Bernie Moore Ministries has spent years organizing large-scale international outreach events known as Jesus Festivals in communities around the world.
Their team works year-round to plan, prepare and partner with local leaders in regions where these festivals draw tens of thousands of attendees. Their most recent trip brought them to Brazil, where three nights of worship, teaching and community gathering drew large crowds from the area.
Children, families and elders gathered across the open field where the festival was held.
“On the first night, as the Gospel was preached, you could feel something begin to settle over the crowd,” founder Bernie Moore said. “People were listening. Really listening. And when the invitation to receive Christ was given, the response was immediate. People stepped forward boldly and without hesitation. Each night, the field was filled with people who came ready to hear the Word.”
Participation continued to grow throughout the week, as Bernie Moore and his team did podcast and radio interviews, and met with several local Pastors and officials.
“It was a powerful week of ministry,” Bernie Moore said.
How it started: a legacy of global outreach
Bernie Moore Ministries has a long history of international work. Moore trained under the Great Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, whose global outreach efforts shaped the ministry’s early approach. For the past 16 years, the organization has continued hosting Jesus Festivals in regions across the world, with one mission and goal in mind: for everyone to experience the transformational love of Christ.
“The heart of our work is to reach the lost and the folks who are non-believers that don’t yet know how much the Lord absolutely loves them,” executive assistant Lynn Moore said.
According to the team, each international event takes months of preparation.
“It’s often several months of preparation. We always work with a Crusade Director in whatever place we’re going to,” Lynn Moore said.
This planning involves coordinating with local leaders, gaining support from local government officials, preparing staging and audio systems, organizing media documentation, estimating crowd size and more. BMM Jesus Festivals can draw tens of thousands of people, and one of their events in Wau, South Sudan drew a crowd of 300,000, requiring significant coordination. When the Jesus Festivals are held in Africa, people are known to walk for hours to attend.
Creative Director Audrey Bruce documents the events from the frontlines.
“I was right in front of a woman taking a picture of her, and there were just tears. ... It was everywhere. She was having such a vulnerable, emotional moment on stage right in front of everybody. ... When I saw her again, she was just beaming, joyful, praising Jesus,” Bruce said.
Bruce described the ministry’s approach to outreach this way:
“Whether shouting [the love of God] from the rooftops, dancing through the streets like David or staying quiet and leaning low to behold each other’s pain, evangelism seeps through our very existence,” Bruce said.
How supporters help make Jesus Festivals possible
The ministry noted that supporters in the U.S. provide much of the funding that allows these Festivals to take place.
Lynn Moore explained that evangelist Bernie Moore often says, "One man goes, and one man sows," referring to the partnership that not everyone can physically go abroad for a Jesus Festival, but maybe they can financially sow into making the event possible.
“If someone is partnering with us, ... [their money] is going to soul-winning, the Great Commision, and seeing people get set free and healed,” Lynn Moore said.
While financial contributions remain the primary avenue of support, the ministry also offers local volunteer opportunities at Bible studies, worship nights and its upcoming School of Evangelism. Sharing the organization’s content online also helps broaden its reach.
“Engaging with us on social media and sharing about us ... helps expand our reach and connects us with all kinds of people, which is what fuels us being able to do what we’re doing,” Bruce said.
Join the movement
Through large-scale Jesus Festivals and international partnerships, Bernie Moore Ministries continues its outreach efforts in communities around the world. The team said support from donors helps make future Jesus Festivals possible and sustains the ministry’s ongoing work to reach all nations with the love of Christ.
Click here to learn more or to donate today.
Location: 6936 Mediterranean Drive, McKinney
The above story was produced by Multi-Platform Journalist Sydney Heller with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.