Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Our first week indoors...
Our first week to meet indoors was incredible! We had 5 adults, 1 student and 3 children plus our team. God is truly and genuinely working and I'm blown away almost daily!
Let me tell you about Crystal. A little over a week ago we had small team here from the Frio River Baptist Association in south Texas. They just wanted to come and see what God was doing and how their individual churches and association as a whole would be able to partner with us. Well, on their last day here we all went out to IHOP for breakfast near the airport. Our waitress, Crystal, after taking our orders asked what we were all together for (I guess we didn't look like we fit together). I told her that one half of the table was a part of a new church being started in Tacoma and the other half was a part of a couple other churches in Texas that are helping us. She said okay and walked a way.
A couple of minutes later she came back and asked if our church offers anything on a day other than Sundays (because she works)? I said, "actually, our only Bible study right now is on Friday nights." She walked away again and then a few minutes later came back in tears saying that her sister had been killed in a car accident in July and she had taken custody of her 3 year old daughter (along with 2 children of her own). Crystal told us that the 3 year old had been asking questions about why her mommy hadn't come back and she just didn't know how to answer. She shared with us that being fairly young (mid-twenties) she hadn't thought too much about death and what comes next and definitely didn't know how to explain it to a 3 year old.
Well-- this story could go forever but she ended up coming to our Bible study this past Friday and brought her 3 kids. The team that was with us at IHOP had brought with them a bunch of children's ministry supplies gathered by their church which allowed Crystal's kids to have a blast in another room while we walked through the word with her.
I don't believe Crystal is a believer... yet. But I am certain that she sees God in all this and that she is running to us because she sees the hope that we have! Please pray for Crystal as she digs into her faith and pray specifically that she would give her life to Jesus! We're praying that she comes back this week and that God continues to spark change in the lives of people!
Let me tell you about Crystal. A little over a week ago we had small team here from the Frio River Baptist Association in south Texas. They just wanted to come and see what God was doing and how their individual churches and association as a whole would be able to partner with us. Well, on their last day here we all went out to IHOP for breakfast near the airport. Our waitress, Crystal, after taking our orders asked what we were all together for (I guess we didn't look like we fit together). I told her that one half of the table was a part of a new church being started in Tacoma and the other half was a part of a couple other churches in Texas that are helping us. She said okay and walked a way.
A couple of minutes later she came back and asked if our church offers anything on a day other than Sundays (because she works)? I said, "actually, our only Bible study right now is on Friday nights." She walked away again and then a few minutes later came back in tears saying that her sister had been killed in a car accident in July and she had taken custody of her 3 year old daughter (along with 2 children of her own). Crystal told us that the 3 year old had been asking questions about why her mommy hadn't come back and she just didn't know how to answer. She shared with us that being fairly young (mid-twenties) she hadn't thought too much about death and what comes next and definitely didn't know how to explain it to a 3 year old.
Well-- this story could go forever but she ended up coming to our Bible study this past Friday and brought her 3 kids. The team that was with us at IHOP had brought with them a bunch of children's ministry supplies gathered by their church which allowed Crystal's kids to have a blast in another room while we walked through the word with her.
I don't believe Crystal is a believer... yet. But I am certain that she sees God in all this and that she is running to us because she sees the hope that we have! Please pray for Crystal as she digs into her faith and pray specifically that she would give her life to Jesus! We're praying that she comes back this week and that God continues to spark change in the lives of people!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
More people catching the Vision!
We had a great time today with the vision team from the Frio River Baptist Association in south Texas. We started the morning having breakfast at one of Tacoma's hot spots, Shakabrah Java, and Pastor Duane from FBC Charlotte just couldn't seem to get the name right! I had an "Aloha" Omelet by the way and it was awesome.
We spent the morning just touring our city, praying and really letting the team get a feel fro who it is we are trying to reach. These times of driving around, walking and praying are rejuvenating for our team as well. Next the crew really helped us a lot by going door-to-door, that's right, knocking on doors, in the neighborhoods we are trying to impact. God gave some great insight into the spiritual climate of the communities and allowed us to meet some people who are interested in what we are doing as a church... pretty awesome!
Then we headed to Wright Park, which is always the best part of the day. God gave us incredible weather again today and the sun was shining brightly! There were lots of people at the park and we had great attendance at our Bible study. I think we actually had 6 high school students, two young adult guys, one single adult lady and one couple. The high school students provided an interesting and talkative dynamic (those who know me know that I am not gifted with the patience for youth ministry), but we were able to share truth from God's word and that is what matters!
We also met a lot of new people and got to invite a ton of people to meet with us in our new indoor location next week!!! Please be praying specifically this week for us to have a smooth transition from our park meeting location to our indoor location at the United Methodist Church of Tacoma. Pray that people come and that we develop a strong core of people to pour into and disciple over the winter. Also pray for my friend Antwon. He was laid off this week and seemed pretty frustrated about it. He has not yet attended our Bible study but he comes and hangs out with us every week. God is working and I can't wait to see what he does.
Thanks for your prayers!
We spent the morning just touring our city, praying and really letting the team get a feel fro who it is we are trying to reach. These times of driving around, walking and praying are rejuvenating for our team as well. Next the crew really helped us a lot by going door-to-door, that's right, knocking on doors, in the neighborhoods we are trying to impact. God gave some great insight into the spiritual climate of the communities and allowed us to meet some people who are interested in what we are doing as a church... pretty awesome!
Then we headed to Wright Park, which is always the best part of the day. God gave us incredible weather again today and the sun was shining brightly! There were lots of people at the park and we had great attendance at our Bible study. I think we actually had 6 high school students, two young adult guys, one single adult lady and one couple. The high school students provided an interesting and talkative dynamic (those who know me know that I am not gifted with the patience for youth ministry), but we were able to share truth from God's word and that is what matters!
We also met a lot of new people and got to invite a ton of people to meet with us in our new indoor location next week!!! Please be praying specifically this week for us to have a smooth transition from our park meeting location to our indoor location at the United Methodist Church of Tacoma. Pray that people come and that we develop a strong core of people to pour into and disciple over the winter. Also pray for my friend Antwon. He was laid off this week and seemed pretty frustrated about it. He has not yet attended our Bible study but he comes and hangs out with us every week. God is working and I can't wait to see what he does.
Thanks for your prayers!
Monday, September 21, 2009
New things all the time...
This past Friday at the park was great and frustrating at the same time! God gave us another beautiful sunny day which was great! Only two members of our team were able to be at the park this past Friday so that was tough. Schedules just worked out that way but there is always strength in numbers! We're looking forward to November when we'll all be living in Tacoma and although schedules will continue to be crazy, they will be more manageable!
God brought a ton of guys to the park this week which was also great since me and Tommy were there however, we only had one of our consistent Bible study attenders and he had to leave early... not sure where everyone was! Tommy was able to sit with a man named Axel along with a couple of others for several hours just talking about Jesus and explaining the gospel and the truth and salvation found exclusively in Jesus Christ.
Our "regular" Bible study didn't happen on Friday which was discouraging to me but I am confident God had other plans. I played basketball with some guys for most of the night and honestly nothing spiritual was happening. At the end of the night we were all sitting around talking and finally God just prompted me to ask them what they think about Jesus. There was that awkward silence that comes in a group of lost people when Jesus is brought up but after I prodded them a little they spoke up.
I found out two of the guys were Muslim (although not seemingly very devout) and a couple of them agreed that Jesus died on the cross for them but did not believe Jesus was God??? All of them were in the midst of packing up their stuff to head home but a few said they would be interested in learning more about why we believe what we believe about Jesus being God. They "promised" they would come back next week for Bible study so please pray specifically that they will show up so we will have more of an opportunity to share truth with them.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will move and grow the Kingdom by growing The Pathway!
Also... praise the Lord we have an indoor meeting location a block from the park beginning October 2nd!
God brought a ton of guys to the park this week which was also great since me and Tommy were there however, we only had one of our consistent Bible study attenders and he had to leave early... not sure where everyone was! Tommy was able to sit with a man named Axel along with a couple of others for several hours just talking about Jesus and explaining the gospel and the truth and salvation found exclusively in Jesus Christ.
Our "regular" Bible study didn't happen on Friday which was discouraging to me but I am confident God had other plans. I played basketball with some guys for most of the night and honestly nothing spiritual was happening. At the end of the night we were all sitting around talking and finally God just prompted me to ask them what they think about Jesus. There was that awkward silence that comes in a group of lost people when Jesus is brought up but after I prodded them a little they spoke up.
I found out two of the guys were Muslim (although not seemingly very devout) and a couple of them agreed that Jesus died on the cross for them but did not believe Jesus was God??? All of them were in the midst of packing up their stuff to head home but a few said they would be interested in learning more about why we believe what we believe about Jesus being God. They "promised" they would come back next week for Bible study so please pray specifically that they will show up so we will have more of an opportunity to share truth with them.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will move and grow the Kingdom by growing The Pathway!
Also... praise the Lord we have an indoor meeting location a block from the park beginning October 2nd!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Thank you for praying!
God is so good and he never does quite what I expect him to do... which is probably a good thing! This past Friday was wonderful but once again it was completely different than anything we have seen before. God answered our prayers and brought a beautiful day with nothing but sunshine and cool breezes and the park was alive again. However, most of the "regulars" that we were seeing so often were not there. However, God still brought about 8-10 Tacoman's to our Bible study and we had an awesome time. There was again some spiritual warfare during the study so I would ask that you would continue to pray that God would keep Satan out of what we are doing!
One awesome move from God was bringing my friend Antwan back to the park. He is one of the main-stays at the park and everyone knows and respects him. I hadn't seen him in about a month so I gave him a call when I saw it was sunny and invited him to the park. He showed up after working a 14 hour day at a factory just to hang out. He still didn't come to the Bible study but we talked for a while afterwards and I got to share some truth from scripture with him. Please pray that Antwan would put his faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of his life.
Well-- this week pray for God to bring another great day and that all the pieces would fall into place for our new meeting location! More to come as the journey of The Pathway continues!
One awesome move from God was bringing my friend Antwan back to the park. He is one of the main-stays at the park and everyone knows and respects him. I hadn't seen him in about a month so I gave him a call when I saw it was sunny and invited him to the park. He showed up after working a 14 hour day at a factory just to hang out. He still didn't come to the Bible study but we talked for a while afterwards and I got to share some truth from scripture with him. Please pray that Antwan would put his faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of his life.
Well-- this week pray for God to bring another great day and that all the pieces would fall into place for our new meeting location! More to come as the journey of The Pathway continues!
Friday, September 11, 2009
God answers prayer... lets see what's next
Just a quick update before I head to Tacoma today! God truly does answer prayer. I have been asking our team and others to pray for one more sunny day in Tacoma before winter fully hits. We haven't seen sun on a Friday afternoon in over a month. Well, as usual, God knows what he's doing. As I'm about to head out the door the sun is shining brightly. Can't wait to see the connections God gives us today.
If you're reading this on Friday, please pray that we will see some dramatic life change in the hearts of the people we are ministering to today. God has opened so many doors but we are praying that he opens the flood gates of salvation!
Also-- Becca H. and Tommy just called me after looking at a space in a Methodist Church that is a block away from the park we've been meeting at. They said it blew their expectations out of the water. Big room (40ish people), sink, bathrooms, private entrance to a parking lot, 1 block from the park and only $20/Friday!!! How awesome is God. I'm going to go look at it next week but it looks like God has answered yet another prayer and given us a place to meet indoors. He's so good.
Check back next week to hear how tonight goes. I expect great things from our great God!!!
If you're reading this on Friday, please pray that we will see some dramatic life change in the hearts of the people we are ministering to today. God has opened so many doors but we are praying that he opens the flood gates of salvation!
Also-- Becca H. and Tommy just called me after looking at a space in a Methodist Church that is a block away from the park we've been meeting at. They said it blew their expectations out of the water. Big room (40ish people), sink, bathrooms, private entrance to a parking lot, 1 block from the park and only $20/Friday!!! How awesome is God. I'm going to go look at it next week but it looks like God has answered yet another prayer and given us a place to meet indoors. He's so good.
Check back next week to hear how tonight goes. I expect great things from our great God!!!
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