are hoping to get 10,000 people to commit to praying for revival in West Michigan.

“We’re calling on all the followers of Christ in West Michigan to get involved,” Stowell shares.

“They don’t even have to be necessarily a volunteer or go to meetings, but you can pray. That’s one thing all of us can do, even those who are shut-ins and those are aren’t mobile, at work at lunch, so we’re just calling everybody to join in this great prayer effort to support the festivals that are to come.”

Get Involved

With that said, to make City Fest West Michigan happen, it’s going to take a lot of Christians pitching in.

Dozens of people going together in prayer during the City Fest Prayer Meeting held at Calvary Church on December 7, 2017. (Photo Courtesy Beth Stolicker)

“We need hundreds of volunteers to make this a success,” Stowell explains. “So I would recommend you go to the website. On the website there all kinds of possibilities for you to get involved in committees, activities, and neighborhood works.”

And since City Fest planners are eager to have 10,000 people praying for revival, will you commit to prayer?

For now, start with praying for revival. Please also pray for the upcoming Pastors Prayer Summit, which will be taking place at Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference Center on January 15-16, 2018.

The summit is meant to be a time set aside for pastors to spend in God’s presence, in the spirit of unity, and for them to come together as one body in Christ. Pray for the spiritual encouragement of the pastors attending, the unity of the body of Christ, and for Christ’s continued work in West Michigan.

Learn more about City Fest West Michigan and how to get involved here!

To register for the Pastors Prayer Summit, click here!

“I think we look like that on the outside, but I think we’re over-churched and under-saved, if you want to be honest about it. You know, West Michigan has a lot of wealth here, but there’s a spiritual poverty.”

A number of Christians from the area are joining forces with the Luis Palau Association to address the spiritual poverty as well as other needs within the nearby communities.

(Image courtesy of CityFest West Michigan)

Next September, the Luis Palau Association will be holding a two-day festival in West Michigan with Luis and his son, Andrew. Over those two days known as CityFest, the message of Jesus Christ will be shared. But leading up to the festival, the churches and organizations involved will spend time connecting with the community. This part is called CityServe.

Stowell says the partnership will help to drive “the Body of Christ in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into the hearts and lives of so many who are yet waiting to hear Him, and also to bring the love of Christ into the neighborhoods that are broken and in desperate need of help.”

A unified Church is an effective one

Right now, they’re working on gathering the local Christians together. So far, over 150 churches and organizations have joined the movement. Yesterday morning, a group met to pray for the region, and for unity among the churches as this project goes forward. Unity is a key ingredient to effective community outreach.

(Photo courtesy of Beth Stolicker)

“We’re all so busy in our little corners of the Kingdom, we forget that maybe if we got together and did something as one, it could be amazing,” Stowell says.

A united network of churches not only allows for collaboration, but it helps the Church maintain awareness as to what is going on in the communities around them. The festival is set for September 8 and 9. Up to that point, they will be establishing relationships, aiding existing mission work, and building towards sustainable Gospel growth.

“We’ll actually be working with inner city ministries and empowering them and working with them to accelerate their work with the homeless, with the poor, with neighborhood needs, with tutoring, with children at risk,” Stowell says.

A unified Church gone global

But this story isn’t just about one city or even one nation. This is about seeing the Gospel transform the globe, city by city. The Luis Palau Association holds several festivals like this with the goal to equip the Church to continue sustainable outreach that meets community needs, both spiritual and physical. The organization describes it as a Gospel-centered, Church-driven, disciple-led, city-focused movement.

But what is the advantage of this approach when it comes to systematic issues that cause poverty and at-risk situations?

“I think we have to remember that the social theory and tax dollars and politics can’t do what Jesus can do,” Stowell says. When the Church acts as the hands and feet of Jesus, doing His work, it opens up conversations about the Gospel.

“So, then we can move from the physical needs into the spiritual needs.”

To learn more about these festivals and the intentional outreach and unity that comes with them, click here. You can even check out this list of upcoming events to see if there’s one taking place in your area.

Praying for transformation in Michigan

(Photo courtesy of Beth Stolicker)

In the meantime, we can be praying for these festivals as they take place throughout the year.

For West Michigan, specifically, Stowell says, “I think we need to pray that the hosts of heaven hold back the power of the enemy so that we can have, not necessarily clear sailing (because there’s never clear sailing), but that we can have the momentum of God without interference in getting this done.”

Be praying for the Body of Christ to be unified as they work to reach local communities. Pray for many hearts to receive the Gospel as they experience the love of Jesus.

Are you in the West Michigan area? This is a Church-wide effort, and so if you’re a local Christian or church interested in getting involved, sign up here.

Nearly 30,000 people crowded to Newcastle's Foreshore Park for CityFest, two days of live music, kids-friendly shows and activities. The Gospel was presented nightly by Palau. After speaking on Saturday, he said, "I have seldom felt the presence of God in a crowd like I felt tonight."

CityFest had many performances. Some of those performances included Australian Idol winner Stan Walker, Evermore, and Hillsong. There were stunt demonstrations and personal testimonies by extreme sports athletes.

By the end of the two-day weekend, several hundred people had placed their faith in Jesus Christ, according to response cards.

Several individuals who came to faith during one of Palau's previous events in Newcastle helped cast the vision for this year's model. Jenny Allen, Dean of Students at the University of Newcastle and chair of counselor training for CityFest, said her role has everything to do with the decision she made in 1979 at a Palau event. "My hope and dream for this festival is that in 33 years, someone could be sitting here filming somebody else who remembers the 17th of November the same way we remember '79," she said in a video interview. Allen hopes "that they sit here because of the moment in time when they were confronted with the reality of Jesus."

Andrew Cole, pastor at New Vine Baptist Church, oversaw the festival's Kids Zone. Andrew accepted Christ as a teenager during a Palau crusade in 1982. "I was a messy, 18-year-old, beer-swilling, rugby-playing young person. When I heard Luis speak, that got my attention," he said. "It's been such a wonderful thing for me to contribute to this festival, knowing that 30 years ago a whole bunch of people gave me the opportunity to hear."

The two-day festival was the culmination of an entire season of ministry. There were 16 evangelistic events for students, military personnel, civic leaders, and business professionals. It also included a time of training and mentorship for more than 50 Australian evangelists.

"This campaign built on a foundation laid 30 years ago and set the tone for the future. Whatever God's doing in Newcastle, CityFest was not the end, but the beginning," Festival Director Colin James said. The Palau team is currently working with local churches to follow up with each new believer and connect them with a church in their area.

Along with the fall of Communism came the fall of state-imposed atheism, although that left generations who had never been introduced to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Last week, local churches and evangelist Luis Palau changed all that. Together, they collaborated to proclaim the Gospel through an event called TiranaFest to more than 20,000 people at Tirana's Mother Teresa Square.

From September 22-23, the square was packed with 3,500 festival participants enjoying live music; an extraordinary stunt show by skate, BMX, and motocross athletes; a program just for kids; and clear presentations of the Good News by Luis Palau and partner evangelists.

The excitement generated its own publicity. Interest swept throughout the cit,y and the nation's top three TV networks carried the story for several days. "This was totally different…something that has never happened in Tirana," Pastor Paulin Vilajeti of Albania Christian Center said. "Because people were attracted by different events, I believe and I hope that God touched different generation–from children to the older people."

Christian speaker and BMX pro Vic Murphy also shared the Gospel at each stunt show and Reverend James T. Meeks leading the Salem Baptist Choir in astounding praise music.

Local church leaders acknowledged the campaign as one of the largest faith gatherings – and the largest movement of churches – Albania has ever seen. TiranaFest offered them a unique opportunity to spread the message of Jesus across the public sphere, timed to coincide with the nation's 100-year anniversary of independence.

At the end, 2,300 people made decisions for Christ, and will be mentored in their new faith by the local church and believers. "I think it's historic," Toni Gogu, an attorney and chair of TiranaFest's organizing committee, said. "For the first time, we have had the elites of Albanian society – the business community, the political community – being addressed in such a genuine way with the Good News of salvation."

Days before the festival, Luis met and prayed with government and faith leaders, including the
archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and Tirana's mayor, Lulzim Basha. The latter attended the
festival Saturday and offered his welcome and support for TiranaFest from the main stage.

Pray that the new believers would get grounded in their faith. Pray that those who did not make a decision during TiranaFest would continue to think about what they've heard. Ask God for more Gospel opportunities.

You get the Luis Palau Sacramento Festival which is headed to Cal Expo Grounds in Sacramento, California this Saturday and Sunday, June 16-17.

This free, family-friendly celebration is just one of a series of Luis Palau Festivals that have drawn more than 8 million people around the world since 1999.

“Our whole battle cry this last year really has been that all of Sacramento hears the voice of God,” says Levi Park with the Luis Palau Evangelical Association.

Activities are scheduled from 3:30-10 PM daily with The Amazing Wonders Family Experience show for kids Saturday at 1:30 PM.

Expanding on a community service component has long been a part of Palau festivals. The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival has been collaborating with Sacramento-area service agencies and churches since January under the banner of Season of Service.

The objective for Season of Service has been to provide volunteers and resources for projects that address homelessness, hunger, families in need, schools, health and wellness, and neighborhood revitalization. More than 20,000 volunteers with 436 churches have served in over 200 Season of Service projects leading up to the festival.

Already, they’ve seen the impact Season of Service has had on Sacramento. Park shares one case: “Ten churches came together and approached a [middle] school and said, ‘Hey, we want to be a blessing to the schools in our neighborhood… They did a two-weekend project. Afterward, the principal was just in tears saying, ‘I can’t believe the impact this had on our school here and in our community.’”

The 2012 festival schedule includes Haiti, Jamaica, Paraguay, Australia, Albania, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The Sacramento Festival will be the only Palau festival in the U.S. this year.

The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival will showcase some of the top artists in contemporary Christian and gospel music, including TobyMac, Mandisa, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Lincoln Brewster, Phil Wickham, and more.

The Action Sports Area will feature top skateboarding, freestyle motocross, and BMX athletes. The Amazing Wonders Family Experience will offer live entertainment, inflatables, sports and games, and a NASCAR exhibit.

Anyone not able to go to Sacramento for the festival can watch streams of the events by going to www.sacramentofestival.com.

The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival will also have a prison ministry component, with its own mini-festivals in the local prisons. Andrew Palau, son of Luis Palau, will be presenting the Gospel message to inmates there.

“As Sacramento goes, so goes California. As California goes, so goes the country,” Park says. “We want to see revival; we want to see God move in a special way.” Please pray for the message of Christ to impact many lives in Sacramento.

For more information about the Luis Palau Sacramento Festival and Season of Service, click here.

"Fun in the Son" with Andrew Palau,
a now annual campaign in the Caribbean region, expands its reach to
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for the very first time this March 24-31. The goal is to bring encouragement, unity,
and hope by proclaiming the message of Christ in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

700 local churches
are collaborating with the Palau team. In
the days leading up to the festival, mission teams from the U.S. will staff
medical clinics, conduct eye glass clinics, and perform evangelistic outreaches
to schools, orphanages, tent cities, and more.

The last day of the
festivities will include music,
food, freestyle motocross stunts, and a poignant presentation of the Gospel by
Andrew Palau. This outreach will both celebrate and spur on the long-term movement to change
lives in need of hope.

The
festival is sponsored by Haiti Broilers, a company with visionary
Christian leadership founded in Jamaica. Previous Fun in the Son Festivals in Jamaica
have attracted crowds of more than 60,000 people each year.

In
the past two years, the Group has established a presence in that Caribbean
country and has been engaged in the rebuilding of that island's business community,
following the devastation caused by earthquake in 2010.

From
tent cities to mayors' offices, this festival has the opportunity to make a
lasting impact on a nation still reeling from devastation. Please join the Luis
Palau team in prayer for the Church in Haiti, the 1,500 trained counselors who
will pray and speak with decision-makers, and the many who will hear the Good
News during this campaign.

Here's
a rundown of what a Fun in the Son festival will look like in Haiti:

Action Sports:  World class action sport demos
help make Fun in the Son Haiti the biggest free show of the year. BMX stunt
teams will perform throughout the day and freestyle motocross athletes will
soar several stories above the crowd. These fearless young athletes
will share their faith with the crowd, and many will come to faith in Christ
when the invitation is given.

Children's Village:  Children from the Port-au-Prince area will flood into a special area filled with fun activities of all
kinds, designed just for kids: face painting, inflatable toys, organized
games and much more. Hundreds of volunteers from local churches are
preparing to minister to thousands of Haitian children. Not only will
they have a great time, but the Gospel will be shared throughout the day in many
ways, including a presentation from the children's stage. Local
choirs and dance teams will work with a gifted children's evangelist to
share Christ with all who attend.

Gospel Concerts:  Following the activities in
the Children's Village and the Action Sports Park, the attention will shift to
the main stage. Top musical artists from the U.S., Haiti, and around the
Caribbean will converge on Port-au-Prince to share their music with the crowd
that assembles that day. A wide range of music from contemporary
worship, to Kompa (a popular form of Haitian music), to hip hop will convey the
message of Christ.

Gospel Message:  In the middle of the great
concerts, Andrew Palau will step to the microphone and share the transforming
message of Christ's love with the crowd, inviting them to respond by placing
their faith in Christ. Thousands of Haitian believers, trained by the
Palau team, are prepared to pray with these precious people and connect them
with local churches so the discipleship process can begin.

Missions Teams:  Does your church send out
short-term missions teams? Join Andrew Palau in Haiti where the effectiveness
of festival evangelism unites with outreach and compassion efforts of church
ministry teams from around the USA. For more information or to register
your interest, go to Haiti Teams

It
speaks to the influence of a mother through her children. If that mother is a godly woman, the
influence will be godly. What if God
were to call an army of wives, sisters, and mothers to engage in intense,
purposeful prayer?

Seven
years ago, Solid Rock, one of Portland, Oregon's largest churches, hosted a
group of women to hold vigil before the Lord all night.

They
brought hope for people they love who need Jesus, messy relationships they
cannot fix, co-workers who are cold to the Gospel, teenagers taking terrible
risks, with a great burden to see hearts rescued by the Redeemer.

The
idea caught on, and more and more venues began opening up to accommodate the
participants who prayed through a theme simultaneously.    

Last
February, 110 women met at the Luis Palau Association headquarters to pray all
night long. "The night was a rare experience–intense, intimate, and
powerful," said Wendy Palau, who planned the event at LPA. "The time
spent with our Lord revitalized my life in a way few events can."

It
was so well received that LPA is hosting its second annual Women's Night in
Prayer on February 24-25 at their facilities in Beaverton, Oregon. The Palau team hopes to maximize the power of
prayer by providing new resources and extending the impact of intercessory
prayer in 2012.

"Prayer
is an integral part of everything we do–from festivals to staff meetings,"
said LPA President Kevin Palau. "We're entering our busiest season of
ministry yet, and we know that we need to consult and petition the Lord for His
guidance and blessing in everything we do. That's what this initiative is
about."

Alongside
several Portland-area churches, plans are underway for a satellite prayer event
in Sacramento, CA, where the Palau team will host a festival this June.
Churches in Haiti, Jamaica, Australia, and more will also be mobilized to pray
on the night of the event and beyond.

As
the event draws closer, there will be more links and tools for participants to
access which will enable people across the country to participate.

It was
all a part of a four-day
marathon of Night Talk, put on by evangelist Luis Palau and Spanish television network Enlace. The hour-long
live Q-and-A program took calls from Spanish speakers in Latin America, Australia,
Europe, and the United States, and gave them biblical guidance on matters of
faith.

Throughout
the four days, Palau underlined the relevance and power of prayer and Scripture
in any situation. Despite the sometimes heavy and even difficult topics
introduced, Palau's responses kept to the fundamentals of spiritual well-being: salvation,
prayer, and Scripture.

Palau
described the vision behind the outreach as very simple. He said, "It's just me, a telephone,
and a Bible."

As
people from around the world called in, the Gospel message was told over and
over again. The Luis Palau Association notes that Palau quoted Psalm 107 to one
caller from Puerto Rico, telling her that the Lord could "bring her out of
darkness and take away her chains." The woman prayed to receive Christ on the
air.

"You
could really feel it in the studio," Palau said of the broadcasts. He spoke of "the
intensity of the spiritual battle that goes on…people giving their lives to
Christ or learning how to resist Satan and his temptations. It's a very
powerful time."

The
Continente 2011 program went out through online streaming, social media, radio,
and live Web components, thus reaching millions of people. The live event was
broadcast on 5,070 TV stations and a score of radio stations worldwide.

In the
wake of the broadcasts, hundreds of partner churches are helping to connect new
believers to a church in their area and to follow up with each caller. Pray for
these follow-up efforts as people really begin to dig into the teachings they
heard last week.

To learn
more about Luis Palau and his ongoing international ministry, visit palau.org.  

"This
is a rare opportunity," says Palau. "It's not often that the Lord
gives us the chance to reach an entire continent with the clear message of
Jesus Christ through live television." For the second year in a row, their team is praying that millions will tune in as Palau
presents the Spanish-speaking world with the Gospel.

In partnership
with Spanish television network Enlace, the Palau Association will produce four
nights of Night Talk, a live Q-and-A program featuring Luis Palau.  Beginning Monday night, the program will run
through Thursday night, allowing callers from 26 countries to ask tough
questions and get Biblical answers and guidance from a team of trained
counselors and Palau.

During each
broadcast, Luis will take the opportunity to present a clear and simple message
sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This is a
multi-media saturation evangelism event with
the goal of reaching at least five million people with the Gospel. There are over 5000 partnering
TV stations airing the program live and repeating broadcasts of the program.

It will also stream
at www.luispalau.net
and be broadcast on several Spanish-language radio stations in Latin America
and across the United States.

This is where the
pre-planning will be effective. Partnering
with nearly 700 churches and having online resources will allow teams to have personal
contact as they follow-up with new believers and get them plugged into a local
church. They'll also be able to provide copies
of the New Testament in Spanish.

Continente 2011 represents an exciting opportunity to bring encouragement, hope, training, and salvation to the entire Spanish-speaking
world. Please be praying for this outreach and for hearts to be open to the hope of Christ.