Our Vision

Bring a Joyful Celebration to 22 Cities

Our vision is a divine assignment to take Friend Festival into 22 cities throughout the United States and internationally, not going into the same city twice. We go where God leads us through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We estimate that we will complete our God-given assignment in 2022. Every thing we do is for the Glory of God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Atmosphere

Joy in His Presence

The goal of Friend Festival is to cultivate an atmosphere where you can enter into the presence of the Living God and experience joy in your heart and be strengthened in your spirit.

The Pathway

Praise and Thanksgiving

The scripture says in Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” If we need strength, then we need joy. But where does joy come from? The scripture says, “In His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” So, if we need to be in the presence of the Lord God Almighty in order to have joy, then how do we come into His presence? Again, we understand from scripture that “We enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.” So that’s the key! We must thank him for what He has done and praise Him for who He is. This is what we call the Pathway of Praise into His Presence.

Why 22 Cities?

A Specific Calling

On May 25, 2008 under the ministry of a special guest speaker in her home church in Norfolk, Virginia, Debbie Reynolds Harper, founder of StoneyBrook Media LLC, and StoneyBrook Ministries, and publisher of the women’s online Christian magazine, www.MyFriendDebbie.com experienced the Holy Spirit’s prompting to write a check for $22 to the visiting ministry as a seed offering of faith for what God wanted to do in the future through the ministry He had called her to. Without hesitation, she acted in obedience. Immediately she heard the voice of God speak to her spirit and say, “That’s for the 22 cities I’m going to give you.” She had sung the song many times, “Ask and I will give the nations to you.” This time, God was saying He would give the cities.

Debbie Tells More of Her Testimony Here

“Interestingly, it wasn’t 20 cities or 25 cities, but specifically 22 cities that God said to my spirit that He would give. I went back to the passages of scripture in 1 Chronicles that God had used initially on February 23, 2003 when He gave me the blueprint for this ministry that parallels the building of the temple in the Old Testament. My assignment at that time, spoken to me by the Spirit of God was to “gather the materials and the skilled craftsman,” to build a place that would “house the presence of God.” I had used that to establish the magazine which was the first phase of the ministry. I discovered that it had been written in chapter 22. I had never noticed that before until the Lord said 22 cities. I also realized at that time that the sacrifice that Solomon offered for the dedication of the temple (recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:5) included 22 thousand bulls. Again, I had never seen that, but the Lord revealed it to me and made a clear connection to me that there was no mistake, and that I had heard His voice correctly, that this was His plan for the conferences. He was going to give us 22 cities, just like He said, not 20 and not 25, but specifically 22. As a ministry team, we have come to understand that the number 22 has scriptural and spiritual significance as “the multiplication of vision,” 20 being the number used for vision and 2 being the number used for multiplication. We recognize that God uses numbers throughout scripture to reveal and record His will. Incidentally, I later looked back to see the check I had written and it was recorded in my check registry as check number 3229. It’s clear to me that God doesn’t make any mistakes and He will speak if we are listening! He will guide if we will follow!”