Photo Credit: Jarrod Tobias (Photo used by permission)
Men and women who once identified as LGBTQ and now as new creations in Christ believe their community is seeing a revival like the Jesus People movement of the 1960s and 70s.
Rainbow Revival-Freedom March, a diverse group of former LGBTQ individuals from across the nation, celebrated with praise, worship, prayer, evangelism, testimonies and baptisms over five days at Dallas-area churches and at a prophetically significant location downtown.
It was the exact spot where a gospel music festival attended by 150,000 in 1972 led Time magazine to feature the "Jesus People" on its cover. Four days preceding the massive 1972 Jesus gathering, the late Dr. Billy Graham and Campus Crusade For Christ's Bill Bright preached at Explo '72 in Dallas.
Standing with members of the Body of Christ at Rainbow Revival, men and women shared their stories of leaving the LGBTQ lifestyle during a reunion, rally and march on October 18-22.
"We're here to proclaim our testimonies of coming into the kingdom of God," said Lindsey Kiser, a Dallas prayer leader and author.
Sharing her testimony, Kiser said her former identity as a lesbian faded over time as Jesus revealed truth to her. She shared wisdom from God about sexuality and gender, as well as the adversary's lies and deception around LGBTQ.
A writer on the topic of praying powerfully for LGBTQ people, Kiser also encourages intercession for the fulfillment of a 1989 prophetic word that 100,000 homosexuals - today called LGBTQ - would be saved, delivered, healed, and restored to preach the gospel, especially to that community.
While LGBTQ activists have tried to use the rainbow as their symbol, according to the Bible, the colors in the sky after rain represent a sign and promise from God to preserve the earth from devastating floods.
"Another flood is coming, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh," Kiser told overcomers.
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Rainbow Revival-Freedom March leader MJ Nixon, who is another overcomer among hundreds, shared her struggles with same-sex attraction from an early age. Standing on a large, outdoor stage in downtown Dallas, Nixon spoke passionately to a large crowd of people, which included her parents.
Raised in a conservative, Godly home, Nixon felt shame, isolation, confusion, and conflict between her spirit and flesh over an unwanted sexual attraction to females. Like the people she leads, Nixon didn't hear anything hopeful about homosexuals.
"I wish there had been an event like this one where people hear testimonies of truly overcoming and walking it out, instead of just hearing that homosexuality is a sin," said Nixon, pointing to an unusual rainbow in the sky.
Above the event, a rainbow completely encircled the sun above the grassy venue – an image many in the crowd captured on their phones.
Nixon said letting go of her old sexual identity was hard until she radically encountered Jesus, who spoke to her from Genesis 50:20. It reads: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (NIV)
"In that moment, Jesus laid His hand before me and said, 'MJ, come as you are. I have great things for you. I am so much greater than the things you're leaving behind. I will satisfy you,'" Nixon recalled.
Key to Nixon's 12 years of freedom is connecting to a community of like-minded individuals, which is something LGBTQ people know well. Finding friends within the Body of Christ and among former LGBTQ men and women is vital, Nixon said.
Though he's not had to battle sexual orientation or gender identity in his personal life, Evangelist Ross Johnston told freedom marchers how LGBTQ issues hit close to home.
Johnston was conceived through artificial insemination, and raised by two lesbian women who were both "mom" to him in the home they shared. His life shifted dramatically when Johnston encountered Jesus at age 15.
A revivalist and cofounder of California Will Be Saved, Johnston preached the gospel at Rainbow Revival and then invited people to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
"If we're really honest, what has sex, drugs, alcohol and money done to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts? Nothing," said Johnston as he then prayed over people who came forward to receive Jesus.
He believes the LGBTQ community is due for a move of God just like the one experienced by Jesus People hippies.
Two pastors – one of them a former gay man – encouraged the Rainbow Revival crowd and offered hope to people who are in the heat of spiritual battles.
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Rainbow Revival leaders – including two men who survived a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida – are covered by pastoral ministry at GateCity Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
There, Pastor Billy Humphrey has lifted the LGBTQ community in intercession for many years, but GateCity saw only a precious two or three souls come to Jesus through its massive seed-sowing efforts.
In 2019, believing GateCity was losing the spiritual battle for LGBTQ people, Humphrey went to a church that was in a move of God. There he met MJ Nixon, Rainbow Revival's current leader.
On fire for the Lord, Nixon introduced herself and then told Humphrey that God had sent revival to hundreds of former gay men, women, and transgenders.
"I told her, 'You're the ones we've been praying for. I need to know all of you,'" said Humphrey, who has been to Freedom Marches in Florida, Georgia, Washington D.C., and Dallas.
He believes there's going to be a great exodus from the LGBTQ community to a new family in Jesus.
"These crowds and rallies are the most beautiful people to me," said Humphrey, who is himself an overcomer of pornography, drugs, and alcohol through the power of God.
"Being among people who are aware that God has delivered them out of death into life without concern for what anybody thinks is the right place for me," Humphrey said.
A West Palm Beach, Florida man who left the gay lifestyle for Jesus has attended two events – a Freedom March and Rainbow Revival – where he finds encouragement.
"My takeaway from this weekend is this: Not only do I want the Jesus who saves; I also want the Jesus who satisfies," said Jarrod Tobias, who attended his second Rainbow Revival.
2019: Former Members of LGBTQ Lifestyle Proudly Proclaim Freedom From Homosexuality in Florida March
2018: 'Jesus Can Change Anyone': These Ex-LGBTQ People Are Bringing a Freedom March of Hope to L.A.
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