Festivals
Methodology of a Mike Silva Festival
Our mission through citywide Festival style outreach is to build up the local church, meet critical physical needs of the poor and proclaim the life-changing message of Jesus Christ in the world’s most spiritually receptive places. A Festival first begins for Mike Silva International (MSI) with a formal written invitation from a group of key local business leaders inviting us to come to their city.
Eight to 10 months prior to the scheduled event date, MSI’s Spanish World Team moves to the city and begins the comprehensive work of the Festival and its various components – Pastors’ and Leaders, Women’s and Youth Conferences, friendship evangelism and counselor training and a family friendly Children’s Festival. The week of the Festival, a serve team made up of individuals from all over the United States travels to the festival city to maximize our impact in the city by serving and ministering in schools, orphanages, widows’ homes and prisons. Through united citywide festivals, we can proclaim the life-saving and life-transforming Good News Gospel to thousands of spiritually hungry people who are lost and have never heard the message about Jesus Christ.
Friendship Evangelism and Counselor Training
Thousands of volunteers from local churches are a necessary and vital part of a Festival. Six to 10 months in advance our work begins. Our team encourages the churches to engage and to work together inter-denominationally; to start spreading the word of the upcoming Festival and inviting their unsaved friends, families and coworkers (friendship evangelism), and most importantly – help us identify the many volunteers needed as “counselors.” The four to six week training prepares and equips these “Friends of the Festival” to talk and pray with those who are responding to the Gospel when the invitation is given.
Pastors’ and Leaders’ Conference
MSI strives to encourage and strengthen the local churches wherever we go. One of the ways we do this is by conducting evangelism, leadership and discipleship training for pastors and church leaders. Access to training is either unavailable or unaffordable in most festival cities. MSI provides this ministry at no cost to attendees. As funds are available, we distribute Bibles and other discipleship materials to these church leaders.
Women’s Conference
This half-day conference is designed to equip, encourage, unite and strengthen the faith of the women in the communities we serve. The Women’s Conference is often the first event just for women the community has ever seen. Women who attend this event worship and pray together, are challenged from God’s Word, and are encouraged to be the woman God designed them to be in their homes, churches and community.
Compassion Aid
As part of every festival, we reach out and show the love of Jesus Christ as we share His Good News. Our team provides supplies, food, clothing, and even water wells where the need is greatest in and around the festival city. We partner with pastors to assist and equip them to meet the needs of their church body. MSI uses this outreach to show God’s compassion in a very tangible way and invite people to the outreach events.
FestiKids
Saturday afternoon, before the Festival that night, is our family-friendly, “all about the kids” outreach event we call “FestiKids.” There are inflatable bounce houses and slides, face painting, balloon animals, haircuts and games galore. And from the main stage is a high-energy program just for kids with live performances, more fun activities and an opportunity to hear about the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Two-Night Festival
At the core of our outreach is the evangelistic festival on Friday and Saturday evenings. The event begins each evening with worship concerts from some of the greatest Christian (Spanish) artists in the world! Following the music, Mike Silva gives a clear, compelling and culturally relevant presentation of the Gospel.
As people respond to the invitation, trained counselors from the local churches collect the names and addresses of those who indicated that they made a decision for Christ. These individuals are given a New Testament and Ephesians discipleship book. The local churches then begin the process of following up with all decision-makers.
Serving in Local Churches
Churches across the festival city are always eager to have MSI team members minister in their communities. Many members of MSI’s team speak, teach and/or lead worship at numerous churches throughout the week. This is another way MSI seeks to build up the local body of Christ. This is also a great encouragement to the MSI team members, as they get a chance to interact with local believers.