STREET PRAYER COACHING #19: In the Beginning – How I got started. After teaching in the public school for about 23 years, the Lord called me to leave that profession and go into the ministry. I didn’t really know what “ministry” would mean, but it was clear that I was to get some training and give myself to that full time. One of my assignments in seminary was to spend a week living among the poor. I didn’t really want to do that, but it was a requirement, so I went to be with a ministry in the inner-city that fed, clothed and loved the homeless, poor, and street people of the community. Each day, God was chipping away at my heart, and I could feel more of His heart for the people on the street. I still had lots of questions about the theology and practice of really helping the poor in a holistic (complete) way, but I knew that God was calling me in some manner to minister on the street. Two events from that trip impacted me in a profound and life-changing way. The first was going out at night to bring a blanket and food to a disabled homeless guy living behind an abandoned warehouse. He asked us if we were Christians, and when we said yes, he laughed and said he had been praying that God would bring his some fellowship. He didn’t want the food or blanket, but he wanted to sing with us! We spent the next 20 minutes worshiping Jesus in that dark place, and as we all sang, the presence of God came in a way that I had never experienced before. I was literally stunned by the encounter we had with Jesus there. The second event occurred the night before I left when David, the leader of this ministry, got down on the floor and washed my feet. Something inside me broke, and all I could do was sob. My heart was changed, and I knew God had given me a commission to serve Him on the streets. I had no idea what that might look like! Several months later, I was reading the newspaper at breakfast and came across an article about a guy out in Redlands who would put out this A-fame sign by his truck in a dirt lot across from the hospital that simply said, “Need Prayer?” As I read the story about how people would stop and he would pray for them, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying to me, “You can do that.” It was a way for me to minister on the street without being weird! The people would come to me, and I could use my gifts and calling for prayer to bless and help others. I told a friend at church about this idea, and he found a dirt lot across the street from another hospital in another city to try it out. The first person we prayed for was a demonized homeless guy who kept coming over for prayer but would run away the moment we started to pray. He would come back ten minutes later and then run away again. This happened about five times, and I was thinking, “What have I got myself into?” About three weeks later I set the booth up again in the same location, and after praying for several people, I sensed the Lord directing me to be consistent and come back every week at the same time. Over the next 15 months of being there every week, we saw miracles! Many were healed and some found salvation in Christ. About three months into this first location we saw Jesus heal a man from stage 4 prostate cancer. It was at this point that I knew I was on to something special. God was really showing up, and people were being touched by the love and power of Jesus. I expanded into a second location and then others took the vision and ran with it too. I realize that this is not the only way to do outreach in the street. God is the author of creativity, and He is giving the church new and effective ways to reach out into the community. This is just one way, and I do not claim to have invented it. But it is a way to bring the Kingdom of God to the street and marketplace. After about three years, it feels like we are just getting started and this history is still being written.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 19:06:44 +0000
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