In order to understand what the Lord has done for me, you must first know what He has delivered me from. Growing up, my family was always involved heavily with whatever church we were attending at the time. After moving from Texas to North Carolina, we joined a church, which we attended for several years. Pastor Rodney visited this church one night, and I was baptized in the Holy Ghost and went home laughing with the joy.

Several years went by and my family moved again, to the beaches of NC. We moved to a very small town where there were only a handful of churches. We quickly learned that none of them were spirit?filled. As we all led this search for an on fire church, our own fires dwindled. Soon, we did not go to any church at all.

For around the next eight years I was a back?slidden Christian. During this time many troubles occurred, including my parents getting divorced. I slipped further and further into the world. At a young age, I used drugs and alcohol and began partying. At the age of sixteen I was attending nightclubs and lying to my parents regularly.

When I went off to college, I only got worse. My life became a constant blur of parties and drinking. During all of my struggles, my sister was praying for me to come back to the Lord. At the time, I knew I had once been saved, but I no longer knew if I would go to Heaven.

I grew up in church all my life and at the age of 16 I decided I wanted to try things on my own. By the age of 23 I had been living a life trying to find my own pleasures, anything that would make me happy. I can remember one night I was getting off of a shift of bartending at 5:30 A.M. Sunday morning and thinking to myself “I think I want to go to church today”. So I went to church and as soon as they started playing the first song I knew right away that this is what I was missing.

3 years of working out my salvation went by until I answered the call to go to a Bible school in Oklahoma. When I was almost finished with that school I knew that I was supposed to go to a school for worship but I didn’t know where. Dr Rodney came to a town close by and I went one of the nights and as soon as he said that they had a worship school my Spirit man just about jumped out of my belly to get one of the pamphlets. I knew that the River School of Worship was the next step for me and this is where I was to learn the flow of the Holy Spirit in worship. So I finished out the school in Oklahoma and came to the River…Justin S.

I had been attending The River for a few months prior to the start of RBI, thanks to The Great Awakening. I received a scholarship from Pastor Rodney one night after sharing my testimony of being radically set free from crack addiction while watching from my home one night. The changes since that night had been monumental, but the first weeks of RBI revival brought a much deeper level in my relationship with the Lord and a greater awareness of the Holy Ghost!

The week prior to school, I lost my job. Since I am a single mother of three children this was a huge concern in the natural, but somehow I kept feeling an amazing sense of peace. If I had been working, I would not have been able to be at revival. With all of my bills due, and other needs screaming at us, I greatly awaited my last paycheck for 2 weeks of work! It came one day in the mail and I picked it up on the way to service. I was in service and during the offering God spoke to me and told me to go get my paycheck out of the car and sow it in the offering.

I ran out to the car and signed the back of the check and dropped it in the bucket. The next day, he told me to give the ring diamond ring my son had given me for Christmas. This was my alabaster box. God spoke to me and said, “Your paycheck was your security, and your ring represented your heart, now I have all of you which is what I require!” For me this is huge, because I come from lack. God has broken me. He wants to know that He is first and that I will trust in Him! I don’t know how He is going to come through, but I know He will!

This is the beginning days of great testimonies, of what the Lord is doing in me.  So far what has happened is in one word “Freedom”. I’m being freed up from religion, tradition and rituals.  In the whole time I’ve been saved I’ve never heard a teaching on ritualism.  Always been taught, “you better put the whole armor of God on every day and I did, including all the other stuff!  Never taught that I never take if off!   So why do I have to put it back on?  That teaching alone, so, freed me up, more ways than one. I received these revelations whole heartedly and immediately put them into practice.

Pastor Daniel McGhee gave a message on “Freedom” last Thursday evening.  WOW!  That message was for me!  I went down under the power of God and shook nations; let alone myself being shaken from one end to the other, inside out.  The Holy Ghost is freeing me up going down to the very “V” and cleaning those places out, even with a divine tooth-pick!  LOL   Man, I felt like I just got out of a boxing ring with the devil.  I got so angry laying on that carpet – I was killing giants one after another.  When I got up I felt exhausted.  But when it came to announcing the winner – both my hands were up, Praising Jesus.  Hallelujah!   The violent take it by force.

I know this is the Holy Ghost boot camp, it’ll be tough; but I’m pressing in these next three years (to life!) to be forever changed from glory to glory for His Glory.  Thank you Pastor Rodney and Adonica for the privilege of being trained to flow with the Holy Ghost; making soul winning a lifestyle with passion; living in the Fire of God and having an intimate relationship with Jesus.

I’m forever grateful to you both and Jesus – Carol S.

I am so glad to be here in the school. It is getting even better. Until I came to Tampa, I felt almost like a Muslim-Christian. Just lately I have been feeling the freedom and flow of the Spirit. Even after finishing the first year of school. I guess it takes a while to be detoxed spiritually! Pretty much up to that time I was religious and doctrineted properly. Even after the first year I was still not very open to the flow and the move of God. Over the summer break and God’s continuous work in my heart I came hungry and thirsty for this school year. Especially the first week of school was awesome. Even the introduction of pastors was enough to smack me!

We moved Tampa to basically to come to school. There is not any reason for us to live here other than the River really. But after being here it is more than enough reason to stay here! I often feel like about the school and church that i have found a treasure chest and want to share with everyone. We are telling our loved ones to come and even just sit under this ministry for a week and see what we are talking about. It is so precious to me. I thank God for such man and women of God and their impact in our lives. Not only by teaching in the class but every way they live and conduct their lives. I have lot to learn from them.Thank God that he kept them for such a time like this and for us. I am so excited to see and receive what God has for me this year. i go to school with expectation every day. He has still a lot of work to do in me. You never know what will take place that day. Even just last thursday the Spirit of giving broke out and everyone was obedient to God. Some people even broke their alabaster box. I am looking forward to see might things happen this year in students life….. Hicran M.