Over 340,000 evangelical Christians filled the streets of Sao Paulo in Brazil for the largest "March for Jesus" on May 26, which is also an annual event that draws believers from hundreds of churches around the country.
The Reborn in Christ Church has been organizing the event for the last 24 years. This year, large crowds rallied behind 10 sound trucks and walked for about 3 miles to the downtown square in "the largest Christian event on Earth" where religious music concert played through the whole day until late at night.
The official website of the event provided live news coverage of people marching, raising their hands in worship, and praying. The website also featured live tweets, snapchat coverage, and live videos.
"We can say that March for Jesus is an event for the family! It's the biggest popular manifestation on world! It's the people of God's party," said Bishop Fernada Hernandes Rasmussen at the event. "We have to celebrate that we have freedom to show our faith! March day is an opened skies day. Is living the happiness, that is Christ salvation in us!"
Until the 1970s, only about 5 percent of Brazilians were Protestant evangelicals, but their numbers have grown to 22 percent of the population in five decades. Each year about 14,000 new churches open around the country.
The "March For Jesus" revival worked to sow seeds in countries to as far away as in Africa. Dr Nico Landman from Mount Zion Church in Johannesburg started "Africa March for Jesus," after he attended the event in Brazil in 2013.
"The seed was dropped in my spirit to take this march to Africa," Landman said.
"I quickly realized that the Jesus March was more than just an event. I truly believe that this movement of God is not just a demonstration and display of Kingdom unity, but also a prophetic proclamation that we belong and represent an unshakable kingdom, where Jesus Christ is uplifted as our Lord and King."
Churches from all denominations and school groups were invited to take part in the "Africa March for Jesus" to be held on June 11 in Mount Zion, Beulah Park, Johannesburg, South Africa.
In the US this year, two mass prayer events were also organized -- one on the West Coast and another on the East Coast -- on April 9. One was held in Washington DC, and the other in Los Angeles, as the organizers for the two events hoped to form a "Bridge of Prayer" across the country.
In Washington, the event was held at the Lincoln Memorial that reached about 30,000 pastors from different denominations and ethnicities. The purpose of the gathering was to specifically target pastors around the country through radio and TV, and involve them in deep prayers for the nation.The event was broadcast live at United Cry website..
In Los Angeles on the same day, 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival was celebrated at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Azusa Now, where as many as 100,000 people from different ethnicities, background, denominations gathered for a day in 15 hours of nonstop worship, and prayed for spiritual and social revival in the US.
