“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
