After 50 years of international ministry, German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke will host a large-scale evangelistic event in the U.S. this weekend.
Dubbed Firestorm USA, the event will be held Friday and Saturday in Dallas and will feature Bonnke, founder of Christ for All Nations (CfaN), fellow evangelist Daniel Kolenda, Jentezen Franklin and the Christian band Delirious.
Bonnke, who turns 70 next year, is best known for leading mass crusades across Africa, where his ministry reportedly has seen 52 million people come to Christ in the last decade. But he said he sensed God leading him to "minister back to America," which for years has helped finance CfaN's crusades. "They have faithfully sown into the work of the gospel abroad, and I believe now is the season where they shall reap of what they have sown," he said.
Bonnke believes God is "preparing to unleash on America an unprecedented outpouring of salvation, miracles and Holy Spirit impartation such that we have seen in our crusades in Africa."
The event will target youth in particular. "I believe the Lord is going to start a fire in the heart of young people," Bonnke said, "and those flames will erupt into a huge conflagration that will impact the entire nation for the kingdom of God."
Bonnke said his vision will remain on Africa but is "expanding." Similar Firestorm events are being planned for 2010 in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles.
