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UPDATE: April 27, 2007- KATRINA Final REPORT

The rain could not stop the move of God as hundreds got saved in the downpour in New Orleans!

Dear Friends,

The five-week WOW JAM tour through the Katrina devastated cities culminated in the toughest part of New Orleans.  Each day was an amazing adventure, and a revelation of God's faithfulness and mercy.  After only 30 minutes into the WOW JAM, where 1,500 people had gathered, the sky opened up and the rain fell.  I told everyone we were not shutting down and preached the shortest sermon ever. Not one song had been sung nor one prize handed out!  They didn’t even know my name, but they came to know the Name of Jesus, as 250 people accepted Jesus in the pouring down rain!

After praying with them the sun came out, and we finished the WOW JAM.  As you know, this whole tour started over a year ago as we went to the shelters for evacuees in San Antonio right after the Hurricane. Many people have asked me what happened to the thousands who were saved in those shelters. Well, a young man came up to me on the last day of WOW JAMS in New Orleans and said he and his father and two brothers lost everything in the storm while living in New Orleans. They were shipped down to San Antonio and were in a shelter when we came in. He won a gift that night, and they all accepted Jesus. They moved back to New Orleans and came to the WOW JAM that day. It was a gift from God.

The next day more people got baptized in an inflatable pool on a church parking lot. The pastors down there are heroes, and I was humbled and honored to serve with them. Please pray for these pastor “heroes!”

              Gordon Atwell, Faith Family Church, Denham Springs, LA

              James Autry, West Bank Cornerstone Christian Center,  Marrero, LA

              Neil Bernard, New Wine Christian Fellowship, LaPlace, LA

              Kenny Cutrer, Victory Harvest Church, Baton Rouge, LA

              Johnny Green, Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA

              Allen Hickman, Resurrection Life Ministries, Picayune, MS

              Randy Millet, Adullam Fellowship, Arabie, LA

              Philip Pilmott, HeartsEase Family Life Center, Baton Rouge, LA

              Sherman Shelton, Firehouse Family Ministries, New Orleans, LA

              Ricky Sinclair, Miracle Place Church, Baker, LA

              Reggie Wilson

              Terry Workman, Victory Harvest Church, Baton Rouge, LA

During these five weeks, over 9,000 people were ministered to, with 2,580 accepting Jesus and 128 baptized in water. Thank you for your prayers and help!

Please keep us in prayer as we have WOW JAMS every week in May, and we are making plans to return to New Orleans soon, as City officials have opened up many doors for us.

God Bless You,

Stephen

Please see the photos, below:

Kids who went through nightmares because of Hurrican Katrina experienced joy at the WOW JAM.

These two boys lost everything in the hurricane and were part of the 40,000 evacuees sent to shelters in San Antonio. They got saved at a WOW JAM we did there in 2005. They came back to
New Orleans and showed up at the WOW JAM, asking if I remembered them. I sure did, and thank God, I got to see them. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people, God hooked us up again!

Entire families were touched by the love of Jesus and accepted Him as their Savior.

This young man got saved the day before and came to be baptized.

People did not want to leave, even after it got dark. The people were so hungry for God.

This man had a genuine experience with Jesus after a year of tragedy.

UPDATE: April 4, 2007- KATRINA #4 REPORT

Dear Friends,

We just completed week four in the Gulf Area, and words can’t express my gratefulness to God for His faithfulness. An enormous crowd greeted us in La Place, Louisiana, where Pastor Neil Bernard and his church, New Wine Community, had only three weeks to put the WOW JAM together. They housed hundreds of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in their church and fed thousands. The local sheriff brought convicts under armed guard to help set up the tents at the WOW JAM. The church workers loved people all day whose lives had been traumatized by the storm and who are still caught in a storm. When I gave the call for salvation, an astounding 367 people came forward to accept Jesus!  Two days later the church was packed on a Sunday night for a concert and baptism. Another 25 accepted Jesus, and we baptized 37 people. It was wonderful!

The day after the WOW JAM in La Place, on we partnered with Pastor Allan Hickman in Picayune, Mississippi, along with four other Baptist churches, for a WOW JAM there.  The Kick-off Rally was strong as we all gathered to pray for the WOW JAM. It took place in a very neglected and needy neighborhood. Many who came had been so beaten down by life that they didn’t really believe everything was free that day; however, after an hour, the joy of the Lord filled the place and people's faces began to shine with life – something that had been missing for a long time. The crowd was thrilled that Linda (Peaches) was there. 97 people accepted Jesus that day.

We have now seen 1,704 people accept Jesus in the last 4 weeks. We have ministered to thousands of people and we are now in the fifth week. We’re deep in the center of New Orleans in the areas hardest hit. Please pray for our strength, our finances, and the salvation of many.

Thank you and may God Bless You.

Bringing the Savior to the Survivors,

Stephen Tavani

Please take a look at the 5 photos, following:

UPDATE: March 21, 2007 - KATRINA #3 REPORT

This was the huge crowd in Baker, Louisiana!

Dear Friends,

A crowd of 1,000 gathered on a Saturday in Zion City near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This was our third week in a row going down doing WOW JAMS in the Gulf Area. It was during the pie-eating contest that, suddenly, a man fell over in front of the stage convulsing with an Asthma Attack. I told the crowd we must pray. A few pastors laid hands on the man; and, after 5 minutes, he was revived and stood up.

With no sermon or introduction I felt the Lord leading me to pray for the sick. From a pie-eating contest to praying for the sick . . . with this crowd! I asked for those that were in need of healing to raise their hands; many did. I had 10 of them come on stage. One mother brought her little girl that had a cataract covering her beautiful brown eyes. I, along with many others, saw it cloud over her left eye. Pastor Ricky Sinclair and I laid hands on her and prayed for her healing. To my amazement, the cataract vanished! Her mother looked for it, and so did I, but it was gone!

I asked the crowd of desperate people what more did they want God to do to prove He was real! 276 people came forward, weeping to accept Jesus! 205 had gotten saved the night before; and, now, we have seen well over 1,000 people accept Jesus at the WOW JAMS on this Katrina Tour.

It is week #4 and tonight I’m at the Kick-Off as we begin another week of reaching the lost with the love of Jesus. Please pray for my team, my family, and me. This is the biggest effort in the history of WOW, and I need your help. Please pray for more to be saved and for God to meet all of the financial needs. $30,000 has come in since my last update. Thank you for responding! We still have $170,000 to raise. I am trusting God.

Please see the 7 photos, below:

God Bless You,

Stephen Tavani

The weather was BEAUTIFUL that day!

We We prayed for many to be healed!

This is the little girl who was healed from the cataract!  Praise God!

This This man was saved and brought his friends back the next day!

So So many put their hands up to receive Jesus - 500 in two days!

Here is a little boy writing his salvation card!

ThiTT

This is the wonderful brother from Frito-Lay who was saved last year! He is now coming out to all of the WOW JAMS!

UPDATE: March 15, 2007  - BATON ROUGE #2 REPORT

Our second trip to Baton Rouge!

Dear Friends:

Week two in our five-week WOW JAM Tour through Louisiana and Mississippi, and another 396 people accepted Jesus in two very poor and needy neighborhoods in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Many of the gangs and drug dealers that left New Orleans settled in Denham Springs, Louisiana, where the Friday WOW JAM was held. Pastor Gordon who headed up that day has about 120 in his church, but took in over 500 evacuees. Some of his members left because he took in black people. Denham Springs is also the home of David Duke, and the Ku Klux Klan is very strong there, but not as strong as Jesus, as 120 people accepted Jesus that day! We were in the parking lot of a closed WINN Dixie and, at the end of the day, a young man who had crossed the street to see his girlfriend heard the music, came over, and was the first one who came forward to accept Jesus. Brandon said his life was changed!

Brandon, receiving Jesus, who said that now his life has changed!

The next day, working with Pastor Terry Workman and Pastor Kenny Cutrer of Victory Harvest Church, we went into a poor area where several other churches helped. One of the churches was HeartsEase Family Life Center with Pastor Philip Pimlott who brought his church out to work. It is wonderful to see the pastors coming together.  Over 1,000 people showed up, and we were all served the best Jambalaya I have ever tasted. A young nine-year old boy named Devin won a bike. His father had left them, and he lives with his mom and his two sisters. He could pick any bike he wanted, but he said he did not want a bike. He said he wanted pots and pans for his mom. A hush fell over the crowd at this young boy’s kindness. I held him and prayed for him and then gave him pots and pans and a bike. He received Jesus that day; came the next day and was baptized, along with 34 other people. One family that came to church after the WOW JAM accepted Jesus. When they were handed a Salvation Card, the little girl did not know what to put for her address . . . the whole family were living in a van. They all got baptized that afternoon, and the church took them in and found a place for them to live. If we had not gone to Louisiana, it is more than likely the family would still be living in a van, Devin would not have Jesus or a bike, and Brandon . . .  We just thank God for His victories!

This is Devin who asked only for “pots and pans” for his mom!

We fly back tomorrow at midnight for another week of WOW JAMS. Will you help us reach more people? We need your help, even if it is just to buy some pots and pans to give to a little boy to give to his mom. By the way, Brandon, who came late to the first WOW JAM came late to the baptism. It was all over; the pool was covered, but he showed up.  We uncovered the pool and baptized him in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism on Sunday in Baton Rouge!

We have now fed over 3,000 people in the past two weeks, cut hair, fixed bikes, loved people, and have had 716 people receive Jesus, with 51 being baptized in water. We are going back; please help. I look forward to hearing from you.

Stephen

Update:  March 3, 2007 - WOW JAM KATRINA Begins!

The response in Baton Rouge was tremendous!

Dear Friends,

We have just returned from our first WOW JAMS in Louisiana, where 1,500 needy people in a very poor neighborhood showed up on a beautiful Saturday! A few hours later, 320 people accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior! The next day the temperature dropped to 53 degrees; we set up the WOW truck and dragged a horse trough to the front. We baptized 16 people in very cold water in a horse trough! It was the most precious water baptism to date.

Please hear me.  I spent a few days in the devastated areas of New Orleans, meeting with incredible pastors who are coming together for the WOW JAMS. It is heart wrenching, and I wept talking with them. FEMA is putting stickers on trailers telling people they must be out by April 1st. They have NO WHERE TO GO! People with damaged homes are being told that if they don't gut their house by April 1st, it will be condemned. They have NO WHERE TO GO. I sat with Pastor Randy in his sanctuary as he showed me the mark left on the walls by the waterline (10 feet above our heads) where the floodwater stood for weeks. In spite of all of the problems, he is still feeding people in his parking lot (400 that day). As we were talking he received a call; and, when he hung up, he told us with tears in his eyes that a church member had finally come back to the City, crawled under his trailer and killed himself because things are so difficult. The situation is desperate, and you are not hearing about it on TV.

Pastor Randy and many other pastors are so grateful that we are coming. I asked him “Why?” and he said that when they saw the WOW JAM video they knew this is what is needed – Jesus! He said that the soil is so fertile for revival after years of evil and bondage. This so resounded in my heart, for that is what the Lord told me when I first went there immediately after Hurricane Katrina. We will be doing a WOW JAM on the grounds of the only high school that is functioning in all of Bernard Parish. During the flood, 25 people died in that school when they got stuck there. I told him I was embarrassed that the local churches had to gather things together for the WOW JAMS because they have so little. He was overjoyed we were coming, and so gracious to me.

If I could take you there to see the faces . . . the devastation is not just physical but spiritual; you would more readily understand my desperation in reaching them. I am grateful for all who prayed and helped financially, but we are not done. I’ve actually added another day because a pastor heard about us and pleaded for a WOW JAM in his area, just outside of New Orleans. I said, “YES!”

We are going down for the next four weeks, and we still need $100,000. We will be reaching thousands of hurting people with eternal ramifications. Please pray for our team, my family, and all the workers. Please invest in this effort and tell other people, churches, and organizations about the WOW JAMS. One last thing: last year an accountant executive from Frito-Lay who supplied all the chips got saved at a WOW JAM. He was at the WOW JAM this past weekend with not only chips but donations from his church. Local workers said he has been praying for the salvation of people, and he will be at every WOW JAM we do over the next four weeks!

So many put their hands up to receive Jesus!

5

Baptism in 53 degree weather in a horse trough!