Once again I have been
reminded of the power and presence of worship music to change the atmosphere. We sometimes hear in church that people just
want to get the music over to get to the message but that is an adventure in
missing how important it is for us to sing in adoration, surrender and humility
and allowing our hearts are transformed in that moment.
Our friend, Pastor Michael Harris, has been leading Joy In The Park for
a number of years here in Guelph at Riverside.
However, due to renovations there, it was not possible for them to hold
the event there so the City of Guelph said they could use St. George’s Square
downtown! Helloooo!!! So Joy in the Park
became Joy in the Square. What an
amazing opportunity so we partnered with Kingdom Life Church last week and we
were able to belt out His praises in the heart of Guelph. Sharon also prayed passionately over the city
and it was just awesome to watch as people were drawn to the Square last
week. God showed up of course and it
truly was a great outreach. There was
lots of water on hand, freezies , Gospel of John booklets and other Scripture
literature on hand.
They Are The Ones!
Bill Johnson in the
Way of Life shares how Jesus chooses people long before they could ever earn
such favor. Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 when he begins His public ministry in Luke
4. This is where the Spirit of the Lord comes on Him for healing, deliverance
and the restoration of broken lives. He
points to the fact that the passage states then “they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former
devastations, they will
repair the ruined cities… Who are they??? It’s the afflicted, brokenhearted, captives,
prisoners. They are the most broken in
society, the ones that the church often rejects or neglects. They are the anointed ones who will rebuild
our cities! All I can say is WOW and
Jesus showed me that once again this week!
They are the people
that I have the amazing privilege to minister to. So, I was shorthanded this week and needed
help working on the roof and the Lord brought me Johnny*. He is one of our Manor peeps who has been in
and out of jail. We were writing back
and forth while he was doing rehab there as well. He gave it his all and did amazing. Do you know what Johnny’s dream is? He has a dream of becoming an addictions
counsellor and helping people from making the same mistakes he has made and winding
down the same dead end streets. It was
Tiara this week who was out walking her dog, Tanna, our church mascot when she
lived at the Manor. She lives near the
Manor now and she bumped into one of the dancers, Cindy* one of the girls our
team is working with. As they talked
about pets and people, Tiara had the simple opportunity to share God’s love
with her! The LORD is definitely
pursuing Cindy.
BYOB (bring your own Bible)
We continue our walk
through the book of Romans and we have travelled to Romans 6 most
recently. It is inspiring to be
challenged by the very realization that we were meant for so much more than as
some might call it “fire insurance”. It’s
not just about the “get out of hell free card”, but that we are continually on
this journey of freedom! We are being
reminded of the call to experience greater levels of newness as we abandon all
those things that suck the life right out of us.
What shall we say [to
all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s
gift of grace may increase and overflow? 2 Certainly not! How can we, the
very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer? 3 Or are you ignorant
of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? 4 We have therefore been buried with Him through
baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life
[abandoning our old ways].
Together with HOPE Ministries
We have had the
wonderful opportunity to reconnect with Phil and Jen Snell who lead Hope
Ministries in João Pessoa, Brazil. They have spoken at Church at the Manor in
the past and we have a really great parallel ministry as they reach out to
prostitutes and are in the process of creating a home to help girls get out of
the industry. They also run a church
right on the beach where they have a tent facing the ocean with three white
sides so the focus can be on who God created them to be without worrying about all the outside distractions.
Phil and Jen are home
presently on furlough and they were able to join in our ministry to the Manor
this past week as Jen joined our To.Get.Her team in the club and Phil joined me
in visiting with some of the men who live at the Manor.
*name changed for the
sake of privacy
