More in the park

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McCoy park

Sharing the love at the park
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Rev Kids Ministry

After a lengthy drive yesterday, we did ministry in the heart of Portland at Bridgetown Ministries.

We washed feet, handed out clothes, gave out sandwiches, prayed, and basically talked and loved on the homeless of Portland.

Now this Morning we are doing two sidewalk Sunday school outreaches in Portland. Good stuff on a very hot day.
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Late night drive

Enroute to Redding for a quick sleep, then off to Portland in the early morning.

Pray for safe and awake drivers. (And pray P. Thad does better at the alphabet game, he is being dominated!)
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Almost eaten by a shark

Good thing for the glass!
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Fun day for Jesus

At six flags
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Hitting up the Fishermans warf

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Progress

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Roof top demo

Roof top demo
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Construction today

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Morning prayer

Every morning at the mission we begin with prayer. What a great rime of devotion to the Lord.

This is our final day here, then we are off to Portland to the Bridgetown Ministries there.

Leading so many to Christ
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The girls are blessed

There is a 20 year old inter, Gillian that blessed the girls with some ice cream after ministry on the street.

Very nice!
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Street ministry

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Praying with people on the streets

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Sports Camp for kids in the park

Doing a vbs in the park. The young girls were helping with it. All are ministering
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Kitchen crew

Girls are here putting meals together for lunch. Great service this morning, saw three give their lives to Christ and many set free
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So many ways to serve

TJ Groves finds his calling at the Mission, florist!

Getting ready for service for the homeless. P. Thad bringing the word
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Made it to San Fran!

We made it! We are at the hotel in San Francisco. Recognize the Bridge? It didn't look very golden through the dirty window, but was still very cool to enter the city through such a cool way.

Lots of updates tomorrow I am sure.

This morning we enjoyed a service at Bethel in Redding, home of one of the students favorite worship leaders Kim Walker and Jesus Culture. Worship with her was very good, the environment was a bit different than we are used to. Very much more charismatic than we are used to operating and the service was nearly 3 hours. But some good take aways for sure.

Till tomorrow...keep praying, we covet that covering!

P. Thad
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Breakfast at Lumberjacks, good times
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A very powerful time of ministry

Saturday was marked by driving, potty break, driving, eating, driving, potty and more driving. Then after many miles and having proven ourselves through a half-dozen speed traps, we arrived in Redding, California. Our ministry was 30 minutes to the west and in the hills outside of Redding. A boys juvenile detention option for the State of California called the Canyon Creek Boys Ranch. Every young person in this facility is Male between the age of 15 and 18. Usually they have 40 boys, but due to budget cuts in California they are down to 25 on their road to closing.

When we arranged our ministry here back in January, we were reminded that this was a state run organization, and therefore needed to be very God centered and not so Jesus centered. Dana and I have been here multiple times before and were comfortable communicating that to the team, while still sharing a very clear Christ centered gospel presentation (just not in church language, more parable style). When we began to look at our team and get the students ready for tonight we realized just how powerful the line-up of testimonies was going to be for this very crowd. Sharing was; Ed Owen (about his son going through rehab and drug issues), Sal Carrera (about his family and the struggles with law and difference God has made), Kelsey Gray (how her family had been effected by drugs and her father being imprisoned), Josee Owen (the effects of drugs on a family from a sisters perspective), Hope Carrera (a sisters perspective of dealing with drugs, anger and how you can feel God), Chelie Rodriguez (the effects of gangs and drugs on her brothers and family)...then a gospel wrap up and prayer. The room was moved...the young men were forced to look into the mirror of what the realities were of their choices on the families and ones who love them. We told them the answer was Jesus, and through prayer they could change their destiny...and that is when the miracle happened.

The man in charge said he thought they should do things differently than normal. He said that prayer is a powerful thing, and even though they could not force anyone to stay, they wanted to provide an opportunity for God to open things up and get some things done in these students lives. He said to the young men that anyone who didn’t want prayer could leave, but those who remained were going to be prayed for one by one by our team. 5 left, but one returned and for the next hour we prayed over every one of these young men. Leading them to Christ, back to Christ, praying for their new born babies, families at home, temptations and everything else you can dream of.

One young man who was the first to leave, reentered the room and avoided prayer at first. He was sitting at a table and when I approached him and asked if he had been prayed for his reply was “no”. He said, “I have never done the God thing, but that one girl said that something happened to her...and she ‘felt God’”. I told him he could too, by inviting Jesus into his heart and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in and through his life he would be transformed beyond his dreams. He did pray, and not just with me. He worked the circuit and prayed with a few groups following that. Hope Carrera really touched this guy with a simple word in her testimony. Praise God for the power of testimonies.

That opportunity we just experienced was shocking. Nothing short of a miracle and divine appointment. Every person in our group will never forget the day the Holy Spirit paved the way for a powerful prayer gathering to occur at the Crystal Creek Boys Ranch outside Redding, California. It will leave a deep impact in every one of our lives. It will shape our future, give us way more boldness and faith when entering a risky environment with the power of the gospel. God is way bigger than any of us even could have imagined.

Just two days in...tomorrow is another drive to San Francisco and the main servant ministry kicks in. More posts to come!!

P. Thad