Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Wednesday, Stories from the streets
Dear Blog Readers/Prayer Warriors,
This is a story about my journey prayer walking yesterday. We came across two men - one was Muslim, the other completely lost and hurting. The first man's name was Hassaid. Hassaid was waiting outside the church for a friend who had gone to the drop off center, where they feed the homeless and help them clean up. Hassaid told us that he was having to go to jail in a few hours for a fight he had been in. We asked him about what he believed would save him from his sins, and he said he believed in a "God by a different name," and said he was Muslim. As we talked to him, Danielle told him that no sins were too great to be forgiven. She told him the story of the Woman Who Washes Jesus's Feet. He was very moved by the story. He said thinking about religion hurt his head though and that he was afraid he'd choose the wrong religion. By the end of the conversation, Hassaid promised he would start praying to a higher power to show him the true religion, which we told him was Christ.
The second man's name was Julius. Danielle actually saw his dog before she saw Julius and tried to play with the dog. When she was playing with him, the owner, Julius, came up and started talking to her. Julius was drinking as he talked to her, and he admitted to being a heroin addict. He said he had been in and out of jail and rehab all of his life. I asked what he thought would be able to cure him and he said the only option he knew of was suicide. I told him that he had a lot to live for like his dog Oscar and his girlfriend that he had told me about. He said he really missed his mum who had died two years ago, and I told him that if she was a believer (which she was) that the only way to see her again was to believe in Christ and have a good relationship with Him. When Danielle and Liz started praying for Julius in front of him, he began weeping and told us to stop praying because the pain was too much. We didn't stop praying for him though and by the end of the prayer, especially when we said we wanted Jesus to wipe away his sins and make Julius clean, Julius said "Amen." We promised we would continue praying for him that he would get sober and that he would find comfort in his pain through the love of Christ.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday night, Tuesday
Dear Prayer Warriors,
Last night we were given the opportunity to help teach the young adults at King's Cross Baptist Church in Camden how to story. Storying is a form of telling the Bible in an approachable, understandable way. The Spirit really moved through Danielle last night as she taught the class. She was able to not only explain the importance of storying to her, but teach the parable of the Four Soils last night. The class had a tremendous response to the workshop, and many said they felt moved to share the Gospel with others because of the class. It could change the way King's Cross works in the community to share God's love and Word with others and especially non-believers. Pray that the people of King's Cross will continue to use storying as a tool to help spread the Word of Christ and that they may find comfort in using storying as a tool to evangelize.
We woke up this morning and did more storying Bible studying on Luke 10. Today we really focused on obedience to God, reliance on Him, and the power of prayer in our missionary experiences. Then, we went to King's Cross again to learn another story. This morning, Meredith (the worker from Hunter Street for King's Cross) taught us the story of the Woman who Washes Jesus's feet. The morals behind that story are that no sin is too great to be forgiven, and we as Christians should never judge who has forgiveness and who doesn't.
After learning the story, we broke up into groups and did prayer walking/storying. A lot of the groups had a very moving and successful day. One group (Danielle and Liz) told the Washing of Jesus's feet story when talking to a Muslim who said he would start praying to find the "true religion" of Christ. The same group also talked to a drunk heroin addict who said he wanted to be cleaned up by Christ's love, and has decided to start going to church again. Another group (Charles, Alex, and Marc) talked to a homeless man who was a Christian and was encouraged by the telling of the Woman Washing the Woman's feet story. The same group told the four soils story to a gardener who really enjoyed hearing the story and planted a seed of Jesus in his agnostic heart. Another group (Spencer, Gay, Meredith and Mike) told someone they met in a drugstore the four soils story, and the man wanted to know more about Christianity so the group told him the Creation to Christ story; at the end, the man said he didn't know about Jesus but the group did feel like he did believe in God. The same group also talked to a "revolutionary socialist atheist" who used to be a Mormon and whom we are planning on trying to talk to Christ again.
Everyone had very emotional and impactful days today, and it is partly because of your prayers for us. Continue to pray that God will open doors for us, that we will follow His Spirit patiently, and that we have the physical, mental and emotional strength to carry on God's mission in London.
Praise God for all He has done for us this week and all He is planning on us to do later this week. Thank you Lord for all your blessings.
The London Team
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Last night we were given the opportunity to help teach the young adults at King's Cross Baptist Church in Camden how to story. Storying is a form of telling the Bible in an approachable, understandable way. The Spirit really moved through Danielle last night as she taught the class. She was able to not only explain the importance of storying to her, but teach the parable of the Four Soils last night. The class had a tremendous response to the workshop, and many said they felt moved to share the Gospel with others because of the class. It could change the way King's Cross works in the community to share God's love and Word with others and especially non-believers. Pray that the people of King's Cross will continue to use storying as a tool to help spread the Word of Christ and that they may find comfort in using storying as a tool to evangelize.
We woke up this morning and did more storying Bible studying on Luke 10. Today we really focused on obedience to God, reliance on Him, and the power of prayer in our missionary experiences. Then, we went to King's Cross again to learn another story. This morning, Meredith (the worker from Hunter Street for King's Cross) taught us the story of the Woman who Washes Jesus's feet. The morals behind that story are that no sin is too great to be forgiven, and we as Christians should never judge who has forgiveness and who doesn't.
After learning the story, we broke up into groups and did prayer walking/storying. A lot of the groups had a very moving and successful day. One group (Danielle and Liz) told the Washing of Jesus's feet story when talking to a Muslim who said he would start praying to find the "true religion" of Christ. The same group also talked to a drunk heroin addict who said he wanted to be cleaned up by Christ's love, and has decided to start going to church again. Another group (Charles, Alex, and Marc) talked to a homeless man who was a Christian and was encouraged by the telling of the Woman Washing the Woman's feet story. The same group told the four soils story to a gardener who really enjoyed hearing the story and planted a seed of Jesus in his agnostic heart. Another group (Spencer, Gay, Meredith and Mike) told someone they met in a drugstore the four soils story, and the man wanted to know more about Christianity so the group told him the Creation to Christ story; at the end, the man said he didn't know about Jesus but the group did feel like he did believe in God. The same group also talked to a "revolutionary socialist atheist" who used to be a Mormon and whom we are planning on trying to talk to Christ again.
Everyone had very emotional and impactful days today, and it is partly because of your prayers for us. Continue to pray that God will open doors for us, that we will follow His Spirit patiently, and that we have the physical, mental and emotional strength to carry on God's mission in London.
Praise God for all He has done for us this week and all He is planning on us to do later this week. Thank you Lord for all your blessings.
The London Team
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, October 7, 2013
Storying
Dear Prayer Warriors,
Our trip to London has already been filled with God's grace. We arrived on Saturday around noon, London time. Even though most of us were tired, we stayed up and prayer walked around Camden. We visited the Camden Market, which is an eccentric place filled with a lot of punk-rock influences and many different cultures. Then, we walked up Primrose Hill in the park and saw the most incredible view of London from on top of the hill. We prayed for the people that were in the park, and especially that God would open doors for us throughout the week. That prayer has been answered ten-fold already!
On Sunday, we had our Bible study at the hotel, went to service as King's Cross Baptist, had tea/lunch with members of the congregation, and then did a scavenger hunt around the city. The scavenger hunt consisted of a map with numbers corresponding to clues about different, unique things in London. One of the favorite stops was platform 9 3/4 at the St. Pan's Train Station, which is a tribute to Harry Potter. Even members of the team who had been to London many times before saw interesting things around the city they'd never seen before. A few of the teams also had opportunities to stop and talk to people who needed prayer. One team met a woman named Chloe, who was very sad and lonely, but was very thankful that people wanted to pray for her. After the scavenger hunt, most of the mission team went and prayer walked the Westminster area. We saw iconic London while we walked by the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square. We prayed for the government and people of London that they may once again find God's grace.
Monday, today, we started off the day again with Bible Study - Luke 10. We then went to King's Cross Church to learn more about storying. Storying is a way of telling people about the Bible in a more approachable, conversational way. We learned the Creation to Christ story, which encapsulates the key parts of the Bible into one story. Then, the mission team and a few members of King's Cross went people mapping and prayer walking. Each group met different strangers and asked them about their lives and their ideas on faith. Some of the stories were very moving, including one where a team met a homeless man who cried with joy when they asked to pray with him. Another team met a man who was sitting on King's Cross's doorstep, and they got to tell him the story of the Four Soils from Mark 4. God opened up the doors for all of these opportunities, and they wouldn't have been possible without prayer.
Tonight, we are going back to King's Cross in order to teach the young adults there about how to story. We are going to be teaching the Four Soils story and the Christ to Creation story. Please pray that we will be able to guide King's Cross through the lesson, and that they will use these tools to share the gospel with the people of London, making disciples of themselves. We are doing much of the same (story training during the day, prayer walking/telling stories during the afternoon, and prayer walking at night) tomorrow. Please pray that God will continue to open doors for us to tell people the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support. They are greatly felt, and certainly much appreciated.
Sincerely,
The London Team
Sent from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Our trip to London has already been filled with God's grace. We arrived on Saturday around noon, London time. Even though most of us were tired, we stayed up and prayer walked around Camden. We visited the Camden Market, which is an eccentric place filled with a lot of punk-rock influences and many different cultures. Then, we walked up Primrose Hill in the park and saw the most incredible view of London from on top of the hill. We prayed for the people that were in the park, and especially that God would open doors for us throughout the week. That prayer has been answered ten-fold already!
On Sunday, we had our Bible study at the hotel, went to service as King's Cross Baptist, had tea/lunch with members of the congregation, and then did a scavenger hunt around the city. The scavenger hunt consisted of a map with numbers corresponding to clues about different, unique things in London. One of the favorite stops was platform 9 3/4 at the St. Pan's Train Station, which is a tribute to Harry Potter. Even members of the team who had been to London many times before saw interesting things around the city they'd never seen before. A few of the teams also had opportunities to stop and talk to people who needed prayer. One team met a woman named Chloe, who was very sad and lonely, but was very thankful that people wanted to pray for her. After the scavenger hunt, most of the mission team went and prayer walked the Westminster area. We saw iconic London while we walked by the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square. We prayed for the government and people of London that they may once again find God's grace.
Monday, today, we started off the day again with Bible Study - Luke 10. We then went to King's Cross Church to learn more about storying. Storying is a way of telling people about the Bible in a more approachable, conversational way. We learned the Creation to Christ story, which encapsulates the key parts of the Bible into one story. Then, the mission team and a few members of King's Cross went people mapping and prayer walking. Each group met different strangers and asked them about their lives and their ideas on faith. Some of the stories were very moving, including one where a team met a homeless man who cried with joy when they asked to pray with him. Another team met a man who was sitting on King's Cross's doorstep, and they got to tell him the story of the Four Soils from Mark 4. God opened up the doors for all of these opportunities, and they wouldn't have been possible without prayer.
Tonight, we are going back to King's Cross in order to teach the young adults there about how to story. We are going to be teaching the Four Soils story and the Christ to Creation story. Please pray that we will be able to guide King's Cross through the lesson, and that they will use these tools to share the gospel with the people of London, making disciples of themselves. We are doing much of the same (story training during the day, prayer walking/telling stories during the afternoon, and prayer walking at night) tomorrow. Please pray that God will continue to open doors for us to tell people the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support. They are greatly felt, and certainly much appreciated.
Sincerely,
The London Team
Sent from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Camden
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Training at Kings Cross
Today is a busy day for Hunter Street' opportunities in London. We had one team leave today and another team arrived today. In between both teams, Meredith led a great training on Bible storing with the members of Kings Cross. These members along with Hunter Street's second-team will work together this week in engaging the people of London with God's story.
Please be in prayer for the following request. First, pray for open opportunities to share Christ and to communicate in the way that they will best understand the message of the Gospel. Pray that we will be able to find persons of peace that we can invest in and form a discipling relationship. Pray that the members of Kings Cross Baptist Church will be encouraged by their time spent with the members of Hunter Street.
Here are some pictures taken at today's training.
It is interesting to note that in the above pictures that there is no one who is from London, England, or even the United Kingdom. Everyone pictured was born in another country. This shows how multi-cultural London has become and it also shows that perhaps the greatest people group in England that needs the true Gospel are the English them-self.
Thank you for your prayers for the second team this week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Please be in prayer for the following request. First, pray for open opportunities to share Christ and to communicate in the way that they will best understand the message of the Gospel. Pray that we will be able to find persons of peace that we can invest in and form a discipling relationship. Pray that the members of Kings Cross Baptist Church will be encouraged by their time spent with the members of Hunter Street.
Here are some pictures taken at today's training.
It is interesting to note that in the above pictures that there is no one who is from London, England, or even the United Kingdom. Everyone pictured was born in another country. This shows how multi-cultural London has become and it also shows that perhaps the greatest people group in England that needs the true Gospel are the English them-self.
Thank you for your prayers for the second team this week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:London
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Bruner Team - Camden/ / King's Cross Sep 27 thru Oct 2
We arrived safely and without travel issues midday Saturday, September 28. After an uneventful Tube trip to Russell Square we walked through the University of London to our hotel. Students were returning to school and signing up for clubs, so the area was quite busy. We were greeted by Meredith from HSBC who is working locally with the IMB. What a blessing to have a smiling, familiar face greet us. God blessed us with beautiful weather so we all immediately left for a prayer walk through Camden Town and up to Primrose Hill.
Camden Town continues to be a dark area where the focus is far from God. We prayed that God would bring his light to the area. We prayed that the people would turn from their various vices to the freeing relationship we all enjoy in Christ. Once through Camden Town, we headed up to Primrose Hill for a view of the city, but most importantly to any conversations God would bring our way before sunset.
God did bless us with conversations. I will share one. We were able to talk to a couple visiting London. She grew up in the city, but now lives outside the city. In our conversation we asked the couple what they thought of the Royal Family. That seemed to hit a nerve with her and she proceeded to tell us exactly how she felt about them. She explained that they are normal people, yet get to live such a privleged life and that did not seem fair for everyone else. In describing the Royal Family, she mentioned that they are not really very spiritual either. God opened a door for us.
For the next 30 minutes or so we were able to share thoughts about religion, the state of the world, where are we from, what went wrong, how do we fix it, what does it matter, where are we headed, God, man, Jesus, salvation, and many more theological concepts and questions. They were so open to conversation that we knew it was the power of the Holy Spirit working. When asked what religion they followed, they said really they were quite confused. They both said they followed eastern thinking along the lines of Budhism. For them it is more about your mind. In terms of the Bible, they felt like it should not be taken literal. She frequently meditates and often does so on short trips for days. We were able to share the gospel. They struggled with how God could be a loving God and yet judge the world. Explaining that God also loves the world so much that he gave his only Son for the world seemed to resonate with them. We left them with a Gideon "Life Book" which is the Book of John and God's plan of salvation. Pray they will read the book and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives.
Worship Sunday morning at King's Cross was a wonderful experience as usual. There were nationalities from all over the world praising the one true God. We are thankful for the partnership and hospitality of King's Cross. After worship, we had coffee and tea with the congregation and then lunch with the students. I was a wonderful chance to learn about life from around the world. Then after lunch, we had a chance to visit with Meredith from HSBC at her flat before heading off to Russell Square Park for conversations. As atop Primrose Hill, God was faithful to open doors for spiritual conversations. A recurring theme has come to view at this point, Budhism. To mention one, we had a conversation with Majda who is Catholic, but her husband is from China and is Budhist. They respect one another's beliefs and worship separately. We were able to share the gospel with Majda and left her with one of the Gideon books on John, Life Book. Pray Majda's Catholic faith is grounded in grace and that her husband will find the gospel message through Majda or the book of John.
Monday thru Wednesday was pretty much the same routine, prayer walking in the morning, helping King's Cross with their student ministry during midday, and then prayer walking the afternoon and nights. One exception was Wednesday night which was "Global Food Night" at King's Cross. That was a wonderful chance to not only learn more about the members and visitors at King's Cross, but also about the food from all the various countries represented there. Please pray for one particular member who is from Iran, is now Christian, and after finishing school will return to his family in Iran. Pray that God will protect him, keep him strong in his faith, and allow him to be a light in a very dark place.
Helping with the student ministry has been a blessing to all. First, it is amazing how the chance for rain seems to keep moving further into the week and how Wednesday the steady mist stopped right before the free coffee, tea, and cookie give-away. Of course we know God is sovereign and none of this is by chance. We praise him for blessing us with the wonderful weather. Second, we praise God for the many doors opened to not only invite the students to be a part of King's Cross, but also to have a spiritual conversation. The amazing thing is watching God open the doors by having the students themselves start the spiritual conversations by asking us questions like "How is King's Cross different from your church back in the states?" which is an opportunity to say our beliefs are the same, Jesus and grace, just one church is much bigger than the other and one church is much more diverse than the other. It is also amazing how the students soak it all in. They are hungry for knowledge and very interested in what God has to say through us. Pray their hearts accept the gospel and that they will be connected to King's Cross.
Camden Town continues to be a dark area where the focus is far from God. We prayed that God would bring his light to the area. We prayed that the people would turn from their various vices to the freeing relationship we all enjoy in Christ. Once through Camden Town, we headed up to Primrose Hill for a view of the city, but most importantly to any conversations God would bring our way before sunset.
God did bless us with conversations. I will share one. We were able to talk to a couple visiting London. She grew up in the city, but now lives outside the city. In our conversation we asked the couple what they thought of the Royal Family. That seemed to hit a nerve with her and she proceeded to tell us exactly how she felt about them. She explained that they are normal people, yet get to live such a privleged life and that did not seem fair for everyone else. In describing the Royal Family, she mentioned that they are not really very spiritual either. God opened a door for us.
For the next 30 minutes or so we were able to share thoughts about religion, the state of the world, where are we from, what went wrong, how do we fix it, what does it matter, where are we headed, God, man, Jesus, salvation, and many more theological concepts and questions. They were so open to conversation that we knew it was the power of the Holy Spirit working. When asked what religion they followed, they said really they were quite confused. They both said they followed eastern thinking along the lines of Budhism. For them it is more about your mind. In terms of the Bible, they felt like it should not be taken literal. She frequently meditates and often does so on short trips for days. We were able to share the gospel. They struggled with how God could be a loving God and yet judge the world. Explaining that God also loves the world so much that he gave his only Son for the world seemed to resonate with them. We left them with a Gideon "Life Book" which is the Book of John and God's plan of salvation. Pray they will read the book and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives.
Worship Sunday morning at King's Cross was a wonderful experience as usual. There were nationalities from all over the world praising the one true God. We are thankful for the partnership and hospitality of King's Cross. After worship, we had coffee and tea with the congregation and then lunch with the students. I was a wonderful chance to learn about life from around the world. Then after lunch, we had a chance to visit with Meredith from HSBC at her flat before heading off to Russell Square Park for conversations. As atop Primrose Hill, God was faithful to open doors for spiritual conversations. A recurring theme has come to view at this point, Budhism. To mention one, we had a conversation with Majda who is Catholic, but her husband is from China and is Budhist. They respect one another's beliefs and worship separately. We were able to share the gospel with Majda and left her with one of the Gideon books on John, Life Book. Pray Majda's Catholic faith is grounded in grace and that her husband will find the gospel message through Majda or the book of John.
Monday thru Wednesday was pretty much the same routine, prayer walking in the morning, helping King's Cross with their student ministry during midday, and then prayer walking the afternoon and nights. One exception was Wednesday night which was "Global Food Night" at King's Cross. That was a wonderful chance to not only learn more about the members and visitors at King's Cross, but also about the food from all the various countries represented there. Please pray for one particular member who is from Iran, is now Christian, and after finishing school will return to his family in Iran. Pray that God will protect him, keep him strong in his faith, and allow him to be a light in a very dark place.
Helping with the student ministry has been a blessing to all. First, it is amazing how the chance for rain seems to keep moving further into the week and how Wednesday the steady mist stopped right before the free coffee, tea, and cookie give-away. Of course we know God is sovereign and none of this is by chance. We praise him for blessing us with the wonderful weather. Second, we praise God for the many doors opened to not only invite the students to be a part of King's Cross, but also to have a spiritual conversation. The amazing thing is watching God open the doors by having the students themselves start the spiritual conversations by asking us questions like "How is King's Cross different from your church back in the states?" which is an opportunity to say our beliefs are the same, Jesus and grace, just one church is much bigger than the other and one church is much more diverse than the other. It is also amazing how the students soak it all in. They are hungry for knowledge and very interested in what God has to say through us. Pray their hearts accept the gospel and that they will be connected to King's Cross.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
HOPE Garden in Camden
The first picture is an art piece that we found in a park just inside a low income housing project. It was directly beside a bar called "The Sovereign" we noticed this scupture as we were praying. The top of it says HOPE and there were small holes that spelt out the word garden. So Kellye suggested that we take small pieces of paper and write scripture about hope and stick them in the small holes. We ended up using some of our blue scripture cards also because they were laminated and would with stand the rain. We all prayed that families/individuals would be walking in the park and find God's word on the scultpure. Please continue to pray with us that the people in this area would looked to the Lord for their hope and assurance and not to things of this world.
May 2013 Team: Soul in the City
The trip has been a huge blessing so far. The team arrived at noon on Saturday and we checked in, attended the Westminster service, and then got Nandos together! The team was exhausted, so we called it an early night.
Sunday we attended KCBC's worship service, and as usual we all cried through the service as God gave us a glimpse of heaven with so many nations represented, and as people worshiped without holding back their emotions. Their service truly has been a blessing to our faith. Donald preached on 2 Peter 1:1-11. (Pastor Andrew is out of town until next week.) We had tea/coffee afterwards and then ate a picnic lunch with KCBC students & young adults at Russel Square. After that, our team visited Camden Market, prayer-walking for the first time together. I have not been this blessed before with such prayer warriors. God is granting each of us with an eagerness to pray, and that is very exciting. Thanks for your prayers specifically! After Camden Market we went to Primrose Hill and started witnessing to people. Each of us paired up and had numerous gospel-centered conversations. We spent about 2 hours there and then left and went to Pizza Express for dinner. That night was also a blessing as we opened up to each other about how the Lord is changing our desires and really replacing what our flesh wants with what His Spirit desires.
We began Monday with Bible study and prayer in Meredith's apartment, and then went out for a day of prayerwalking. Again, the prayerwalking is going tremendously. I really feel Jesus blessing each of us individually with a desire to pray spontaneously and intentionally. He is good. Monday evening we went bowling with KCBC and got dinner with them as well. Both churches are continuing to connnect well. :)
Up until today the weather has been brilliant. Today however was a monsoon, but we prayerwalked nonetheless! We are all drenched now, but the day was good. My team (Doug, Angele, Cara, & me) had several good discussions, and we ended up riding the bus for a while as a means of talking to people without getting too wet! We are waiting for the other team to arrive back now.
Anyway, just wanted to update you on what we have done thus far. Thank you for your prayers!
Anyway, just wanted to update you on what we have done thus far. Thank you for your prayers!
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