MY TESTIMONY: by John DeRienzo

Hello Friend,


Christianity is more than a to-do list it is a thrilling adventure. Anyone can challenge your faith but not your testimony. The spirit-filled life abounds with experiences that testify to the power of the Living God. In fact, it was God's plan to reveal Jesus to us so He could reveal Jesus through us. My testimony is filled with supernatural encounters that have deeply strengthened my relationship with the Lord. Here are a few memorable encounters.

As a young college student I dedicated my life to Jesus Christ, and I have been fortunate to witness many healings & creative miracles. A few years ago, a dead man miraculously came back to life through fervent prayer, and without CPR or life support. Word of this unusual event spread to the Fire Commissioner & the Mayor of our city. I was presented with a commendation letter in front of the Mayor himself, although Jesus deserves all the honor.

I have seen Jesus in a 3D vision. It was @3AM, 1982, and Jesus was pruning a " Burning Bush." He was wearing an ordinary dark green jumpsuit, and I could hear the sound of busy hand sheers as I approached Him. I was a security guard, and with a guitar in my arms, and a melody on my lips, I stepped closer to Him from behind, but He did not acknowledge me. Instead, He was preoccupied as He pruned feverishly, like time was running out. Inside the fiery bush was another “ball of fire,” a fire that ricocheted within the bush. (Wow!) Read John chapter 15, in the New Testament, for insight into this "3-D" vision.


Again, incredible though it may sound, once the Lord seized my vocal chords as I attempted to rebuke an offending brother. Immediately, my lips became numb by the manifest glory of God, with the sensation of an electrical current. The timbre of my voice changed, it was not my own, and I delivered a message of reconciliation against my own will. All I could say was "I love you" until God made His point. (Double Wow!)


"Tongues" is a supernatural prayer language, a spiritual weapon to thwart temptation and demonic influence. It is a form of scriptural worship and thanksgiving. It is also a pathway to "greater" manifestations of the Holy Spirit because it helps to increase inner strength and sensitivity. Singing in tongues is a wonderful devotional tool, and then there is "divers," meaning many, tongues as well. Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues, serves a dual function for public and private edification. In the public context these gifts harmonize, and interpretation is desirable. In a private setting interpretation is not always necessary, because the devotional quality of praying in tongues has its own merit. I have been enriched by the gift of tongues, and suggest that every believer seek this precious gift.

Throughout my Christian walk I have been privileged to exercise the gift of the Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom, and Prophecy. I have also cast out demons from the afflicted in the name of Jesus! Understand, this is the authority of every believer. In Romans 8 it declares "Greater is He, GOD, that is in us, than he, Satan, that is in the world!" Above all, I have been honored to lead many souls to Christ, and I pray that many more will submit to Him through my ministry!

We have been mandated by the Great Commission outlined in Mark 16 to win souls for Christ; I have seen children, teenagers, young adults, middle aged, and the elderly come to Christ. Jews and gentiles; rich and poor; educated and uneducated; prisoners and addicts; homosexuals and the suicidal; adulterers; the bedridden; the homeless; atheists, agnostics, and occultists, all persuaded of their need for a Savior.

I have preached in many unusual places. I began in 1978 at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA, preaching to a handful, and then to hundreds of students by the Quadrangle. In 1982 I attended Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then I headed for NYC, where I ministered for 12 consecutive years. I remember preaching in 1985 from the middle of an empty fountain at Washington Square Park surrounded by drug dealers; for four years I conducted Sidewalk Sunday School,'90 to '94, from a mobile stage truck throughout the Burroughs of New York. There were hundreds of kids from Battery Park to the Grand Concourse; Harlem, Chinatown, the Lower East Side; Astoria Projects, and Bushwick Brooklyn, and Coney Island who heard the Gospel! The city parks were my church building, equipped with a guitar, a generator, and a portable sound system. I sang and preached at Liberty Park in the shadow of Twin Towers, Wall Street, Madison Square Garden, Union Square, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, Penn Station, Grand Central Station and Times Square. I have performed under the Jones Beach Band Shell, Forest Hills Band Shell, and the center of Getty Square in Yonkers.


I preached on subway trains, in subway stations, and on street corners all over NYC. I ministered in affluent neighborhoods and impoverished communities; visited Jewish, Hispanic, African American, and Chinese enclaves; supervised remedial reading at the Prince George Welfare Hotel on 23rd Street; preached to the homeless at The Bowery Mission on 3rd Ave, and from a mobile soup kitchen near Little Italy. I instructed male residence at a halfway house in Bushwick, Brooklyn; led mercy teams with blankets and provisions to underpasses, box tents, and subway tunnels, wherever the homeless could be found. I even rode atop an Easter float several consecutive years, robed as Jesus, the Risen Savior, along a one hundred mile, eight hour route. Travelling from Babylon, on Long Island, my companions & I traversed Manhattan via Broadway with no small stir. Winding our way through the Bronx, we eventually arrived in the city of Yonkers, escorted by a police motorcade like dignitaries arriving at our final destination in Getty Square.

Again, I marched in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, with a small group and a mega sound system blaring the Christian rock anthem, "To Hell With The Devil," while thousands gawked. I testified in the midst of a throng of revelers on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, on Fat Tuesday, the busiest day of Mardi Gras. I even carried a Cross through Time Square in the midst of a pack of "Black Supremacists." One time the sound of gunshot rang out over our heads while we were carolling with a group of bible school students. Another time bullets were fired just below our bedroom window because of my neighbor's dispute over a basketball game. One of my children was born in that apartment!

Presently, I am performing in a role as Jesus for Narroway Theater, in Fort Mill, SC, an Easter production of Fishes & Loaves. For ticket information visit Narroway.net.

Ideally, my purpose is not to share my own experiences, but through my poetry, videos and photos, I hope to impart the love of Jesus and make His truth plain! My aim is to take you on a cinematic and poetic journey that edifies and entertains you while we share this experience together! Also, I hope we can share a laugh and realize that God is bigger than our problems! Welcome aboard and remember to be true to yourself!