My name is Pat Favuzza. My son and I have been meaning to contact you for years and share the amazing miracle that happened at an Aglow conference back in 2000 in West Virginia and how God used it to bring my son to Him! We finally decided to sit down and write our stories together as my son is finally home in the states for the next couple of months.
My son, after 20 years, has been a powerful pastor and evangelist and along with his amazing wife, Brittany is currently serving and living in Argentina for this season. He shares all over the world how God revealed Himself to him at an Aglow conference almost 20 years ago.
Here is the story, first from my point of view, and then from Doug’s.
My friend, who we call Aunt Grace, and myself were making plans to attend the 2000 Conference in WV. I asked my 21 year old son if he would like to go. At the time he was agnostic and was going through a lot of anxiety and depression. Even though he had never been to a Christian conference, I wasn’t sure how he would react to all he was going to experience. Little did I know that God was up to a life-changing experience in Doug’s life.
On the first night and throughout the conference I began to see a powerful change in my son. And on the last day, his Aunt Grace decided to have him prayed over by the prayer team ladies that were in the hallway. I didn’t go with them as I stayed to listen to the rest of the conference session.
A little while later Aunt Grace came back very excited to tell me what happened to Doug. She said when she introduced him one lady said, “God told me to pray for Doug.” She said her grandson’s name is Doug, and she knew it wasn’t him that she was to pray for. When she saw my son, she immediately knew it was my Doug she was to pray for.
Grace said that the ladies laid hands on him and he fell back on the floor by the power of the Holy Spirit. His whole body was shaking uncontrollably. He was prophesied over that God would be preparing him for 10 years and on the 10th year God would send him out to preach the Gospel to the nations.
When I asked Grace where he was now, she told me he was in the prayer room prostrate on the floor. I was so taken back by that because I knew this was truly a miracle from God. Later I found out how he powerfully encountered the Lord the first day of the conference and then the Lord filled him with His Holy Spirit the last day in the prayer room! God is so good!
Doug’s testimony —
After almost dying from an overdose in the summer of 2000, I had to leave college because of how sick I became and I fell into a deep depression. At this point in my life, I was an agnostic. I wasn’t sure if God was real or if Jesus was alive. I thought that if He was real, that He probably rejected me.
Sometime later my mom and her best friend (Aunt Grace) were getting ready to travel to Charleston, WV to attend the Aglow conference. My mom asked if I wanted to go. Normally I would have said no, but because of the recent things that happened in my life I said I would go.
I really had no grid for what was about to happen. I went there as an agnostic young man. On the first night of the conference we got our seats way in the back facing the platform. As we got our seats, the conference started, and then, the worship started.
I had never seen anyone worship the Lord like these women worshipped the Lord. Thousands of women filled the stadium and the floor and were dancing, waving banners and worshipping Jesus with the purest worship I had ever seen. I had never seen anything like it, and I began to just weep as I looked at the people worshipping.
Up to this point, I only attended a couple of Catholic masses and never saw anything like this. I started to weep and all of a sudden, it was in the midst of that same worship time that unexpectantly, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself physically appeared before my very own eyes over the multitude of worshipers.
It was not a picture in my mind, rather I was able to see Him with my own physical eyes! He was literally receiving the worship and praise of His people! His arms were out and His face was filled with so much joy and love, there are no words to describe it! I was literally seeing Psalm 22:3 before my eyes and yet at the time, I knew almost nothing about the Bible. Then, the Lord Jesus looked at me and came directly towards me. He then held me from behind, and as He was holding me up, He spoke and shared some very powerful things to me. (There are more details to this encounter) But I couldn’t deny that Jesus is real and is alive!
I gave all my life to Christ and was born again.
Three days later on the last day of the conference without even knowing this existed, I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire after two women prayed for me in the hallway of that conference!
After that encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, everything changed in an instant. All the addictions I had were completely broken off without any cravings for the past 19 years and by God’s grace for the rest of my life. It was also during these encounters with the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit that the Lord called me as a preacher and to preach His gospel to the nations.
I finished my last year of business school and then attended 7 years of bible school (Christian International for 3 years and then the International House of Prayer for 4 years). Then, youth pastoring in an urban context and fostering for a time. The Lord, in His perfect timing, brought that word given to me in 2000 at an Aglow conference to pass. Since 2012, my wife and I have been doing crusade evangelism, partnering with church planters in various countries and are currently serving in Argentina. We are fully appointed Assembly of God missionaries.
We give God the glory for Aglow and share about how God used the ministry of Aglow, and the power of worship all over the world wherever the Lord takes us! We’ve been meaning to share this testimony for many, many years now, and we hope in some way it brings great encouragement to you.