Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Never Knowing What's in Store...
Well, we did have our first Bible study in Tacoma this past Friday and I have to say it was encouraging. I honestly had no idea what to expect because this is the first time we have done something like this. God is obviously moving in our new city and is preparing us to plant and grow The Pathway but with each new day comes new challenges, exciting opportunities and a world of uncertainties that demand an ever increasing faith in the God of the Universe.
As usual we fed quite a few people at the park and just continued to build new relationships and develop existing ones. Every week we go through 40 hot dogs, 20 hamburgers and an unknown number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches courtesy of a diverse group of people that include, college students, retirees, the homeless and others. After the big feed we invited anyone and everyone to stay for a short Bible study and 4 people took us up on the offer. One of the guys was a street person named Thomas who has been hanging out with us almost every week. Shannon, one of our Tacoma interns has been able to share the gospel with him and talk to him about the salvation that can only be found in Jesus Christ. He stayed for the entire study but right now he believes we are just a bunch of well-meaning and idealistic young adults who haven't seen the real challenges and heart-ache that this world can and will bring. We'll see what Jesus does in Thomas' heart!
We also met a new couple, Boom and Michelle, who profess faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This married couple lives in a nearby apartment and are fired up to reach the community for Jesus. Boom is an ex-con and a recovering alcoholic but he and his wife seem to genuinely be on the right track. They had questions about the trinity and other things regarding their faith and seemed to have a hunger to be discipled. That was very encouraging.
As is the case with most situations where the Lord is moving Satan was also at work. Zach, another one of our interns, spent quite a while talking with Curtis, a new guy to the group who claimed to love Jesus. He stayed for our Bible study and we quickly realized that he did not recognize Jesus as God and he simply wanted to be loud and belligerent while we tried to speak the truth of scripture. After giving him a chance to share his feelings and speak his mind I finally had to ask him to leave. It was disturbing and sad but God used it to wake us all up to the spiritual warfare that is taking place in all our lives on a daily basis. We cannot hope to reach people in victory if we are not going to our knees in battle!
Thank you for all your prayers and we would ask that you continue to lift us and the people we are trying to reach with the gospel up in prayer. I can't wait to see what God has in store!
As usual we fed quite a few people at the park and just continued to build new relationships and develop existing ones. Every week we go through 40 hot dogs, 20 hamburgers and an unknown number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches courtesy of a diverse group of people that include, college students, retirees, the homeless and others. After the big feed we invited anyone and everyone to stay for a short Bible study and 4 people took us up on the offer. One of the guys was a street person named Thomas who has been hanging out with us almost every week. Shannon, one of our Tacoma interns has been able to share the gospel with him and talk to him about the salvation that can only be found in Jesus Christ. He stayed for the entire study but right now he believes we are just a bunch of well-meaning and idealistic young adults who haven't seen the real challenges and heart-ache that this world can and will bring. We'll see what Jesus does in Thomas' heart!
We also met a new couple, Boom and Michelle, who profess faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This married couple lives in a nearby apartment and are fired up to reach the community for Jesus. Boom is an ex-con and a recovering alcoholic but he and his wife seem to genuinely be on the right track. They had questions about the trinity and other things regarding their faith and seemed to have a hunger to be discipled. That was very encouraging.
As is the case with most situations where the Lord is moving Satan was also at work. Zach, another one of our interns, spent quite a while talking with Curtis, a new guy to the group who claimed to love Jesus. He stayed for our Bible study and we quickly realized that he did not recognize Jesus as God and he simply wanted to be loud and belligerent while we tried to speak the truth of scripture. After giving him a chance to share his feelings and speak his mind I finally had to ask him to leave. It was disturbing and sad but God used it to wake us all up to the spiritual warfare that is taking place in all our lives on a daily basis. We cannot hope to reach people in victory if we are not going to our knees in battle!
Thank you for all your prayers and we would ask that you continue to lift us and the people we are trying to reach with the gospel up in prayer. I can't wait to see what God has in store!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Bible Study #1... Today!!!
Hey faithful followers of our little blog. Just wanted to thank you all for praying and I would ask that you continue to lift us up in prayer today. More than praying for us though, please pray that God would bring the right people to our Bible study this evening at 6pm pacific time. In order for this church to accomplish it's purpose we must see the lost saved and the saved discipled. Well, that starts today! We'll let you kow how it goes...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Pathway continues...
The last couple weeks have been hard ones for me personally but God, as always, knows exactly how much I can handle and he never gives me more than I can bear! This past Friday we went back to Tacoma and it was once again amazing to see the doors that God is opening. Friday morning we were able to serve at one of the Tacoma Rescue Mission's family communities. We were able to meet a few people but mostly we were doing practical, physical labor that needed to be done.
That afternoon we spent 2 hours prayer walking the neighborhoods that we will be surveying over the next month. Please be in prayer for the individuals and the families that we will be meeting. Pray that God opens doors that only he can open and that we begin to see lives changed and saved by the gospel!
Friday evening we had another awesome time at Wright Park. The gospel was laid out specifically for multiple people. Becca was able to share the truth with one lady who I believe was a prostitute. It was so sad to see her lifestyle and hear her worldview but it was also amazing to hear Becca share the truth of Jesus with her. We also met a new guy named Sonny who has spent quite a bit of time in prison and is now moving back and forth between living on the streets and living with a buddy of his. I was able to walk him through the "Romans Road" and explain the gospel to him. Unfortunately I think he may have been on something so he didn't seem to be comprehending very well. Please pray for Sonny and others that we met this Friday that God would be softening their hearts.
All that we are doing and all that you are praying for is for the express purpose of seeing lives changed by the gospel. Please pray this week for our first Bible study which we will hold this coming Friday at Wright Park at 6pm. We're excited to see what the Lord does and honestly don't know what to expect. It will be amazing to see what Jesus does!
That afternoon we spent 2 hours prayer walking the neighborhoods that we will be surveying over the next month. Please be in prayer for the individuals and the families that we will be meeting. Pray that God opens doors that only he can open and that we begin to see lives changed and saved by the gospel!
Friday evening we had another awesome time at Wright Park. The gospel was laid out specifically for multiple people. Becca was able to share the truth with one lady who I believe was a prostitute. It was so sad to see her lifestyle and hear her worldview but it was also amazing to hear Becca share the truth of Jesus with her. We also met a new guy named Sonny who has spent quite a bit of time in prison and is now moving back and forth between living on the streets and living with a buddy of his. I was able to walk him through the "Romans Road" and explain the gospel to him. Unfortunately I think he may have been on something so he didn't seem to be comprehending very well. Please pray for Sonny and others that we met this Friday that God would be softening their hearts.
All that we are doing and all that you are praying for is for the express purpose of seeing lives changed by the gospel. Please pray this week for our first Bible study which we will hold this coming Friday at Wright Park at 6pm. We're excited to see what the Lord does and honestly don't know what to expect. It will be amazing to see what Jesus does!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Lessons learned...
Well, I learned a valuable lesson today... church planting is hard. Now, most of you probably think that's an obvious statement and up until this point I would have said the same thing. However, up until now we have had nothing but encouragement on this journey toward planting The Pathway. But this week, my faith has been tested and discouragement has reared its ugly head.
We spent today in Tacoma, our 3rd full Friday in our new city, and it just wasn't happening today. Being the 3rd of July, many of the business we were attempting to survey were closed. But overall, I just felt spiritually dry. Things weren't clicking, spiritual conversations weren't happening, things were just tough. I just cried out to Jesus and told him that I would never give up, I would never quit. He's called us to reach this city on the good days and on the discouraging days and that's exactly what we're going to do.
We did have several great things happen though. The two streets where we are spending most of our time are Pacific Ave. and 6th Ave. God allowed us to meet people on both streets today that have conference rooms attached to their business and said we were welcome to hold Bible studies there... for free. It's amazing how God is opening doors and setting things in motion. We were able to hang out with many of the same people this week at the park and we are beginning to be known and recognized by the people that spend their time there! We even heard some of the guys telling the other guys that we were okay and they could go eat some food with us.
Plans are in place to hold our first Bible study July 17th at Wright Park. Please be in prayer for us and that God would bring the right people. Our passion is to teach God's word and see people saved! We can't wait to see what happens. Thanks for reading about our journey and praying for us along the way.
We spent today in Tacoma, our 3rd full Friday in our new city, and it just wasn't happening today. Being the 3rd of July, many of the business we were attempting to survey were closed. But overall, I just felt spiritually dry. Things weren't clicking, spiritual conversations weren't happening, things were just tough. I just cried out to Jesus and told him that I would never give up, I would never quit. He's called us to reach this city on the good days and on the discouraging days and that's exactly what we're going to do.
We did have several great things happen though. The two streets where we are spending most of our time are Pacific Ave. and 6th Ave. God allowed us to meet people on both streets today that have conference rooms attached to their business and said we were welcome to hold Bible studies there... for free. It's amazing how God is opening doors and setting things in motion. We were able to hang out with many of the same people this week at the park and we are beginning to be known and recognized by the people that spend their time there! We even heard some of the guys telling the other guys that we were okay and they could go eat some food with us.
Plans are in place to hold our first Bible study July 17th at Wright Park. Please be in prayer for us and that God would bring the right people. Our passion is to teach God's word and see people saved! We can't wait to see what happens. Thanks for reading about our journey and praying for us along the way.
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