Nearly 60 Christians Take Gospel Outreach to Space Coast Pride

Editor

28 Sep 2026 — 3 min read

A moment of prayer — evangelists at the 2026 Space Coast Pride Parade pray for attendees after the parade concludes.

MELBOURNE — Christians representing more than 15 local congregations took part in an evangelism outreach at the Space Coast Pride Parade and Festival on Saturday, marking a fourth consecutive year of coordinated Christian witness at the historically contentious event.

Outreach participants gathered early Saturday near the Melbourne Auditorium, where the main festival was held this year, to pray and discuss logistics before dividing into teams positioned along the parade route and outside the auditorium.

“We represent a lot of different churches out here today,” Brandon Gish, pastor of Reformation Bible Church in Melbourne and a key organizer of the fourth annual outreach, told the group before they dispersed. “Let’s not get stuck on theology out there. We’re all brothers today.”

Outside the organized outreach team, other local Christian groups were also on-site engaging attendees with prayer and conversation.

Participants came from a wide range of Christian traditions, including Baptist, Reformed, Charismatic, and Roman Catholic congregations. During the festival and parade, they prayed with attendees, passed out tracts, shared the Gospel through personal conversations and engaged in open-air preaching.

“We had some close to 60 Christians there today,” Seth Tweeddale, state faith director for Citizens Defending Freedom and one of the outreach organizers, said during a recap later that evening at Truth Fest in Viera. “We had some great street preachers. Three people came to know Christ.”

The three commitments to Christ were reported by Brevard-based evangelist Donnie Emenegger. Organizers were still gathering stories and testimonies Saturday evening, with additional reports expected.

The multi-congregational outreach has grown considerably since 2023, when Cronan recalled that only about 10 Christians participated. It was last year that the outreach exploded, with reported participation similar to this year.

While the Christian outreach has grown, organizers said the Pride crowd itself appeared noticeably smaller than in previous years.

“It was a ghost town,” Cronan, who led a team along the parade route, said of the Downtown Melbourne pre-parade audience, where thousands have gathered in past years.

*Adam Cronan, center, of Fire start ministries talks with a parade bystander.*

The setting was different as well. While the parade still moved through Downtown Melbourne, the main festival activities were held at the Melbourne Auditorium for the first time rather than throughout the downtown streets.

“We moved them indoors to the Melbourne Auditorium,” Tweeddale said, crediting the sustained Christian presence at previous festivals with contributing to organizers’ decision to relocate the main event.

Space Coast Pride officially describes the move on its website as an effort to provide a more accessible environment and help keep the event “inclusive, safer, and fun for everyone.”

Outside the auditorium, however, attendees waited in lines that gave evangelists an extended opportunity to speak with them.

“The only thing that they heard for hours was the Gospel of Christ Jesus,” Tweeddale said.

*Participants pose for a group photo before the start of the outreach at the Space Coast Pride Festival in downtown Melbourne.*

View more photos from the 2026 Space Coast Pride Parade outreach on Facebook:

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