Sacramento Impact Week

“Almost all of them stayed more than one hour longer, praying and singing together! The presence of God was strong!”

Early this month, we held a Steiger Impact Week in Sacramento in partnership with Bridgeway Christian Church. This is part of our mission to mobilize followers of Jesus to reach young people who would not walk into a church. 

The week started with Aaron Pierce preaching (click the link to listen) at the Bridgeway Church services. He challenged the congregation to have a broken heart for the lost and take courageous steps of action to go after them. Many were deeply moved and inspired to reach people in their lives who are far from God. 

Later that week, Filipe Machado preached about “The Real Jesus” at the Young Adults service, highlighting how the secular youth culture has wrong ideas about who Jesus really is and how often even we, as Christians, might also be confused and influenced by the secular worldview.

Filipe challenged the group of about 90 young adults to respond to the message:
“In order to live missionally and share the Gospel with our peers, we need to first have an intimate encounter with Jesus and then live out a nurtured relationship with him!”

Many kneeled with Filipe in front of the stage and prayed for a fresh encounter with Jesus! 

The service was supposed to end, but the group stayed on their knees, crying and praying, so the church leader, sensitive to the moment, invited those who wanted to stay a little longer. Almost all of them stayed more than one hour longer, praying and singing together! The presence of God was strong!

And that’s how our Weekend of Impact started!

Jesus in the Secular World and Creative Outreach

Then on Saturday, about 200 people attended the Jesus in the Secular World workshop taught by Aaron and our Steiger team. 

All of us know people who are far from God, whether it’s people in our family, co-workers, neighbors, or at school. The workshop equipped them to effectively reach these people by engaging in spiritual conversations. We spent time in groups, discussing the content and praying for specific people in our lives. 

The feedback after the workshop was overwhelmingly positive! 

“As we struggle to connect with our 19-year-old who has completely walked away from God, I so appreciated Aaron's deep understanding and commitment to this generation. My heart breaks for my daughter and many of her friends who are lost and looking for acceptance and love. I pray that I can just be Jesus to them.” -Kathryn J

“The day after I attended the seminar at Bridgeway, I was presented the opportunity to begin actively pursuing my adult daughter and her new boyfriend. With the motivation being only to love them, the conversation flowed easily and they chatted with me for hours. I look forward to connecting with them again, and am committed to the long game!” -Shand M

“The workshop was outstanding. I was deeply inspired, challenged and empowered to step out and engage with nonbelievers, in a variety of ways. This is very much outside my comfort zone and I have very little experience with all of this. But I feel compelled to pray, to step out of my comfort zone in order to build relationships with people and learn how to have conversations marked by love. I'm very thankful I went to the workshop and so many others too. I want more people to experience this training and be equipped and empowered to reach this new generation of youth.” -Kyrie N

“This was an absolutely amazing class. Great job and lots of learning. Really convicted me on some things I need to work on in the way I view things…” -Kristy G

Immediately after the training, Filipe and his team led the young adults in Creative Evangelism. They introduced them to a few creative tools that are helpful for engaging people and starting spiritual conversations that lead to Jesus and the Gospel message.

Our group prayed for 67 secular people in only one afternoon in Old Sacramento!

“I had no idea it would be so easy to lead a conversation to the Gospel and that people would be so open to it!” shared one of the participants.

Hardcore Outreach

On Sunday, some of the young adults joined our Steiger team in a “hard-core” evangelistic action into the secular scene, which in this case, ended up being an event space that was also a weed store. 

At this place, they sell clothes and all kinds of cannabis-related things, as well as use the space to exhibit art and run events.

We learned that there was an event happening there in which a few DJs would be playing and streaming on a radio station. When we got there, we met the organizer of the event, a couple of the DJs, and some of their friends. They were creative people and definitely a good example of those “who wouldn’t step into a church.” 

Interestingly, their party was a “clean” party:

“We want to create a safe and clean environment, alcohol-free.” At the same time they talked about not allowing alcohol into their event, they offered us “pre-rolls,” which are cannabis cigarettes. Of course, we politely declined. 

The ideology behind their alcohol-free event was an awesome door for deep conversations leading to the Gospel. Filipe and the team spent hours there and ended up praying for many of them! The young adults who joined us were very impressed by how they could be so intentional about sharing Jesus, even in that context.

“I was AMAZED at your guys’ patience to ride in that chill atmosphere and let things build,” said Candace, one of the young adult leaders. 

Investing in Young Missional Leaders

Over the following days, our Steiger team invited young adults to hang out at their house to connect deeper and further invest in them. Many came, and we had amazing times of encouragement, prayer, and fun, which is very important to build community. 

We offered these young adults clear next steps, including the Steiger Mission School in Germany and various Impact Trips. Three of them have already applied!

The young adults pastor at Bridgeway is very excited and is now working with Filipe to start an evangelism team that will go out regularly, as well as helping plan the next Steiger Impact in Sacramento!

This is just the beginning of our mission to equip the Church, raise up young missional leaders, and fuel a missionary movement in Sacramento and throughout Northern California!  

Thank you for your prayers and financial support that make all of this possible!