21 June 2008

HIS story In The Making

Ok, so you probably get the play on words in my title name (Her Story -- history -- get it?).

But I think that our lives should be all about adding to
HIS Story:
Making a difference in this world and showing Christ to those who think no one really cares...

Last night was another amazing night of MIDNIGHT OUTREACH.

We met at the church around 9:00 to pray and Alliece was telling some great stories to a couple of newcomers... then, when she prayed, she asked God to "give us more stories."
Did He ever!

Last night began with the realization that one of our "usual" strip club stops was shut down. There was a police raid a while back and apparently, there was some "not-so-legal stuff" going down in there, so they are closed for business.
We headed a short way down the road to another "usual" stop.

This club is an interesting story, in and of, itself.
You see, we've been informed by his bouncers that the owner is a practicing Satanist.
Um, yeah.
A Satanist, strip club owner who allows the Church to come in and give roses and chocolates to his employees.
Wait, it gets even better...
There is another strip club further down the road that we have been trying to get into for ages (no luck). Last night the Satanist dude comes out to greet us and fill us in on the closed strip club's details... then he asks us if we are going to _______?
Alliece tells him no, they won't let us in.
Get this: He CALLS the other strip club and tells them to LET US IN!
After a year of trying to get in, we finally got to go in to _______ and they seemed glad to see us! We gave the working girls roses and make-up kits and gave all the bouncers and managers chocolates and gum.

Then we headed to the inner city to look for prostitutes and to show love to the community.
We came upon a street where a man had JUST been stabbed in a fight. The fire truck and paramedics showed up right as we did and we ended up staying on that street for a good 45 minutes or so.
While there, we were able to hand out roses and chocolates to the good people sitting out on their front porches and in their yards (at midnight, no less) and gave them fliers inviting them to the Winbourne campus for church. There were kids running around everywhere so we invited them to Vacation Bible School and gave them free chocolate and gum as well.
The cool thing was that while we were there, we "found" a lady who used to come to Ladies' Thrive all the time, but whom we hadn't seen in a while, and Alliece "found" a young prostitute that she had lost track of a while back.

All in all, it was a great night and I think God more than honored our request for "more stories" to tell. All I could think about was how each of these people -- the strippers, the prostitutes, the pimps, the drug dealers, the homeless, and the poor -- each one of them are an integral part of the bigger picture, the bigger story:
HIS story.
And I feel honored to have been allowed to play some small part in that...
THANK YOU, Healing Place Church, for giving us the opportunity to participate in such an amazing outreach!

2 comments:

Carole Turner said...

Your very good with details. Thanks for writing all this "story" I am gonna link it.

Love you!

Lesley said...

Another win for His kingdom!!! Thank God for each and every one of you who went on, and go on, the Midnight Outreaches. The places that y'all venture into are the very places who need Jesus the most ... and He loves those percious people just like He loves you and I !!!! I am so proud to be part of a church that GOES OUT to find the lost and bring them to Christ!!!