Work Day this Saturday, September 29!!!

WHERE: CALIFORNIA STREET JUST OFF CLASSEN DOWNTOWN ACROSS FROM CITY RESCUE MISSION

WHEN: THIS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH FROM 9AM-2PM

TO BRING: YOURSELF, READY TO WORK !!!

In the Process of Setting up a 501c3

It has appeared to us that God is leading us to set up a non-for-profit.  We are currently working on putting together a board of directors.  Please be in prayer that God would lead us to the right people who are to be apart of this aspect of the ministry.

Another breakthrough with Roland

About a week and half ago, I met a guy name Roland who had come up to me while I was talking with a gang banger name Demarcus (which i will tell you about in a few minutes).  Anyway, Roland comes up to me and says that since we had prayed last week in the streets that his life has really changed.  All of the things that he had previously done were no longer feeling right.  I was totally blown away.  You see, it was about a week and half ago, I felt the LORD had told me to get down on my knees with him on the street and pray right there on the spot.  It was a sweet but bizarre moment as two dudes were praying, kneeling, on the sidewalk on this street filled with crack.  It was so powerful.  For you see, even following that prayer, another homeless guy comes over with a bucket of Bibles and they had about a 2 hour Bible study on the sidewalk.  It was awesome.

Alright, back to Demarcus.   This guy is 23 years old and before I had met Roland, he comes up me and Ryan and says that he needs help.  You see, this guy was in the crack house when the police had raided the building.  He and I walked through the building together and he showed me all sorts of stuff.  Well, it was awesome to see how God was breaking him even there in the building.  I invited him to go through the building and pray and repent of anything that he needed to get right.  So he went through many of the rooms.  It was great.  I am still waiting to see what God does with him.

The Benefit Dessert

On Saturday, September 22, a house church put together a benefit dessert for the Refuge. It was a wonderful night with great music with our friends Shannon Horn and Emery Clark and a great spread of wonderful desserts. It was a great turn out with a good group of people from various churches and communities.

It was awesome to see all that God did in stirring in the hearts not to mention the wonderful financial gifts many gave to Leanne and I. It was such a blessing. I think, though, of all that happened, it was so exciting to talk to the many people afterwards, who expressed a deep desire to be used in the inner city.

One special moment was when our friend Kristin Grauer read from her journal. Her expression for her desire to see God move in the inner city and the city as a whole was amazing. I can’t wait to see how God responds to this heart of hers.

Big break through with Juan

Juan is a good friend of mine who lives on the streets.  He is so awesome and has been one of those guys that the LORD has really brought us together.  I truly love him.  Anway, I have been just living life with this guy and dropping the Word on him as the LORD opens different doors.

Well, the night before, I couldn’t sleep at all.  I actually didn’t really fall asleep until about 4am that morning.  I got down to the building around 9am and asked Juan how he was doing.  He said, “not that good…I had a long night”.  He said that he too had been up thinking about his life and how he needs to change it.  He told me that he has a desire to stop drinking and wants to get off the streets.

I took him over to the Salvation Army adult rehabilitation center, which is a really cool place.  I had been there before hanging out with Craig Parsley (which some of you know of).  I had visited there several times and knew some of the people who worked there.  Anyway, we got Juan signed up and now i am just waiting to hear from them when they will have an opening.  I will keep you posted.

Our first Bible study in the building

Our first Bible study/prayer meeting went off and it was amazing. There were about 30 or so of our friends who came down to have House church there. This house church, Buella, have a missional call to the inner city and so there was no greater place to meet that night than in the old crack house. Utilizing the new (to us) pews, we had a great place for casting the vision and sharing the purpose of the building. It was also there that this group prayed over Leanne and I. It was so cool for us as following the prayer, I looked up and the group had spread out and were walking the grounds praying and signing in song. It was so awesome. It felt much like the upper room in the book of Acts.

I met the new president of the rescue mission

This was a good day for me.  For some time, the rescue mission across the street has been without a president.  Today, I met with him and he expressed an excitement to see how God was going to use the both of us to reach this street, California Ave.  Be in prayer for this relationship.

We Now Have Pews

On Wednesday, we were given pews. This is so crazy. For you see, many people have been seeing a church in this downstairs area. And I was just thinking, whatever…we will see. So, now we have pews and there are enough to seat about 150 – 200 people. This is so cool. Our desire for this downstairs area is for believers who want to be apart of fulfilling the great commission (disciple, baptize, teach) will be allowed to use this as a hub for ministry purposes.

The guy who was instrumental in getting the pews was Jose. Jose is a friend of mine who we met a few weeks back. He came from Los Angeles for the same reason we were called out. His heart is to see a work in Oklahoma. We have been so blessed to get to know him and his family. He has a great story of how God brought him out here. One day, I would like to post his story on the blog.

One neat thing, was that Jose and his family had us over to their house for a Mexican meal. We had been longing for real Mexican food and boy this stuff was the real deal. It was so good. And if it wasn’t enough just to go over there, they sent us home with tons of left overs. Leanne and I feasted on it for 2 days.

Crazy stuff been going on downtown!!!

On Saturday, September 8th, we had a wonderfully awesome work day. A work day where a group from Bridgeway Church came down to volunteer. Our task was to clean outside and the back of the alley. This alley is often used for crack deals, passing out from drunkeness, and other lude acts. We found in the back trash, weeds, beer bottles, carpet, broken glass, cardboard, etc. Well, we went for it and cleaned it up. What was so awesome was that a homeless guy began to help along side of us. The reason why this was so important to us was that we desire to see those who are sitting around aimless begin to contribute and give back to the community. We were so blessed to have him join us.

About an hour later, one group left, and while my friend Ryan and I were working our way around the block, we met several new people.

One guy is named Steve. He and his family (wife, daughter, and son) have been living in the rescue mission for a while. He and his friend came over and started helping us edge the street with a weed eater. This was awesome as about 15 – 30 people who sit on the street corner were watching about 4 or 5 people just start cleaning up.

About a half hour later, a group of college students went walking by. I turned off my weed eater and asked them if they were praying. They said, “yes, we are; are you Tim?” I said, “yes I am” and a friendship has begun with a group of about 10 college students. One guy, Parker, has been coming down to the building quitet often. A few minutes later, another group came down and asked if I knew a guy name Tim. I said, “I am he” and they blessed me with a sandwich, an orange, and water. This was absolutely amazing stuff considering that the 15 – 30 people are still watching this stuff go down.

About 30 minutes later, this entire group of college students get out and say that this guy wants to talk to a pastor. I approach the car that this guy is sitting in and say, “you are looking for a pastor?” He says, “yes”. I said, “well, sure, i am one as well as all of these people, for we are all high priests, a chosen generation.” This homeless guy is sort of taken back. You see, here in the Bible belt, pastors are professionals and have resources and stuff. But what I told him is here are some warriors who are here for him. So after talking with him for a few minutes, I asked him if we can pray for him. So about 15 of us gather around this guy and lay hands on him in the middle of the street. This was the first time that I have ever begun to show this sort of openness on the street. The main reason for not being so open is that I didn’t want the people on the street to just think that I am trying to make a scene. But I felt at that moment, we were being called to go public. After talking a few more minutes with this guy, it was apparent that he wasn’t able to receive anything that we were saying, and so i stopped and looked at the students and said, I am sorry, but there is nothing that we can do at this point…and I walked away. And, I was sort of taken back by the moment that I could be so abrupt without any real explanation to the group and just walk away. And it was as if the LORD showed me that is what He means by if they don’t receive it, to take off your sandals and wipe the dust off, and move on. What a great moment of learning for me.

A few minutes later, I see a young man who had stolen some tools from me in the past, and had many conversations with him about the sin that he is trapped in. One of those conversations was pretty straight to the point about how the crack was leading him down the road of destruction, but that he wouldn’t change until he was broken. As he was walking away, I told him, to have fun, for sin is fun for a season, but that he would soon be back in misery. So, there he was, sitting down, watching all of this stuff going down. And I yelled across the street at him with the rest of the people watching, and said, “hey John, how is the crack going?” I said, “how are you feeling about now.” He said, “miserable”. I said, “right on”. It was crazy, as this guy is shouting across the street how he is feeling miserable because of the crack, and he was saying this in front of 30 other crack users. This was a great moment.

That was all for that Saturday morning.

Saturday night

I had been invited to attend a Bible study/house church thing with a group of our friends. It was there that I met some great friends of ours now. Their names are Joey and Stephanie Fisher and Darin. Joey and Darin work together in the Oklahoma Stock Yards (a famous place in Oklahoma as this is where they auction beef in the midwest). Anyway, they are two guys who visit often at the building and help in many ways.

Joey is a guy who just has a heart to be used to minister down there in the inner city. Darin says that his heart is to help in the administration end of things. He has been contacting owners of the land next door and is currently working on trying to get ideas of how to block off the alley in the back as we continue to look for ways to eliminate places for darkness to linger.

I am excited to see all who God is stirring in their hearts to be used down there.