"Give them what they need."

Micah, a 19 year old from Colorado felt like God may be calling him to minister to kids after one of our ministry days. It was during our debrief meeting after the Children’s Outreach at Moore Park that Micah shared his experience.

“I was so tired after just twenty minutes of playing with the kids,” Micah began. “They were climbing all over me and so loud, laughing and shouting, I could hardly talk to them.” He had planned on talking to the kids about Jesus. “But then I felt God tell me, ‘Give them what they need’. I realized they didn’t need me to talk to them. Through playing with them and paying attention to them, I was loving them. That was what they needed.” He went on to say that he felt like the Lord gave him the energy to keep playing with the kids and that he got filled with more and more joy as he did it. “I feel like through that God may be calling me to minister to kids.” Wow and praise God!

What a wonderful reminder that God knows what people need more than we do. Simply spending time with adults or kids may be all that is needed depending on the situation.

That same day I had a moment with some of the kids that melted me. After some very rowdy parachute games we sat on the big parachute and pretended to have a picnic. A bunch of the girls from the same second grade class started singing a song to me they learned from school. It was precious! Then they sang that song from Frozen that isn’t overdone (sarcasm), and then a bunch of the kids tried to tell me knock-knock jokes. Most of them didn’t make sense, but it was okay because they delighted in having me listen and pay attention to them. I am thrilled at the receptivity we are experiencing in this park. There have been many meaningful conversations and connections with both adults and children. Hearing week after week, “When are you coming back?!” is music to my ears. Thank you for praying for the Children’s Outreach and please continue to do so!

Thank you again for your partnership and prayers. You are a big blessing.
Enjoy your weekend!
Jess

The Kings Fellowship, Strip Clubs, and a Parade :)

“God Is Here”
Hello! I want to share a quick story with you from our Sunday night service, The Kings Fellowship (KF). Two Saturdays ago, a young man named Charlie came to the prayer station in Flushing asking for prayer. We invited him to KF and he came out the following evening! We were so glad to see him and a few on our team were able to talk with him further. It turns out that he is a Christian currently staying in a shelter. At the end of the night Ryan asked Charlie what he thought. “It was good, very good,” Charlie answered. He then looked up at Ryan and said, “God is here.” Our team was greatly encouraged to hear this and to see Charlie again last night. We are praying for him and curious to see what role God will us play in this young man’s life.

We often meet people who are not connected with a local body for a myriad of reasons. Many in this city feel isolated and intimidated at trying out a church. Many are sick of what they see and hear and have been wounded by churches and leaders not meeting their expectations. Of course there is no perfect “church”, but we remind people that there are legitimate churches and to pray and ask God to lead them to the right place. We also invite people to KF and spend time every Friday fasting lunch and praying that God would draw people out and that His Presence would be there. More than a good evening with good worship, good preaching, or good food, we need and want God’s Presence. That should be what draws people out and keeps them coming.

“Beautiful One”
The new ladies outreach we are doing to women in the sex industry has officially been named “Beautiful One”. Mary Anna and Amy who are both full time staff here are heading it up and took a team out this past Thursday for the first time to three different strip clubs in the area. They brought roses and candy for the women as well as cookies for the bouncers. They have been praying specifically to go into these places for at least a year now, and miraculously they received favor at each place and were able to go in and talk with the women while they were working! The third club they visited allowed the team to go into the ladies dressing room which is a very strategic place to be because the women have their guards down a bit more. Many of the women were so blessed to receive a rose (what women doesn’t like that?!) and to be told, “We love you and just want you to know we are praying for you.” One particular women was heading in to start her shift while the team was leaving. After receiving the rose, she turned to Gintare who had given it to her and said, “I really needed that today. Thank you.”

Along with showing the love and acceptance of Jesus to these ladies, we desire to build relationship with them and see them discipled and lead out of the sex industry for good. We appreciate your prayers for this new outreach. Here is the link: http://streetlife.org/beautifulone.html

“Gay Pride Parade in NYC”
One more announcement is that we will be taking a team to minister at the Gay Pride Parade in Manhattan this June. This is our first time going and we are still getting details together. I am very excited for this opportunity to represent the Lord and be His light in this city. I would especially like your prayers for me personally as I facilitate this outreach, both for strategy and wisdom. I also appreciate prayers for the Lord to raise up prepared people to join us, and for those we will meet! I will share more about it in my video update next month, so stay tuned!

Thank you so much for sowing into my life and New York City. Your prayers and support have such impact and I am grateful. Have a blessed week! Jess