Lemon Grove - expansion #1

This is the first of (prayerfully) many expansions from this Ministry. If this particular region continues from the team the Lord has chosen, they will be authoring/sharing what GOD, The Father is doing in Lemon Grove.... but as for now, I shall share what we experienced on this day.

Amanda, James, Dina, and myself all met with the home of The Brown family. There we met with their home fellowship group, eager to go out as foot soldiers for the sake of Jesus Christ. The previous night they had spend time building these goodie bags that we could easily pass out once we hit the streets. The Lord provided the following items for the packs: Socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, bottled waters, bars of soap, and of course small Gospel tracks, including the book of John.

Weeks before, I had 'scouted the land' and discovered that majority of the neighbors hang out near Food-4-Less, we once we were all prayed up, we made a caravan to see who was waiting for us. Our first encounter was with 3 gentlemen who were happy to meet us. Each received a bag and an invitation to dinner at a near by park. Then another guy showed up, got the exact same items and invitation too. There were close to 15 of us, so we decided to break up in groups and do some foot work spreading out.

My particular group did not have any more run-in's but other groups did and even got the opportunity to pray with some folks. After about an hour, I ran over to pick up a generous food donation from Papa Johns Pizza. Our rally point for dinner was a local park in the historical part of Lemon Grove. Once we got set up, slowly came walking around the corner was one of the guys who accepted the invitation for a free dinner. His name is Rick.

Rick was full of helpful information regarding the locals in the area. He confessed that nobody else would be attending our dinner, due to the location of the park behind next door to the Sheriff's station. (I understood why, but only because I have some time under my belt.) Our friends had a good time getting to know Rick. I hope that he felt comfortable with us. I know he enjoyed the hot pizza! He allowed us to pray for him and his physical healing.

We certainly did not want all this food to go to waste, so we opted to drive around and just depend on the Holy Spirit to direct us where He wanted us to go. By this time, the sun had set and the coolness of the night was starting to creep in.

We were led behind a liquor store. There we met a group of guys all drinking some booze. Surprisingly enough, they already had a Papa Johns Pizza box with them. The alpha of that group was named "T". He was very suspicious of us at first, even hesitant to accept anything from us, but eventually opened up and admitted that the pizza box was empty. He was hungry. One of the 4 men sitting with him, needed a blanket. Surely enough, one of the volunteers had one readily available to bless him. The man couldn't believe it. He even shouted out: Thank you GOD, and said he loved us. It was neat for our new team to see the pleasure that something so simple could bring to somebody who is in need. It's all done in love and under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our next encounter was our last for the night but only because it took a decent amount of time. We met 2 younger men slouched behind another liquor store beside a dumpster, drinking some beer. They too suspected us to be Police, but I assured him we are only there to love on them and tell them about Jesus. The first guy, Sean, claimed to be a Christian and a "weekend drinker". He wasn't really trying to hear what we were talking about. His friend, Henry, was more interested in hearing about this love we spoke of....

Henry has alot of hurt deep inside him. He told us that he tries to hurt himself when he drinks because he cares nothing about his own life. We prayed with Henry. As we laid hands on him, huddled around, he started to convulse and shake violently. I continued to pray without ceasing or interruption. I'm confident that something unseen and spiritual was happening in our presence. Henry broke down and started crying. I took a step back and wanted the other 2 men with me to experience this, as this would be their regional Ministry (if that's what GOD plans). Before we left for the night, Rudy told me that Henry and he prayed again. It was then that Henry fell to his knees. We do not know whether Henry will remember what he experienced this night, but we pray that GOD would make Himself known to Henry and to Sean.

This was a great experience for the home fellowship. I know that this Ministry can be a real culture-shock to most, but I guarantee that this group will never see "Homeless people" the same again.

Our GOD is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G GOD!!!

Truth be told, this week finances were a little tight for Amanda and I, which in turn would have been tight on the Ministry. If it weren't for an incredible miracle (that still gives goosebumps) we may not have had enough money for a meal tonight. No... we didn't get rich or anything like that, but GOD did show Himself faithful to provide what was needed for His glory.

The man who runs the kitchen at our church, called me mid-week, saying he tons of left-over food and instantly thought of us. So tonight we served somewhere between 300-400 hot dogs, baked beans, coleslaw, and potato salad. This was obviously GOD's perfect planning because had we been able to stick to our norm, we would have run out long before the line finished coming through, but instead we had an abundance of food!!!! It was completely amazing to see all the puzzle pieces fall into place.

I thought it was appropriate due to the hot dogs, to talk about condiments, which lead to sharing about the mustard seed parable. For the most part this group is starting to pay attention to scripture and the seeds are growing. The feed-back I receive from our neighbors is very encouraging. Although I'm not ordained, they all see me as their Pastor... in fact they call me "Pastor", which I think is kinda cute because they took it upon themselves to start that. I strongly feel called to become a Pastor but only want what GOD has planned for me.

We've made some new friends who've become a part of the LTN team. I truly appreciate every person that GOD gives us to serve with. Each individual brings such a unique element to the team. I love how GOD orchestrates all those things.

We are still praying where GOD wants us (location wise). I'm on the fence about staying where we are. My flesh wants to 'make a stand for our freedom to be here', while I feel a gentleness inside telling me to love all our neighbors and to keep a peace between those who have and those who have not. Is it time to relocate? We just don't know. The Lord has given me people who want to help us from an administrative perspective, which could lead us to far greater things. For now, we shall take things one day at a time.

Tomorrow, we start a brand new branch of LTN out in Lemon Grove, CA. I'll be sure to share how that goes afterwards! Until then...

Friday (8/19/11)...

Everything went smooth without incident this week.

Marci joined us again and brought down a large birthday cake so we can celebrate all those for the month of August. Her idea is so thoughtful and loving. As the majority of 100+ people sang together, you could see the incredible joy it brought to those we sang to. It's not always about preaching or distributing materials down here.... to sum everything we do up.... it's all about loving our neighbors.

What baffles me is the tremendous encouragement we receive from all people passing by and yet there are select people who still oppose what we do. I've been reading alot from Proverbs this month and there is a repeated theme talking about those who oppose the helping hand of the needy. Shame on them.

I do wonder what GOD has in store for us next...