My name is Angel Vasquez, I pastor a small Bible Believing Church in Imperial Beach California. We recently invited brother Iannello to a vocational training school where we minister. This is a school for young adults looking to earn their GEDs and prepare for a career. But for many of these students this is their last resort before they end up in jail or go back to the life they had on the streets. What’s more, with recent cuts in government funding, every day the students and faculty are uncertain if they’ll even continue to stay there with a roof over their heads. There is a spirit of hopelessness and fear so dense you can cut it with a knife (Heb. 4:12).

When brother Iannello came to visit, we rallied the students on campus to come and hear an “Old School Bodybuilder” show us how to “lift more, hurt less, and feel better”. Many of the young men there (and even some young women!) were interested in attending once they found out how much brother Iannello used to bench in his bodybuilding days (350lbs!). Who would’ve thought young men are interested in looking and being stronger?

As we gathered everyone into the campus’ weight room, brother Iannello gave a physical and spiritual masterclass on how to Press On. Young students, sitting on heavy gym equipment in a hot and sweaty room listened intently for the hour as evangelist Iannello explained the basics of nutrition, diet, lifting, routine and more all while adding scripture to each principle taught. The strangest thing was to see young adults (16-24), who ordinarily couldn’t sit for longer than 15 minutes without scrolling through their phones, actually watch and listen while some even took notes!

The seminar concluded with an invitation to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 young men rose their hand that night and afterwards those same men along with the rest of the crowd hung around the weight room. They asked brother Iannello questions about lifting technique, safety and other things! Many of the people there even asked if they could have us text them a copy of his notes so they could practice what they heard behind the pulpit. As we begrudgingly had to say goodbye, the young men gave us a standing ovation. The spirit in that room had completely changed. The looming spiritual tension was gone, replaced with a light and lively spirit; young men (and even a few women) thankful for getting to learn from an old school bodybuilder on how they could Press On for Jesus.

This was not something that we had planned to go as well as it did (although we had hoped it would) but brother Iannello was quick to adapt on the fly and deliver a spirit-led message that was absolutely needed for that moment in time. To my knowledge, this kind of “seminar” was not a normal thing for his ministry either (although he made it look easy), but looking back on it this was an incredible way to reach young adults looking to better themselves both physically and spiritually. I’m hopeful to hear that this will not be the first of these kinds of outreaches and know the Holy Spirit could mightily use more outside-the-box preaching like this!

Pastor Angel Vasquez
Bible Believers Baptist Church
Imperial Beach, CA
https://bbbcofib.com/