Tuesday we worked around Pastor Rustin’s church. At the beginning of the day there was a mountain of work for us to do. We all dove in and we actually had everything complete by midafternoon, so we had a little time to recuperate from the busy three days of ministry and work. Then we went to Papa Keith’s house for the evening to pray for the rest of the week. God really showed up and ministered to us, and that night marked many of the people in our team. Papa Keith and Mama Cindy both shared some really practical ministry advice, which impacted all of us in a deep way.
Wednesday we spent most of the day preparing for Friday night’s event. We walked around some of the surrounding communities passing out flyers for the event, and that provided many opportunities to pray for people and show them God’s love. There was a lady whose husband had just died last week and last year her only son, who was 40 years old, died too. She felt really alone, so it was awesome to be able to sit and talk to her and hear her story.
Last night, we were responsible for the youth service. Our dance team did a dance, then we led worship, and then Jen and Matt spoke about identities. God moved in a powerful way in the altar times and in the service, but probably one of the biggest things that we got to do was hanging out with the young people that came. Most of them were in junior high or early high school. At that age they usually don’t care how much people know until they know how much they care. Playing basketball, skate boarding, and talking about how to style hair were just as spiritual praying for students as declaring the word of the Lord. It was awesome to see the fruit of it in the ministry time and how everyone interacted after the service.
Today, we went downtown to the French Quarter and we got to see the sites. What was amazing was the fact that we saw God move in just as a powerful way as we saw him move in our nights of ministry. We passed out water bottles to homeless people during the evening and worshiped in Jackson square, which led to a lot of other opportunities to reach out to people and see God move. Many of our students had stories about how God was ministering through their prayers so strong that the people were crying. It was cool to see God move even on our day off. I encourage everyone to look for opportunities everywhere to minister because they are there. It does not take going on a weeklong trip to have opportunities to witness and spread God’s love.
SUBMITTED BY JOSH LAMBRIGHT - 4 MAR 2011
Well we made it! FINALLY!!!! Our trip started Saturday at 2 am. We packed up the trailer and cars and hit the road by about 4 am. Our trip was really smooth... no major traffic jams, no flat tires, no break downs. The most eventful thing was after we pulled into Saint Bernard Parish and turned onto a street that was getting ready to be blocked off for a parade... we were driving through a mob of people!
We pulled in at 5:30 central time and met Pastor Rustin, who is the pastor of the church we will be working with this week. Sunday started with breakfast and prayer with the pastors at 9am. Then was church, where our SCSL group was able to lead worship. The church doesn’t normally have live worship, which Pastor Rustin explained was exciting for them. The church had a potluck afterward, which had a wide variety of Louisiana cuisine. There was crab, shrimp, fried chicken, green bean casserole, the best macaroni and cheese ever, and a bunch of other yummy foods including dessert. After spending time in fellowship with the people, there was a water baptism. It was awesome to witness people proclaiming their faith in their willingness to be baptized. Then we had some time to chill out and explore around the church.
After our free time, we went to an authentic Louisiana restaurant. After a very fulfilling meal with Papa Keith and Mama Cindy we went to their house where they do ministry to spend time in prayer. It was a great night filled with prayer and hearing their testimony.
Today began with a time of prayer and preparing for our day. Our mission was to help an elderly woman who lives in the 9th district of New Orleans to do work around her house. Papa Keith explained to us that the district has been one of the more neglected areas to be restored after Katrina. Our family was flexible, with a make-it-happen mentality. When we got to the house, we strived to love bomb her and serve her as much as we could. Previous people had come to help her, but took advantage of her sweet nature financially. With that realization, we made sure to show her love and overcome those barriers. We made sure that someone was always with her listening to her, we were able to buy her groceries (including her favorite ice cream that she hadn’t had in years!!), and served her in every way we could. It was a beautiful sight at the end of the day to watch her dance with the team to James Brown (her favorite music) and was open to hugs as we left.
Afterward, we came back home and had a phenomenal meal. Pastor Rustin’s church hosted a community wide prayer gathering which had between 7 and 14 churches represented. It was an extraordinary time of prayer and worship coming together with the other church leaders. We emphasized prayer for the local and national government and that we would be carriers of revival everywhere we go. Oh that we would be carry out the mission of not only seeing God’s love, but being God’s love. 1 John 4:7-8.
SUBMITTED BY JOSH LAMBRIGHT - 28 FEB 2011
