These reports are just in from Forge Ambassadors in East Africa!
Local leaders have taken time to personally visit various individuals for follow-up visits since the August 2023 Forge Fest Evangelistic Event. They received countless stories and testimonies of God's work. And, learned that attendees came not only from that region, but that the event drew people from much farther away than anticipated.
The area selected for the Forge Fest was well-known and renowned for lawlessness, thuggery, prostitution, drugs, alcoholism, and witchcraft—a hard ground. Children normally drop out of school before reaching high school to join the gangs within the area. Many locals couldn't believe it when the team chose that particular area for the outreach.
Despite all these obstacles, Forge Ambassadors pressed on by faith and prayer. God allowed Forge COO, Charlie Marq, to preach at the event, and with around 20,000 people coming over four days, we witnessed nearly 4,900 people give their lives to Jesus and innumerable others commit their lives as everyday laborers for Jesus!
Here are just two of the amazing follow-up testimonies of Jesus' work in individual lives:
A notorious gang leader, who had been terrorizing the people of that area for 8 years ended up at Forge Fest. He confessed to training 83 robbers within his ring. Many of his gang members had even gotten into shootouts with police and been killed—including his wife. At the end of himself, and contemplating taking his own life, he ended up at the event. But during the invitation, this man gave his life to Jesus, and everything changed! In fact, two other gang members have now given their lives to Christ because of him!
A renowned witch doctor sought out by many in that region also attended the event—in spiritual opposition! Using witchcraft practices, he sought to spiritually disrupt the festival field, so that nobody would attend the event. He also attempted to create curses to bring confusion between the event host and the speaker. Afterward, he said regarding the day he stepped foot on the event grounds, “I did not know this was going to be my last day as a witch doctor.” The moment Charlie proclaimed the name of Jesus, the witch doctor passed out and was rushed to the hospital.
While unconscious, he said, “I could see the image of Charlie saying that Jesus is the Christ.” The following day when he regained consciousness, he surrendered his life to Jesus! He declared “It feels like a sack-load of weight fell off my shoulders!” This man is now a committed follower of Jesus, attending a local church! After having received income as a witch doctor for 40 years, he is asking for prayer. He wants to start a business to feed his family.