The strategic favor of our time slot, right before the mayor’s throwing of the switch and tree lighting ceremony, provided maximum impact of the clear proclamation that JESUS IS THE REASON not only for the season but absolutely everything! The Pop Shop’s classy production included many traditional Christmas songs celebrating the birth of our savior, while Evoke artists Jerryl Kain & Neysa Millan Santiago did live paintings of Jesus and the nativity.

Above: The Pop Shop hypes the crowd!

Evoke artist Jerryl Kain live painting abstract Jesus.

Evoke artist Neysa Millan Santiago painting her vibrant nativity during one of the Pop Shop numbers.

Above: The crowd numbered in a few thousand. Our prayer was many backslidden and stray hearts would once again return to the heavenly father as the true Christmas story is retold.

Below: One of the Pop Shop numbers included a skit of a troubled man receiving the infant savior as his hope and strength.

As the fireworks lit up the sky and mega watts illuminated trees and decorations I was reminded of Jesus, our true light who reminded us; that WE are the light of the world! There is no such thing as darkness. You cannot turn up or down the darkness in a room. Darkness is merely the absence of light. The darkness in our neighborhoods, cities and regions is due to the fact that the church is just not shining. Lets commit ourselves a fresh to being bold witnesses of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and brightening our region with His love this coming year. The world is waiting.

]]> http://www.evokeministries.org/light-up-the-holidays/feed/ 1 http://www.evokeministries.org/biblical-poets-diverse-word/ http://www.evokeministries.org/biblical-poets-diverse-word/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:46:07 +0000 administrator http://www.evokeministries.org/?p=2647

A very unsuspecting, unique form of ministry is taking place every week at Dandelion Communitea Cafe. At a place where the food is as unique as its patrons, Dandelion plays host to Di-Verse Word; an open mic poetry night hosted by wordsmith & Christ follower Shawn Welcome. Shawn does an amazing job bringing words of life to a culture that is often hostile to the Christian worldview.

Not only has he been consistent to his Di-Verse congregation, having the longest running weekly poetry night in Orlando, but Shawn also won Orlando’s Poet of The Year in 2011. He is truly GOING into the world and sharing the Gospel, submersed in this culture, in it but not of it, as a shining star for Jesus. If we are to see our city and it’s culture changed, we must be in it, among them, proclaiming Christ’s life, Christ’s love, expending time and energy and resources, inconveniencing ourselves to care enough to GO and bring understanding to the darkness.

Not only is Shawn a beacon of light to the dark but his bold confession and no-compromise walk emboldens others to stand firm in their witness inside the public arena. Di-Verse has become somewhat of a safe place for up and coming poets in the church to sharpen their poetic, evangelistic skills.

Evoke Ministries is proud to sponsor Shawn Welcome as a local, creative missionary . He is worthy of the support of the body of Christ. Thank you for your generous giving to Evoke which enables us to help worthy witnesses reach out to their regions with God’s power and love.

See more of Shawn at www.shawnwelcome.com

Evoke Ministries continued pounding the UCF campus with the proclamation of Jesus’ great love for his people, on October 11th, 2011. We continue our partnership with CHI Alpha student ministries in reaching this massive campus for Jesus. As usual, we took command of the student union patio, sharing testimonies, preaching, dancing, praying one on one, using poetry, art & DJs to assist in this love assault!

ABOVE: Natanael “Swiper” gets down on the floor showing off his skills for Jesus. Many students took note when he stopped dancing and shared his testimony about his previous violent lifestyle that landed him in prison on a life sentence. But after giving his life to Jesus a miraculous intervention occurred and he was released and now lives a righteous lifestyle unto the Lord.

BELOW: Madie of Chi Alpha boldly sings praises to her God!

Praying one on one is so vital to our time on campus. It’s in these moments that many experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Each time we are out on campus we experience different types of resistance and persecution. This time it was the gays who took offense to Antonio sharing his testimony about deliverance from the gay lifestyle, when he called himself “dysfunctional”. He brilliantly diffused a hostile situation as he spoke with the group in the humility and love of Jesus.

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and we believe that he still does the same today. We seek them out and He saves them. Thank you for your continued prayers and support of this ministry as we contend for the salvation of our generation.

Over 1500 pieces of devotional art testified of a group of people who walk with the living God!

On August 18th through September 8th Evoke Ministries installed a display of artwork in downtown Orlando for a city-wide outreach that testified of the reality and power of Jesus Christ! The Event was hosted by one of the biggest galleries in downtown Orlando, The City Arts Factory. Our prayer was that the reality of Jesus Christ in the lives of men and women would be overwhelming!

Hundreds gathered in downtown Orlando to hear, see and experience the living JESUS! We were excited to share our testimonies with many who are not regular church goers but came out to the art show! We are praising God for all those whose lives were impacted throughout this journey!

Many thanks to all those who loved, prayed, and supported us throughout this project! It continues to have life-changing effects!

An Atheist’s Encounter

In the days previous to the opening, during setup and installation, the Holy Spirit was already touching lives. Two women visiting Orlando from Italy wandered into the gallery and began surveying the artwork. Antonio (one of Evoke artists) began sharing with them the meaning behind the artwork, to which one of them declared, “I am an atheist”.  Antonio being a former atheist began to show her one of his art blocks that was about his encounter with Jesus. By the time their conversation was over she had prayed with Antonio for Jesus to be real in her life! She was moved to tears and they left different than how they had arrived. It was a wonderful foretaste of the event to come.

EVOKE365

The 365 project began on July 1st, 2010 and recently came to a close on June 30th, 2011. The purpose of the endeavor was multifaceted; to produce works of art and multiple interactive art shows that engage the community in discussions of faith and the living God; To show the visual journey a year has on creativity, commitment, the Spiritual walk, to strengthen artists within the community of believers to be bold in their creativity and confession of faith.The project was 10 artists of various skill levels, committing to create 1 painting, every day for 1 year. As the year progressed we found many ways to engage with our surrounding communities.

BELOW: UCF OUTREACH

Susan Crary of Evoke365 engaging with students at the University of Central Florida hosted by Chi Alpha. Setting the paintings up at college campuses has become a great way for us to start dialogues with the students. Many times we get to share the love message of the gospel and our own personal testimony of the work of Jesus Christ in our lives. Many encounters end in prayer. Glory to God!

BELOW: INNER CITY

The 365 team participated in an event put on by Resound Mission Base to share the love of Christ in west Orlando to endangered youth. The wooden blocks were a wonderful way to engage with the kids. Everyone was able to participate in the group picture as well. It’s amazing the doors that will open to those who keep a burning heart, a prayerful attitude and have a few simple tools to engage.

BELOW: Fall Fiesta in the Park!

The 365 team had a booth space at this city-wide event. Our purpose was to bring the life of Jesus and a demonstration of the Gospel to a mostly non-spiritual environment. See more at http://www.evokeministries.org/365/evoke-365-at-fall-fiesta/

BELOW: EVANGELISTIC ART BLOCKS

One of our favorite things to do with the blocks is to head out to malls, parks and public places and give them away! We simple bless someone with the painting and then explain it’s meaning to them. It is a fresh and simple way for any artist to be a witness!

Our goal in all our creative endeavors is always to proclaim the wonderful greatness of the heavenly father’s love and the amazing saving power of Jesus Christ!

We got a chance to share the great news of the life-changing power of the gospel to Muslims, Atheists, & backsliden Christian college students last monday on the campus of University of Central Florida (UCF), the 3rd largest campus in the USA! In our usual fashion we ‘preached the gospel & prayed for the sick‘ through music, dance, art and one on one.

The Soul Movement rocks the student union

During a personal encounter, one guy surrendered his life to JESUS. He tossed down his smoke and handed over his box of cigarettes and lighter to us. He said, “take these, I don’t need them.” We talked to him about the Holy Spirit and he received the infilling right there in the midst of passing peers on the bridge to the food court. As he described the power that he felt on him he said, “I have been waiting for something like this!” We gave him a Bible and are looking forward to connecting with him further to aid him in his new found relationship with JESUS.

Praying for the sick.

We prayed for one guy who had a chest cold and he felt the power of God go into his chest immediately. To God be the Glory!

The Evoke and Chi Alpha teams shared testimonies through dance, song, poetry and preaching from the patio stage for 2 hours, while 50+ others shared and prayed 1 on 1 throughout the entire campus. Follow-up is done by directing the students to CHi Alpha student ministries who have services and small group Bible studies right on campus.

Using art to minister the word of truth is a favorite method of ours. The painting blocks easily gave us the opportunity to speak with the students, many of which were unbelievers. We talked with agnostics, anti-theists, atheists, & many people who simply don’t know who or what to believe. We were able to share with students different aspects of our walk with the Lord through the paintings, and we prayed with many of them.

We also passed out blank blocks to enthusiastic artists that were believers and charged them to creatively evangelize by painting and giving it away. They went away practically skipping as they had a mission, an assignment, to challenge them creatively and spiritually. The art squares bring out artist-evangelists that were dormant until the Evoke365 catalyst inspires them!

Taking about the deity of Jesus Christ with the Muslim group on campus.

Lito sharing about his passion to dance unto the Lord ‘as David danced’.

DJ Guardian proclaims the Gospel by way of vinyl!

As I shared my testimony from atheist to believer, and the encounter & vision I had of Jesus Christ, a guy ran up to me in amazement and began to ask me questions about it. After answering him on the mic so all could hear, we sat together and I shared God’s love plan for him in Jesus Christ. He was very open as we prayed together for Jesus to become real in his life. People are so hungry for real encounters!

We are working with ministries to bring the EVOKE team to two other Florida Schools ranking in the top 10 of most populated in the USA; University of Florida in Gainesville and University of South Florida in Tampa.

Please help us to continue to bring this unique creative outreach and the power of God to college campuses throughout our nation!

SUPPORT THIS MINISTRY – MAKE A DONATION

KEEP UP WITH EVOKE EVENTS – JOIN THE MAILING LIST

The Evoke team participated in Orlando’s Fall Fiesta in the Park, a semi-annual art show that fills Lake Eola Park with thousands of people. The park and barricaded surrounding streets are filled with tents full of artwork, food venders, businesses and all types of fun activities. Evoke “365″ rented a booth space displaying hundreds of art pieces as part of a year long project. Our purpose was to bring the life of Jesus and a demonstration of the Gospel to a mostly non-spiritual environment.

The ‘art blocks’ as we call them, are part of a daily ‘visual devotion’ having mostly stories and messages about the artists personal walk with Jesus Christ. We had a chance to share with many people our personal testimonies and different stories behind the artwork about the reality of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Evoke also partnered with Arrow Ministries who had a booth right next to us. They offered Prayer, Dream Interpretation and Prophetic Words. Many people stopped by their tent, hungry for the supernatural and a real encounter with God. Some were encouraged, some were amazed, some rededicated their hearts to Jesus, and some found faith for the very first time. People are hungry for something real; and when people are hungry Jesus shows up. Evoke also had one hour on the amphitheater stage. Poet Shawn Welcome shared his inspirational poetry spitting Christ in every breath. (FB/Shawn Welcome)

Not only did we share and pray with people from the booth, but our team, headed by Eric Gilmour of Agony Press, walked the park praying for the sick and preaching the Gospel. Some were healed, some were saved and some were very offended. We praise God for those who’s lives were forever changed and pray the others will soon encounter the real love of Jesus Christ.

The Soul Movement break-dancers also took the stage entertaining the crowd with their energetic, uplifting performance. Look for their next event, “Full Blown Soul 2″ this April 2011.

We are the salt and light of the world, not the salt of the church. Salt does not add flavor to the food as long it is kept in the shakers. We MUST get out and about, sprinkling life on all those who need it and are walking in darkness. We will continue to be present at festivals, events and street corners to proclaim, and demonstrate, the saving power of Jesus Christ to our generation until they have all come in. Thanks to all those who participated and supported this ministry.

Last Monday, Oct 11th, Evoke Ministries teamed up with Chi Alpha student ministries, making the Lord’s appeal at the University of Central Florida! (UCF). We mobilized over 50 power-filled believers to reach out to the campus of 50,000+ students to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ! We preached Jesus! The mediator, reconciler, and lover of men’s souls, by way of DJ, break dancers, rappers, singers, visual artists and one-on-one evangelism.

Many students were drawn to our visual arts table displaying project ‘365′ (see www.evokeministries.org/365) It was a great tool to engage students with. We had many great conversations and prayed with a bunch of them right at the table. Many students filled out contact forms for more info about the project. We will follow-up and continue to share the grace of Jesus with them.

above: Antonio Miguel Santos does live painting

Many of our teams spent most of their time engaging one-on-one while others proclaimed from the patio platform. We found that a lot of the students are willing to open up and share their honest views and beliefs when we come in the spirit of love. Since many of us have been rescued and set free from backgrounds of drugs & alcohol addiction, immoral behavior, homosexual lifestyle, gang violence and many other issues, it comes easy to share about the love and transforming power of the cross of Christ. We spent time “compelling them to come to Jesus”.

above: Melvin from as Iron Sharpens Iron shares the truth

above: Resound Ministries doing one-on-one

above: Eric Gilmour of Agony Press preaches the Gospel

above & below: Soul Movement breakers draw a crowd

By way of our gifts and talents, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we blitzed the campus with the message of Christ with love and compassion for over 2 hours to hundreds of students. All Glory to Jesus! Special thanks to all those who co-labored with us; “as Iron Sharpens Iron”, “Resound Ministries” and “Agony Press”. For God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation (2 corinth 5:17-19) and we will keep at it until ALL have come to the knowledge of the truth.

Thank you to all of those who support us through prayer, finances, co-labor and encouragement!

365 is a group of artists of various skill levels, committed to create 1 painting, every day for 1 year. The purpose of the endeavor is multifaceted.

• To produce works of art and multiple interactive art shows that engage the community in discussions of faith and the living God
• To show the visual journey a year has on creativity, commitment, the Spiritual walk, and relationships
• To strengthen artists within the community of believers to be bold in their creativity and confession of faith
• Establish a new outlook on Christian modern art through its commonality of organic visual honesty while trusting God throughout the journey of the project.

We are hosting mini art shows monthly to engage the community in the review of the creative pieces and discussions about processes and the spiritual inspiration of the work. Our prayer is that Christ be preached through imagery and conversations and that creative believers will begin to boldly engage with this culture through the language of their creative disciplines.

You can follow the progress at www.EvokeMinistries.org/365

Wow! What an amazing time we all had being in the middle of a huge surf festival, sharing the love of God!

With God’s favor, through our friends at Life Visual, we were invited to set up our own platform and a large tent area as part of the annual Ron Jon Surf Festival!

There were thousands of people, from all over, swarming the beach for the surf event, spring break, and the shuttle launch. We shared the gospel with hundreds and hundreds and prayed with countless numbers for salvation and re-dedication! Praise to God for what he has done!

At the Evoke tent area we created lots of ways to interact and get into people lives. Our goal from the tent was one-one discussions about people’s spiritual life. We even had a survey we created to rate your spiritual journey. It worked real well to get people discussing their life and beliefs in what would usually be a laid back, party-like atmosphere. We had so many great conversations and prayed with tons of people wanting to get their lives reconnected to the heavenly father! I’m convinced that many people are so ready to live a life in Christ, they just haven’t really seen enough genuine believers walking it out.

We offered free caricatures all day with a friend of ours from Disney. She had a line all day! While people were waiting we had plenty of time to have discussions, share the gospel, and pray.

We had live art and graffiti to watch, and tons and tons of free giveaways. We gave out hundreds of testimony flyers, booklets, hip hop CDs, Jesus DVDs, bibles, and thanks to our friends at Possibility Pictures, who donated lots of gear from their upcoming movie release “Letters to God”.

Breaker dancers, drummers, live bands all took the platform and brought an entertaining performance for an eager crowd, and ALL boldly testified about the power of the gospel in their own personal lives.

(above) Matt and Kevin – drummers from The Holy Land Experience

(above) Solos Crew

(above left) Fabion of South Royalty   (above right) DJs Guardian & Sam Wize

(above) Deraj and Stria

(above) Austin Biel

Before I even finished sharing part of my testimony as a former atheist, two guys came to the platform saying they needed to hear more. We took time, sat together and listened to them share about their life experiences and doubts about the living God. We shared with them the reality of our relationships with God and Jesus Christ and assured them that this day, their loving Father was pursuing them. We got a chance to pray with them, that their eyes would be open to the reality of Jesus Christ and their need for a savior.

We continued to hang out and minister into the night. At 9pm our partners at Life Visual showed an evangelistic surf film on their 30ft x 30 ft inflatable screen! Many came out and sat on the beach, while others sat and watched from the local bars on the pier. In was really an incredible day bringing the Easter message to hundreds who really need it. May we all continue to be about the agenda of Jesus; seeking and saving the lost.

Thank you so very much to all those who supported and participated this outreach. Special thanks to 4zero7 Creative Group, Possibility Pictures and Barachel Bike and Skate.

]]> http://www.evokeministries.org/easterbeachoutreach/feed/ 2