(Arlington, TX) The Encounter wasn’t one event. It was a three-city tour that answered the question John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask in Matthew 11: Is the Lord here in the midst of His people? In Scripture, the answer wasn’t yes or no, but an invitation to look around and see. Jesus told John’s disciples, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Matthew 11:4-6)
On August 28th and 30th, The Encounter Weekend came to World Healing Church in Arlington, TX. It was the second stop on a three-city tour that brought together Apostle Ed Citronnelli—the event’s visionary—Apostle Johnathan Stidham of Christ Embassy in Nicholasville, Kentucky; and Pastor Akeim Brown of God’s House of Worship in Mount Vernon, New York.
The tour had three stops and was an orchestrated endeavor to draw the Church back to the altar.
“When the Lord put it in my spirit to create this time, this moment of encounter, the purpose of that was to bring three voices—or three prophets—under one flame. Under one God,” shared Apostle Citronnelli. “The purpose of the encounter is to bring back the people to the original purpose of what happens when they encounter God.”
It was successful in all three cities.
The first stop of the tour was World Healing Church in the Bronx, NY. We previously reported on the event that took place on July 17th and 19th, where night one was filled with power, prophetic synchronicity amongst the Prophets, and dynamic deliverance. It was during this inaugural tour stop of The Encounter Weekend that Apostle Ed made public that the Holy Spirit had released instructions to formally ordain Pastor Akeim Brown into the office of the Prophet. It is a significant announcement, received by the congregation with excitement.
On the last day of The Encounter New York, the atmosphere was filled with love that seemed to permeate the screen in the replays. Apostle Ed took time to acknowledge some of the people who have helped to keep the New York church moving forward. Among them was Pastor Celeste Bellantoni, one of World Healing Church’s long-standing shepherds. We caught up with her before the start of The Encounter Weekend in July. What she shared, unbeknownst to her at the time, was an urgency in the realm of the Spirit that was going to explode one month later and 1500 miles away in Texas during The Encounter Weekend’s second stop.
“We live in the United States, and we’re used to being able to say and do whatever we wanna say and whatever we wanna do. But there [are] times that are coming that will be a time where we will have to stand up and fight for our faith… Right now, this is a revival opportunity for people to check themselves to see if they’re still in the faith. But there’s a shift. There’s a shift in a good way to a greater grace, but at the same time, an awakening.”
Pastor Bellantoni described this awakening as a realization in the hearts of people that prompts self-examination and realignment with the commands of the Lord. “There’s a Scripture that always comes to me when I speak like this, and it says, ‘Wide is the gate to destruction. And narrow is the gate unto eternal life,’” she shared, paraphrasing Matthew 7:13-14.
It was a sobering interview with a leader who has been aligned with Apostle Ed’s vision for close to twenty years. For some, that shift was about to come through The Encounter.
When the event landed in Arlington on August 28th, night one began with high-energy worship by a team featuring voices familiar to the World Healing family of churches and God’s House of Worship in Mount Vernon, New York. Then, Apostle Ed, Founder of World Healing Church, took the platform. He greeted the crowd, bringing excitement and stirring faith in the room. With more than 25 years of ministry under his belt, the man of God recalibrated the service with ease, delivering powerful biblical exhortation, declarations, and prophetic ministry. All of it was to position people and help set their expectations for what lay ahead.
This thirty-five minutes of ministry was far more than an introduction. It was an important part of the service, displaying the same prophetic synergy evident in New York.
Apostle Johnathan Stidham was the preacher for the evening. He entered the pulpit and observed the formalities of preaching—honoring the host, greeting the congregation, and praying an opening prayer. But, the already high-intensity service was about to take a turn at breakneck speed:
“The only thing that I have an appetite for in this hour is a move of God. And we’re at a rather peculiar crossroads in the Body of Christ because God is separating the wheat and the tares in this hour… we are coming into a time where God is forcing us to decide what our life is going to look like. And that everybody here is going to have to pay a price for following Jesus Christ.”
The room was in agreement. Standing, clapping, lifting their hands. Shouts and amens could be heard above the music, but the turn was beginning.
“We don’t need spectators. We don’t need agitators. We need somebody who’s serious about this oil…God is looking for a people who is serious about this thing in this hour because if you’re not, you are going to get swallowed by this next season…. This wasn’t even my message. This is the word of the Lord to you: get serious. Get serious.”
The congregation was brimming with energized praise and the sound of receiving. Still, the hot knife of conviction was cutting through the room. Amid the shouts and music, there was a weight to what was happening in Texas that seemed different from the New York services.
“I can’t even go any further. There are 30 of you in this room. God said, ‘It’s time to come back. Come back to me. Come back to holiness. Come back to righteousness. Come back to purity. Come back. Come back.’ I loose you from your seat. Run to this altar. God said, ‘I’m giving you a chance. Get it right, now.’”
Apostle Johnathan wasn’t in a hurry. He had tapped into something in the realm of the unseen. “If there’s somebody by you and you know they’re not right with God, I want you to grab them by the hand and bring them to the altar. Hurry.”
People rushed forward, many kneeling in repentance across the front of the altar. True spiritual encounter is always transformative. The transition from darkness into light, unrepentant to repentant are some of the greatest of all in the Kingdom of God. This was prophetic ministry at its peak.
This was the ultimate encounter, but also an imperative stop on the journey for the Texas crowd. “The reason this atmosphere was so heavy is because we can’t cry out to God with hidden sin in our life. You have to get right with Him.”
Shifting from the moment, those at the altar were invited to remain until they felt personally released from their time before the Lord. Apostle Johnathan, however, began to share his intended sermon. Periodically, he would pause to minister to someone through prayer, prophecy, or the laying on of hands in the midst of his message. At its conclusion, Apostle Ed took a few moments to introduce the audience to two of Pastor Akeim’s books: The Scripture Meditation Workbook for the Supernatural and Hearing God Without Confusion.
The service included a powerful time of anointing and prayer during a combined ministry and giving portion. It ended with one final altar call, as Apostle Ed paused the closing declarations to call for anyone who had been crying the night before. This moment wasn’t an interruption to the benediction. It was a display of the love of the Father and a sweet note to end on, as attendees dispersed in anticipation of Sunday’s finale.
EN 
ES