January 23, 2011: The Scroll, The Traffick, The Soul, The Magic

There were so many things leading up to this outreach it's hard to detail it completely. I used the title of this post to facilitate the blog.

The Scroll
Somehow the word got out on SWBTS Campus that we're up to something. Keith Collier from "The Scroll" contacted me upon hearing about our ministry. They may start writing an article about our homeless ministry based on seminary families. I'm so glad they are giving us visibility. There is a gradual growing population of homelessness in Fort Worth. Not to mention, just recently Tent City grew out of Fort Worth near Rivera Drive and Lancaster Street. It is being evicted and over 100 homeless people there are moving with no places to go.

The Traffick
I got news this week from DL Fruge that Sex Trafficking will increase in Fort Worth as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers make their way to Dallas. There is much news surrounding the business of pimps bringing young aged girls to attract rich and affluent men for sex. The worst part of it is that most of these victims are abducted at a young age. Here are some stats I remebered(hopefully they're close): (Here some information about Sex Trafficking during the Super Bowl)

1) 7000 children lost each year, 1000 are sold to pimps, gang raped, sold as slaves and left for dead
2) out of the 32 billion dollar industry only 4 rehabilitation houses exist and they only house these children for 30 days
3) almost everyone that are rehabilitated go back to their pimps
4) Dr. Thomas Vann at SWBTS had started an awareness project in 07' then abandoned. The project has revived again. Now they're making a bigger push.

The Soul
How would I be able to describe the soul of the ministry this week? Could it be the random donation of $100 by Walmart? Or could it be another donation from a friend for $250, who has dedicated her allegiance to help? Could it also be an electrician friend of mine, who found time to find a list of items to help an unfortunate family? The list goes on. Not to mention, while I'm typing now I just found out we got another anonymous donation of $600. We've never asked for money or monetary funding. We trust that God would sponsor us. Everything else is icing on the cake.

Here is a list of items we need donated or supplied for Suzanne's home. We will pray to see what to do next. We also found out that she has a landlord. This is different than the story where the government has vacated the house for their use. Now that the truth has come out; we're a bit concerned that if the place is remodeled the landlord will move them out and raise the rent. Pray.

Electric supplies (Suzanne’s Home)
1/22/11- as inspected by Nathan Thomas @ 10:30a
1. Smoke Detector
2. GFI needs replacing in kitchen; loose wires
3. No insulation in attic (recommends 20 packs at home depot + blower)
4. Knob and tube
5. Central heat and air unit is gone (newly installed 5-6K)
6. 3 window units (heating) $350-400 each
7. All the wiring, conduits, panels need to be replaced
8. If small things get fixed; it’s only time before everything breaks again
9. Exposed wiring present throughout dwelling unit
10. Federal Pacific Panel; cannot find replacement parts
11. Case of bulbs needed practically everywhere

The Magic
I don't believe in magic, but I do believe in miracles. Plus it was a good rhyme to go with the title. But the outreach was fun this week. We had over 20+ volunteers from NFWBC youth and young adults. We also had 3 extra people come from the seminary: Jonathan Coleman, Greg, and Elise. This made for a power-packed day of serving. We had our usual hotdogs, sandwiches, and many drinks. We also had a huge donation of clothes, blankets, and tents. The tents were not dispersed, but we did give all of our food. We ran out and even had to buy food for Suzanne's stop.
We stopped and prayed on all three places. Hopefully we dispersed enough materials to last for the week. Many of them are still looking for jobs. Many of them have no place to stay except on mattresses around the alleys. Several seemed drunk and drugged. They were out of it. We met Adan and he made his impression by taking off his shirt. He seems to do that a lot. Martin, Jose, Claudia, and Blanka were our usuals. We spent much of time in prayer and loving on each and every one of them.
So what is the miracle? The way our food runs out, yet plenty more people still come over for us to love on. Seeing Janice pray out loud in a small circle for a couple of the guys was a blessing. Noticing the testimony of 'Dr. Phil', who told us that the Holy Spirit had told him to go a certain direction in order to get food for the day. That's the miracle. We get to watch lives fed, needs met, tears of joy and sadness, prayers of the gospel to those in need, and love for those who feel unwanted.

Till next time...

January 8, 2011: Calm Before the Snow Storm!

We had a huge response to our outreach today. Sarah Lanier brought Meg Arbour (whose husband I worked with for a short period of time). They represented Christ the King. Joey brought along the youth group led by Pastor Craig Seals of NFWBC and the college group which had Shannon's brothers Matt and Jon. Overall there was about 14 of us and five children including Esther (less than 2) and Meg's baby.

I went out earlier and found over 30 people when scouting. When we finally had all the helpers arrive we had over 3 loaves of sandwhiches, 3 cases of water, 60+ hotdogs, and coffee. Unbeknownst to us the first station we hit over 10+. There were the usuals, but those like Martinez and Frankie we haven't seen them for a year. We were able to provide them ample amount of clothing and some wood for fires. We spent alot of time praying and they even blessed us with prayer. Claudia seemed pretty cut up and beaten. Unfortunately, I believe she's been through the ringer with many men there. We pray for their comfort and safety as the winter snow storms will hit tomorrow.

The second station was even more surprising as we served over 30+ people. There I met Jason and Lindsay again. Her leg has healed up so well, they are now considering not to amputate it. I also met Mike and Blasa who were their previously. Many of their families are not present there any more. They are either divorced or have been separated (due to being incarcerated). We prayed for jobs and spent most of our time feeding tons of people here. Most of our blankets were gone here. This was indeed all done to the glory of Christ.

Our third stop was at a meth house. Again the smell of smoke, crack, and meth made it difficult for the children to step in. So Joey, Craig, and I went inside to pray with the family, as well as take pictures and provide some information to see if churches or the seminary will be able to come over and make some repairs at the place. There are some major damages: no central heating, mickey moused electrical wires everwhere, over burnt stove, rotted wood, poor roof conditions, etc... We hope to mobilize and be able to help this family. There are always needs, but this one in particular has taken over three years. Suzanne got engaged to her long time boyfriend. She showed us her ring. She was proud of it. I pray her life in the Lord will continue to help her.

December 25, 2010: Brisk Christmas Day

It was a quite a day as the weather took its course and dropped the temperatures in the low 30s. This was unlike the previous Christmas Day, because we only fed around ten people. The streets were littered in silence. With the small group of people we fed we were able to provide three meals for Suzanne and her family. There was four families in that house that day. We were able to give them most of our food and pass down a couple bags of women clothing for her and her neighbors. We also dropped off 12 blankets because they lost central heating. It was wonderful to pray with them and spend some quality time with them. Suzanne's father is completely immobile and spends time in his room all day. It seems every time we visit he gets more fragile. Our prayers is to help this family the best we can.

Praise the Lord for his providence!


PS: special thanks for Aaron Greenway and his car; below, and Sue Testerman for the blankets; below.