Thursday Nov. 16
In this weekly post first off allow me to give you an update on the bus station suspension. Kevin Ross is currently working with the proper channels and we have reason to be very encouraged that we will be allowed our rights to witness there again shortly. Please be in prayed for this as the evil one would love to shut us down!
In the near future we hope to also include video footage from some of our encounters. This could be an awesome opportunity to show you what God has been doing in our midst. We praise God for his grace upon our team of evangelists!
Richard Uecker sent his report from the good news club and they have some pretty amazing things taking place in this outreach. I thank God for the Uecker family for their faithfulness and their weekly story is as follows...
Prayer Partners,
Remember last week I asked for prayer for the Diebal Family who lost their mother in a car accident on the way to school? The facility is taking donations to help the family through this difficult time. I thought it would be appropriate if our team would reach out to the family. This can be done by a card or greeting to tell them you are praying for their family. Feel free to add anything special that may brighten their day. Example: my son works at Dairy Queen so I'm going to add a gift certificate to my card. Perhaps, the family can begin to make new memories as the holidays are fast approaching.
Please continue to pray for Paul (husband), Jessica (5th grader), and little Nicholas (5K) through the New Year.
Let's focus on a Thanksgiving Greeting:
(After signing your name to your greeting and Erin Good News Club)
Send your cards to Patricia Wolf, 2215 Hall Road, Hartford WI 53027
Send or drop off items/cards by November 20 and I'll make sure the family receives them by Thanksgiving
Be creative and prayerful in ways you can help
I remember a time my husband was laid off. Three events will always be tucked away in my mind during that difficult time. Coming home and finding several bags of groceries on the porch. Many items were kid friendly. Receiving a food basket from our church during the Thanksgiving season. Turkey and all. The other event happened on Christmas morning. Just as we were opening gifts the door bell rang. A teen from church handed me a plate of hot sticky buns for our brunch. He said his mom had just made them and wanted us to have them. I couldn't believe that on a busy Christmas morning another family, who we didn't know very well, thought of us and made time to brighten our day. Both of these families and the church took time to reach out to us during our pain. Let's help the Diebal Family in a loving way that will direct them to our dear Jesus. Thank you.
Patti Wolf
Erin Club, Coordinator
Followed by...
Wow... five minutes can make a big difference in life.
I arrived at club just as the last of the children were existing the halls. Thankfully, the teachers had arrived on time and were waiting with our students.
I was met with a few teachers smiling as their day had ended. They were very friendly and we exchanged comments. To many this may not be a big deal, but to me it meant that after six years our club was still welcomed in this public school. We can go week after week studying for lessons, hoping for more students, and waiting for little ones to make a decision to accept Jesus as their Savior. Bottom line is it's easy to become weary with the slow out-come of our labors.
Today I learned that by our mere presence we are making a difference and are welcomed...
Praises:
For the accomplishment of filling 1500 bags (tracks, Good News attendance fliers, & candy) prepared for Hartford's Christmas Parade on Saturday Nov. 11
For faithful students
For the opportunity to serve God at Erin along with other public school teachers who are believers (pray for these teaches as they serve God at Erin)
Prayer:
Andrea's healing (she's been out of school for three days) I hope she is clinging to her Isaiah verse
1500 tracks, invitations, & candy will be handed out during the Hartford Christmas Parade on Saturday. Pray God uses them in a mighty way.
Our new quarter starts next week pray for our new teacher, Amy, and for the children who will be attending (another mass mailing is going out on Friday to Erin's students) so their hearts will be tender to the truth.
Patti Wolf
Erin Club Coordinator
Doug sends his report also in which he and Ken Dressler serve in the jail ministry in which Doug reports...
Jail Ministry for Sunday 11/12/06
Services were well attended with some new faces and faces we haven't seen for a while. Our music leader, Ronnie, spend the morning singing with the ladies group led by his wife so that left us without our normal praise time ( I certainly wasn't going to led singing, that would have them running back to their cells:). One of the inmates stepped up to the plate and led a great time of praise.
We had a little time after the message to talk one on one with some of the guys. One man I had talked to was in for DWI, he shared that he had at one time been very active in church but had fallen away because of the all the garbage and politics that go on. He was frustrated and angered by the humanity in the church. We talked about most religion is man's attempt to reach God, while Christianity was God's attempt to reach man.
This was another reminder that we are witnesses all the time, either in a good way or a bad. It sometimes seems that churches turn off as many people towards the cause of Christ as they turn on.
Please continue to pray for the men and women in jail and their families especially as the holidays approach and depressions can set in. Also continued prayer is needed for Ronnie and Alice as they seek God's direction for a job. Ronnie's severance runs out at the end of the month.
Kenny will be speaking next Sunday, pray for God's leading in the message.
Now turning to the Summit Harvest street evangelists...
Thursday evening we decided to give Brookfield square a go. The report from the bus terminal is as such. Kevin Ross is working with the proper authorities in getting approval for us to be there sharing our faith. Please be in prayer regarding this! Back to the mall.
The team arrived at 7PM and we prayed in the food court area. 5 came this evening including Brian, Ken, Ed, Elliot and myself. We split into 2 teams, Elliot and I in 1 and another team of 3. I have to admit I was somewhat challenged by the environment as we had determined that handing out tracts may draw unwanted attention from security and I came to realize my dependence upon tracts as an ice breaker. Anyhow, the team of Ken, Ed, and Brian found a kiosk of Christian souvenirs. What is interesting about that is that the kiosk was run by a muslim. They were authenticly carved in Jerusalem by Christians and being sold at Brookfield square by a muslim, hmmm. The team stopped and talked to this gentleman concerning his beliefs. They had the opportunity to share Christ with this man and even show him scriptures. They talked for a long time and had a very corgial conversation. At a nearby kiosk Brian began speaking to a woman who was jewish. He subtly shared with her and spoke of the ten commandments. When he did speak the name of Jesus she said "I am jewish" and Brian said, "thats ok, so is He." Brian is very quick on his feet!
These 2 conversations consumed most of this teams time and meanwhile Elliot and I walked a lot through the mall. The 1st man I approached was a catholic. I had just listened to John MAcarthur on way of the master radio and was very intrigued to speak to him. http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/page/6/ Listen if you get the chance, but I warn you, its a barn burner of a sermon!!
Anyways, I began speaking with him and he explained that he is very well versed in catholicism and his son is in seminary. I knew he would be a challenge but praise God He is faithful and with me! I broke the ice by using Christmas. I asked him his beliefs and vaguely shared mine. The conversation got cosiderably warmer as I made mention that the bible alone is the sole authority. He disagreed and asked me what the early church did before there was scripture. I pointed out to him that the were under apostolic teaching. He remarked that that was a valid point. We agreed that the reformation was a point of contention between us. I asked him the good person test. We got all the way to asking if guilty before a holy, righteous and just judge would he go to heaven or hell, he said it depends the nature and severity of the sin. I told him that it is true that it only takes 1 lie to be enough to be condemned from hell using scripture from the book of james. He insisted that it depended on the severity of the sin. I believe he was becoming uncomfortable speaking with us. He decided to break the conversation off there. He asked what denomination we were and I told him that we come in the name of Jesus Christ. I offered him literature and he declined.
My question is, do we need to witness to catholics? I believe strongly that yes we do. He was very works righteousness oriented. I was very concerned for him and we need to pray for him and those who believe in ways that are not alligned with scripture.
The rest of our night was relatively uneventful in repect to witnessing, but acted as a springboard for Elliot and I to discuss much in regards to witnessing to cults. We were at the very end asked to stop witnessing at the mall. Not a big surprise.
I thank God for all of you who take the time to read this post. We thank you all for your prayers with which we would be in big trouble without.
I will be posting this and more, including some video of interviews I took with the team at the mall of our blog site later today. Please keep an eye out for that. http://summitharvestchurch.blogspot.com/
