This year has been a life changing experience, at the beginning of the year I had a lot of preconceived ideas already of what to expect out of my internship. After a few months I knew for sure that I knew nothing about youth ministry until I started internship. So being put to hard work and taking on some big responsibilities, I learned a lot of the fundamentals of leadership and even servant hood. God has literally put me into a place to receive all that I can from Pastors Allen and Kristin and see a whole new light on student ministries. Even in my relationship with the Lord, I have been taken to a new level and it’s not even over yet! My love walk has been provoked so many times by people that I literally have to walk in love every day. (Thanks Howard) Anyways, as I reflect back on the year I realize that you definitely have to know you’re called to youth ministry or else it just won’t go well.

Also throughout the year I really got to see the behind the scenes of the lives of Pastors Rodney and Adonica and I know that they are the most legit and tender-hearted people I know. And I thank them for all the sacrifices they have made for us.  It’s truly an honor to be an intern under their ministry. And really money can’t buy the experiences that you will receive from this internship.

–Xan

This power is to become a witness so others can be transformed. We are seeing neighborhoods totally shaken for Jesus. The Word has taken root for souls and eternity, so when I see someone, I always wonder where that person will spend eternity?

Also, in the area of finances I can see a big change as the Word is going forth and my spirit grabs the principles being taught. My wife and I were sitting in a meeting at The River Church, and we felt to get out of debt after hearing the Word that day. As we continued to declare the Word of God out of our mouths, and trust His Word, we continued to see the hand of the Lord eliminate our debts. Today we are totally debt free.

I cannot emphasize how blessed I am to be a part of this ministry; It’s a privilege and an honor.

–Jayson

I not only have my grandmother’s name to uphold and honor but above all names I am an ambassador that represents the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I never knew before such anointing of the Holy Spirit as I have experienced this past few months here at the River Church.  Everywhere I go, I feel the Holy Spirit leading me to lead others to Jesus Christ. God is bigger than anything I face…. For instance, just a couple of weeks ago I had forgotten my brand new $500.00 cell phone at the gas pump and drove off without it. I immediately told the Lord that it is not my cell phone, but I was only a servant over it, as it is God’s property which I mainly use it for Bible school. After about 4 1/2 hrs later, I realized where I had forgotten my cell phone.

–Betty

My wife and came here from Finland to spend a second year at RBI.  During the first year we didn’t have much. We shared an apartment with two other students and we usually walked to school. That was four years ago. This time God has blessed us more than enough!!! Before we came from Finland, we agreed to switch cars with two Finnish River members, who went to Finland to minister for 9 months. Then a friend of ours received us to her home until we can find a permanent solution. After one week I got a part-time position at the IT department of RMI, which made it possible for us to live in our own apartment this time!

We are so grateful for that! Then when we talked with some friends of ours, they told us that they are starting a traveling ministry and that they are selling all their furniture! So now we’ve got all the furniture we need also! God is so good 🙂 We are so thankful to God that we can be part of a church that is full of the fire of God and whose focus is souls! There are not many that kind of churches in Finland at the moment. Here we can both receive from God and serve Him, and be part of the Great Awakening! This is really an oasis for us!! We feel that God called us here to get refreshed, get full of the word and the fire of God and then be launched to our destiny…..

Coming back to Bible school has been a great blessing to me.  It’s almost difficult to list the changes that have taken place. I do remember feeling awkward the first two days of school.  Many doubts and many fears, I had longed to come back, but now that I was back, I wasn’t sure I wanted it!  The revelation of change that needed to take place within my heart (again) was overwhelming initially. Now, however, I welcome it. The feeling of a bigger purpose is back in my life. And this school is exactly what my life needs: discipline and the anointing.  It’s also a good feeling to know I’m going to complete what I started.

When I was unable to continue in the internship 1 1/2 years ago, the attack that came against my thought life was intense. “Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick…” (Proverbs 13:12). The greatest message ever preached contained three words: “Never give up!”  I know at times I go the long way around life, but God proves Himself to be faithful when I don’t give up.  “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” (Isaiah 40:31a). “Now faith is…” (Hebrews 11:!).  Faith is now.  Faith is today.  It is hope activated.

Being back in Bible school has caused hope to rise up in me again with a determination to run the race the Lord has set before me. The entangling of sin in one’s life truly is clever and deceitful.  It simply takes what’s right in your life and subtly adds a little extra weight here, and a little weight there.  You don’t recognize the added “burden” in your life until symptoms appear. I thank God for this opportunity to be here.  In these short few weeks, clarity of mind is back, weights are gone, and the crooked path has been made straight….

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

I first applied for RBI in 2009. I was accepted however it was not yet God’s timing. I was very disappointed because I really wanted to attend school.

Two years later I am a student of RBI. I consider it a privilege to be a student during this Historic time of the Great Awakening that is taking place.

God is doing a deep work in my heart. The Fire of God is destroying yokes of bondage off my life. I feel lighter and freer.

God has given me more boldness to be a witness for Him and is using me to lead people to Jesus.

God is providing for me. He has blessed me with a laptop, clothes, and $120.00 from  unexpected sources. This has increased my faith.

God is giving me a deeper passion for those who need Jesus and is helping me see other people and myself through His eyes.

God has blessed me with peace, joy, and inner healing.

Every time I get prayed for the fire and touch of God gets stronger and is more intense. One night after getting prayed for I got up off the floor and had to be helped to the car. When I arrived home I had to be helped to my apartment because I could hardly walk I was so intoxicated on new wine. To the natural eye it would have appeared I was drunk on alcohol.

I could not speak in English I could only speak in tongues. I spoke in tongues all night until I fell asleep.

Since being here I feel like I am doing something worthwhile with my life and making an Eternal difference.

I am growing up spiritually. God is restoring me.

Rodney Howard Browne – Now I know why RBI in 2009 was not in God’s timing…..Deborah L.

During the three weeks of revival meetings at the River, God rearranged many things in my heart. The very first meeting on Monday morning, God told me that I needed to tell my family what I went through during my preteen years. I’ve never told them how I used to be very depressed and how I hated my life. Many times I would cry at night thinking how I wanted to kill myself. At another morning service, I got in line to get prayed for. I fell under the power of God, and about an hour later I got up. During that hour on the floor, God’s power was rushing all over me. God told me that he was healing my heart. He told me that it wasn’t my fault. That I was an innocent victim of the devil’s schemes.

Many times I blamed myself for what happened. But God completely healed me. I was able to tell my family all about it, and I can already see that God is doing a work in our family. God has also been confirming many of the dreams that I have held in my heart for many years. Now I know that I know that I will be used in China to reach out to the girls who are in the brothels and stuck in the sex trafficking industry. One night after I got prayed for, I was laughing on the floor and then all of a sudden I started speaking in a new language.

If I had to describe the last three weeks of my life I would have to say freedom and breakthrough. The first week of RBI was amazing and very challenging at the same time. My body was physically pushed to its limit but my spirit was really pressing in to the presence of the Lord.  Every single morning and afternoon was filled with landmark moments and encounters with precious Holy Spirit. The Lord dealt with me head on with some very serious and important areas of my life. I could literally feel the bondage of past hurts being lifted daily.

Our Father used every single pastor on staff to speak to me personally during every day of orientation. Reverend Puder ministered to my heart dearly, especially when describing his first thoughts about the gospel soul winning script. I had a very similar attitude myself and had prayed very hard for the Lord to give me peace and direction about it. Obedience and submission have been major themes of mine throughout this whole process. Priceless teachings and messages of honor and purity have forever pierced my heart and changed me radically. Just simply being in this atmosphere of the anointing alone has brought deliverance, healing, and restoration to my soul. I am forever changed and free of so much junk that was really hindering my walk. For this I am eternally grateful and thankful that the Lord has placed me here.

I came down here in the beginning of June to Tampa, Florida. I was at a point in life where I wanted a new beginning for myself. I was tired of seeing my school, church, friends, family and my own life fall apart with no hope that it will come together ever again. I got to the point where I did want to come in front of God repenting for my sins because I knew I sinned and think why would He ever forgive me. When Revival Week started for RBI, I never would have thought that God would radically change my life in one single week.

Every day the power of God would touch me and I would be stuck on the floor for a good while laughing. Then one night on a Thursday night service, I came up for a alter call for boldness and I was smacked to the floor by the power of God. God was taking out so many things out and dealing with so many things on my heart that I was weeping from every thing that ever hurt me, everything that I was ashamed of who I was. God dealt with so much in my heart that I was walking around the next day wondering who I was. I couldn’t remember the person I use to be. I asked Pastor John that day why I had felt this way. He told me, it was because God made me into a New Creation, a butterfly coming out of a cocoon nest. That day I knew I was a new creation in Christ, everything was passed away, and I became a new person. I never knew I have such freedom in Christ. God changed me so much in one week more than any Bible camp, missions trip, and any counseling have every done in my lifetime. God’s salvation has never been such a true gift till now. Praise God for he loved me first before I loved Him.  Charity G.

At summer camp, with Pastors Allen and Kristin and the youth group August of 2010 God spoke to me and told me that my Rhema plans were not what he had for me. I had already gone to their college weekend and I was really trying to make it work so I could go there. God also informed me that I was going to go to the RSW. This past august at summer camp God confirmed his word again. The Fire of God touched me in a way it never has before. I literally felt fire all over my body and my face. I was screaming, crying and laughing all at the same time. While he was touching me he was showing me all the times in my life where the devil tried to steal my joy and how it DIDN’T work. He was showing me that I had victory in him. I knew from that night on that I was in the right place.

This RBI/RSW revival had been utterly life changing. God has really broken down walls I had no idea even existed. I now have an intense passion to be a radical giver. He has shown me how sewing and reaping REALLY works! On Thursday of the third week I gave my purse, my iPod and my electric guitar away as seed. I believed God for a laptop, a Mac Book specifically. On Sunday Dave Leszchek asked me to come out to the lobby and handed me his laptop which was exactly the laptop I had been believing God for! I was overwhelmed with joy and I just felt the love of God all over me. I was just blown away by his goodness. He provided for me exactly what I needed. He is so faithful.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me this year! It feels amazing to be doing the will of God and be directly in the center of what he has for me……Christa J.