We all have dreams of what life looks like when we are retired and in our late 70s. Most of our dreams include rving or wintering in Florida/Arizona. Greg and Barbara also had dreams, there dreams were much simplier and had achieved many of these dreams.
They owned their own trailer. They had a yard were there 3 dogs could run around in. This dream was destroyed two weeks ago when a fire destroyed the trailer they owned. It not only destroyed their dwelling place it also destroyed the contents of their trailer.
Greg and Barbara are typical of their generation hard working and proud of what they have accomplished. Although their lives have not been easy and continue to be tough they didn't want help.
The day after the fire Oscar and Micah went up to their trailer to offer assistance. It was rejected and that we do not want yours or anyones help.
Last week while delivering coats Doug and Tim went up to a trailer and knocked on the door. Barbara came to the door. She was very timid and scared. She just peeped out her door. She started crying when she found out we were there to help.She finally felt comfortable talking to them so she accepted a coat from them. She let Doug and Tim pray with her.
The next day Greg called Doug to thank him so much for the coat. Doug asked if we could do more and Greg said I didn't call to ask for help. After the second call Greg gave us a list of things we could help them with.
Many people donated items and this morning Tim and I delivered them.Greg had told me this morning that today was there wedding anniversary. We delivered the clothes, lamps, and food donated.
Barbara told us that she was 78 years old and they ahve been married for 37 years. They currently have one couch to sleep on. Up until today they had no blankets. The items they had been given were not extremely nice and they were having such a hard time. Some of their grandkids live with them. In order to make ends meet Greg is a mechanic. (A 70+ year old still working on cars) For some reason that just doesn't seem right.
They need a bed desperately. I have heard many people say why do you help they don't deserve it? I have no idea how they have spent their money over their life time. I do know that these are people God has created and I am so glad I don't get what I deserve. Whether these people deserve grace or not is not my issue.
I don't think it is right for people in my community in their late 70s to share a couch to sleep on.
Neighborhood ministry is a Missional Church and our mission is to bring hope and be a light to at-risk neighborhoods in Northwest Indiana. We do this by partnering with churches and other Christians.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Mike Hurley's story
One of the best things Neighborhood Ministry experiences on a daily basis is to hear people's stories. Last night we had an opportunity to hear another persons story.
This one came from Mike Hurley. I have known Mike for 8 or so years. Mike was one of my youth volunteers while I was a youth pastor at Real Life. Mike would go on retreats, mission trips, and he would love to help out when we had concerts. There was one difference between Mike and any other youth leader, Mike was in a wheelchair.
As a group of us arrived at Mike's house last night he was sitting in his wheelchair in their family room. He lives with his wife, daughter (who is in 7th grade) and his mother in law.
He greeted us with a smile and then told his story, we all listend intently for the next hour.
He was the eldest of nine children born into a family in Chicago. His father was involved with alcohol and drugs. His father spent time in prison and was generally abusive to Mike's mom. Mike loved playing sports growing up and his father came to Christ when Mike was in his mid childhood. With this change His parents moved the family to Northwest Indiana and started going to church and all the kids went to a Christians school.
In Mike's words he was rebellious and didn't like moving away from his friends in Chicago and was not happy with the decision to move. He would get demerits at school for long hair and other infractions and get kicked out of school for a day here and there. He learned about God during his time at the Christian school but did not embrace it.
Mike's brother died from a hole in his heart and tests revealed that Mike's heart had the same issue. Mike was a healthy 13 year old boy at this point in time and loved playing every sport possible. He went in for surgery to repair this heart valve. He woke up from the surgery what he thought was the next day. The reality was it was a year later. The surgery had gone wrong and they ended up not fixing his heart and had to sew him back up to save him. There had been some brain damage. He was in the hospital for some time after this and had to relearn how to feed and dress himself, walk, and every other normal day occurance.
It finally came the day when the doctor released Mike. He wasn't 100% back to normal but he could function again. He had blindness in his left eye and walked with a limp.
School would be an issue though, he had been out of school for parts of two years. The Christian school decided that they could not take him back. His mother wrote a letter to the pastor pleading for his reinstatement and then for some reason unbeknownst to Mike the pastor read the letter in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning.
This action hurt Mike and made him increasingly angry. His father although professing a faith still beat his mom and Mike would defend her. There would be people thrown into walls and fist fights.
Mike eventually moved out of his house and moved to Southern Illinois with his grandparents who were farmers. His grandfather taught him how to treat a women and about hard work.
After this period of his life he moved in with his other grandmother back in Chicago. This grandmother was the one person who would visit him consistantly while he was in the hospital as an adolescent.
While in Chicago Mike got involved with the same vices his dad had- alcohol and drugs. This fueled his anger and his rebellion.
After a few years of this lifestyle he moved back to northwest Indiana. He continued to party but his brother was constantly asking him to go to church with him. Mike would say no most of the time but would say yes sometimes and then cancel in the morning.
One Saturday night he had said yes he would go to church the next day but that night he had a dream. In the dream he was walking down a corridor, it was dark and there were hands reaching out to grab him. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on but he could hear two voices. A loud one saying you are no good, if you follow me I can give you the world. Then there was a soft voice saying I love you over and over again. In the dream Mike was getting confused and didn't know where to turn or who to believe so he asked one of the voices for a coin. He said if I get heads I will follow the voice that says I love you, if it is tails I will follow the other voice. When he flipped the coin it can straight down and didn't land on heads or tails. It stood straight up on end.
This dream awoken Mike and didn't let him sleep well the rest of the night. In the morning Mike's brother picked him up for church, this time Mike did get in the car and went to church. On the ride there the brother asked innocently enough "if he had a good night sleep?" Mike looked at him incredulously and proceeded to punch him in the shoulder. No I did not. He then told him abut the dream. The brother offered to give wisdom if Mike would want to listen. Mike did want to hear.
The brother then explained the choice Mike was going to need to make. Who was he going to follow? Who was he going to listen to? The choices wasn't just about flipping a coin but making a choice.
Mike did choose to follow Christ soon after that.
Like all of us Mike's spiritual journey did not go straight up from there, there were many bouncy moments. He realized when he started getting involved with church that many of the people there also did drugs.
One night Mike went to a party. He knew in his gut (holy spirit) that he should not go but did anyways. At this party a friend and some other guys decided to jump Mike. They caught him off guard and hit him in the back of the head with a crowbar. Mike fell to the ground and tried to get up but couldn't. He then tried to crawl away but couldn't do that either. All he could do was roll up in the fetal position and protect himself. The guys over powered him again and threw a chain around the bumper of their car and tied the other end to his ankles and proceeded to drag him down route 6 in Hobart. He lost consciousness and when he came to the police were there trying to help him up. He couldn't walk.
It was this incident that has made him wheelchair bound. He could walk some a few years aago but it was labored. One of the effects of the incident being pulled behind the car was it pulled his hips out of socket and twisted them.
From that point on his life has been difficult but he has continued to follow Jesus. He has shared his story with others with the hopes that they too will follow God even in the midst of struggles.
Mike then shared with us about how he met his wife. He had been praying and reading through the Bible on marriage intensly for some time. He prayed that God would bring him a wife. He thought who would want to marry someone like me?
One day he was going to church and was walking with a walker that day. He looked much like a person with cerebal palsy. He could go up the stairs but it was just a laborous process. A young women about his age asked if she could help him up the stairs. Mike was overjoyed at this kind women. She helped him to the young adults sunday school he was going to. Mike was even happier to see her in the class. He looked for a seat next to her only to see a little girl. He was very disappointed, he had been asking God to give him a wife without any children. But he did proceed to befriend the young lady and he found out that this wasn't her little girl but someone she was babysitting. Mike knew that this was the one. They have been married for 15 years.
it has been difficult and tough but they continue to live one day at a time and be an example for everyone else that marriage can last even in less than ideal circumstances.
This thought recently came to mind (I am sure someone else has said/thought it) We all know amazing people, alot of time we just don't spend the time to find out why they are amazing. Mike is one of the amazing people I know.
This one came from Mike Hurley. I have known Mike for 8 or so years. Mike was one of my youth volunteers while I was a youth pastor at Real Life. Mike would go on retreats, mission trips, and he would love to help out when we had concerts. There was one difference between Mike and any other youth leader, Mike was in a wheelchair.
As a group of us arrived at Mike's house last night he was sitting in his wheelchair in their family room. He lives with his wife, daughter (who is in 7th grade) and his mother in law.
He greeted us with a smile and then told his story, we all listend intently for the next hour.
He was the eldest of nine children born into a family in Chicago. His father was involved with alcohol and drugs. His father spent time in prison and was generally abusive to Mike's mom. Mike loved playing sports growing up and his father came to Christ when Mike was in his mid childhood. With this change His parents moved the family to Northwest Indiana and started going to church and all the kids went to a Christians school.
In Mike's words he was rebellious and didn't like moving away from his friends in Chicago and was not happy with the decision to move. He would get demerits at school for long hair and other infractions and get kicked out of school for a day here and there. He learned about God during his time at the Christian school but did not embrace it.
Mike's brother died from a hole in his heart and tests revealed that Mike's heart had the same issue. Mike was a healthy 13 year old boy at this point in time and loved playing every sport possible. He went in for surgery to repair this heart valve. He woke up from the surgery what he thought was the next day. The reality was it was a year later. The surgery had gone wrong and they ended up not fixing his heart and had to sew him back up to save him. There had been some brain damage. He was in the hospital for some time after this and had to relearn how to feed and dress himself, walk, and every other normal day occurance.
It finally came the day when the doctor released Mike. He wasn't 100% back to normal but he could function again. He had blindness in his left eye and walked with a limp.
School would be an issue though, he had been out of school for parts of two years. The Christian school decided that they could not take him back. His mother wrote a letter to the pastor pleading for his reinstatement and then for some reason unbeknownst to Mike the pastor read the letter in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning.
This action hurt Mike and made him increasingly angry. His father although professing a faith still beat his mom and Mike would defend her. There would be people thrown into walls and fist fights.
Mike eventually moved out of his house and moved to Southern Illinois with his grandparents who were farmers. His grandfather taught him how to treat a women and about hard work.
After this period of his life he moved in with his other grandmother back in Chicago. This grandmother was the one person who would visit him consistantly while he was in the hospital as an adolescent.
While in Chicago Mike got involved with the same vices his dad had- alcohol and drugs. This fueled his anger and his rebellion.
After a few years of this lifestyle he moved back to northwest Indiana. He continued to party but his brother was constantly asking him to go to church with him. Mike would say no most of the time but would say yes sometimes and then cancel in the morning.
One Saturday night he had said yes he would go to church the next day but that night he had a dream. In the dream he was walking down a corridor, it was dark and there were hands reaching out to grab him. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on but he could hear two voices. A loud one saying you are no good, if you follow me I can give you the world. Then there was a soft voice saying I love you over and over again. In the dream Mike was getting confused and didn't know where to turn or who to believe so he asked one of the voices for a coin. He said if I get heads I will follow the voice that says I love you, if it is tails I will follow the other voice. When he flipped the coin it can straight down and didn't land on heads or tails. It stood straight up on end.
This dream awoken Mike and didn't let him sleep well the rest of the night. In the morning Mike's brother picked him up for church, this time Mike did get in the car and went to church. On the ride there the brother asked innocently enough "if he had a good night sleep?" Mike looked at him incredulously and proceeded to punch him in the shoulder. No I did not. He then told him abut the dream. The brother offered to give wisdom if Mike would want to listen. Mike did want to hear.
The brother then explained the choice Mike was going to need to make. Who was he going to follow? Who was he going to listen to? The choices wasn't just about flipping a coin but making a choice.
Mike did choose to follow Christ soon after that.
Like all of us Mike's spiritual journey did not go straight up from there, there were many bouncy moments. He realized when he started getting involved with church that many of the people there also did drugs.
One night Mike went to a party. He knew in his gut (holy spirit) that he should not go but did anyways. At this party a friend and some other guys decided to jump Mike. They caught him off guard and hit him in the back of the head with a crowbar. Mike fell to the ground and tried to get up but couldn't. He then tried to crawl away but couldn't do that either. All he could do was roll up in the fetal position and protect himself. The guys over powered him again and threw a chain around the bumper of their car and tied the other end to his ankles and proceeded to drag him down route 6 in Hobart. He lost consciousness and when he came to the police were there trying to help him up. He couldn't walk.
It was this incident that has made him wheelchair bound. He could walk some a few years aago but it was labored. One of the effects of the incident being pulled behind the car was it pulled his hips out of socket and twisted them.
From that point on his life has been difficult but he has continued to follow Jesus. He has shared his story with others with the hopes that they too will follow God even in the midst of struggles.
Mike then shared with us about how he met his wife. He had been praying and reading through the Bible on marriage intensly for some time. He prayed that God would bring him a wife. He thought who would want to marry someone like me?
One day he was going to church and was walking with a walker that day. He looked much like a person with cerebal palsy. He could go up the stairs but it was just a laborous process. A young women about his age asked if she could help him up the stairs. Mike was overjoyed at this kind women. She helped him to the young adults sunday school he was going to. Mike was even happier to see her in the class. He looked for a seat next to her only to see a little girl. He was very disappointed, he had been asking God to give him a wife without any children. But he did proceed to befriend the young lady and he found out that this wasn't her little girl but someone she was babysitting. Mike knew that this was the one. They have been married for 15 years.
it has been difficult and tough but they continue to live one day at a time and be an example for everyone else that marriage can last even in less than ideal circumstances.
This thought recently came to mind (I am sure someone else has said/thought it) We all know amazing people, alot of time we just don't spend the time to find out why they are amazing. Mike is one of the amazing people I know.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Update 12/28 Partnerships
Last week was a fairly typical week in the life of Neighborhood Ministry. It started out with not a whole lot planned and we ended up experiencing some very cool God moments.Tina who we had been having Bible studies with on Wednesday nights formally gave her life to Christ on Saturday night. The best part was Jimmy was part of the conversation and was encouraging and using his life as an example to her.Last night at the Bible Study in Agape Park we shared the first 30 pages of the story. I was apprehensive about reading it because it brought to light many of my original pre concieved ideas I had about the park and the people in the park. I didn't know what to expect but Tiffany was sobbing by the end and Jimmy called me later and said thank you over and over again. This is first of all God's story and it is all of us who are involved whether it be physically or by prayer.Who knows what will happen with the story but it touched them and brought us all closer together.Jimmy showed the dvd to some of the other people in the park and it was a very moving moment for all of them to experience together.Some really cool partnerships/connections came together last week:1. Brandon from the Portage Resale shop texted me last tuesday to tell me they had gotten a bunch of brand new kids coats and if I knew of anyone who needed them? I didn't specifically but I thought we could probably find some people. We did, a group of us on tuesday went knocking on trailers in 4 different parks in Portage and gave away 20 or so kids coats. We met new people and reconnected with others in these parks. One individual we reconnected with was a 30-40 year old with a cane. He had been knocked out of a bucket truck while changing a sign and hit a telephone line. He was permanately injured he only had a flimsy pair of shoes to wear. He asked if we knew of a place he could get a pair of boots. The resale shop again came through with giving us a pair of boots for this man. he was very excited to be able to walk much better.The resale shop got another 90 coats on tuesday afternoon, The thought came for Wednesday to take out their box truck fill the back with racks of coats and park in the middle of a park to give away coats. Between the two days there were 50-60 coats given away.In the midst of the second coat giveaway Doug and others met an elderly couple who were in their 60s whose trailer was lost in a fire about two weeks ago. They lost everything. We are going to put a list together today of what their exact needs and clothes sizes are.2. Dave and Pam live in Mercy Park we signed them up for Christmas baskets through Liberty. Dave and Pam's trailer is in rough shape as many are in Mercy Park. The couple who delivered the Christmas basket saw that there were many issues that could be solved with some help so they connected them with neighborlink and a contractor. They have been heating their trailer with their stove (that is not uncommon) some of the work was done last week and some will be done this week.3. people from Portage wanting to go to church- This week because of the connections we made in Portage we had three families ask to come to church. Transportation is a huge issue (one that we may have an interesting way of solving in 2010) and many of the people in the neighborhoods do not have good vehicles. So when people ask to come to church they need rides. (This is one of the reasons why we do Bible Studies in the neighborhoods and bring church to them.) So there becomes an interesting dilema that we are thinking and praying about:1. Do we commit a vehicle to go to the northside of Portage and bring them to Liberty?2. Do we connect with the many good churches between their residences and Liberty?We are leaning much more to number 2. There is no reason why we would need to bus people 25 minutes to a church. As long as there are churches that will accept and love these people than it would be better off for all involved to go to a church much closer to their neighborhoods.A couple of things to remember if these people come to your church. They think it is normal to share faith with their neighbors. They think it is normal to have Bible studies and prayer times in their neighborhoods. We are going to continue to teach them that God is going to use them in their current places of dwellings. Our goal is not to move them into middle class neighborhoods (those are our neighbors and our responsabilities) but rather equip and train them to continue showing love to their communities.
As we have seen with Agape Park God's love through His people can change a community.
As we have seen with Agape Park God's love through His people can change a community.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Meeting Destiny
Again after the winterizing of the trailer project we didn't have a plan to go back into the park. Monday Doug recieved a call from Robert. Robert was delivering an eviction notice to a women in the park and when he went to the park found the women in the midst of an overdose. Robert didn't know what to do or who to call. Doug was the first person who came to mind.
Doug called me and we tried to find a women to go with us. We tried but couldn't find anyone, so it was him and I answering. We entered the trailer to find a women lying in the fetal position in the corner of the room. Her two kids were running around with a dog. She was going in and out of consciousness.
In the midst of this life and death situation Destiny was cutting the little boy's hair. We asked Destiny if she would go to the hospital. She answered only after the little boys hair was cut. I looked at Doug and he agreed to go into the bathroom and finish the haircut.
The older boy had special needs. The boys were approximately 7 and 4. They also needed to be dressed in order for all of us to go to the hospital. I was helping the older boy put his shoes on when I began to cry. The boy asked me what the matter was? I explained that his mommy was very sick and we needed to help her.
It occured to us that we needed a place for the boys to go if we were going to take Destiny to the hospital.
destiny told us between labored breaths that her mom was planning on getting the boys to buy them Halloween costumes. The grandmother wasn't going to be there for another 45 minutes.We didn't know if Destiny would last that long. Destiny told us her mom worked at the hospital. That solved the problem.
As we packed up the boys to go to the hospital, Destiny grabbed the dog and struggled to tell us that the dog had to go outside to the bathroom. Destiny was standing on the steps of her trailer when she passed out again. This time she was standing up and passed out right on Doug.
He caught her and tpicked her up and manuvered her ackwardly into his car.
Meanwhile I was trying to catch the dog and gather the boys. If it wasn't so intense it would have seemed quite humorous.
We finanlly caught everyone where they needed to be and proceeded to the hospital. On the way I asked the boys if they prayed at night and they nodded their heads yes. I asked if they would pray for their mommy? They responded yes. We prayed and as we were praying I thought this could be the last conversation they have with her. I started crying again.
We arrived at the hospital and grabbed a wheelchair so we wouldn't have a repeat of trying to get Destiny into the car.
We met the grandma at the hospital, Doug took Destiny into the hospital room and I took the boys to the grandma. After getting to the grandmother she said "no offense, but who the hell are you?" It was a legitimate question. I didn't have a great answer. I tried to explain how we had went to pray with people met Robert and he had introduced us to Destiny. She had a more confused look on her face. I explained how I was a pastor and we just cared and wanted to help.
She was thankful and apologetic, we had done our job and then we left Destiny at the hospital.
Doug called me and we tried to find a women to go with us. We tried but couldn't find anyone, so it was him and I answering. We entered the trailer to find a women lying in the fetal position in the corner of the room. Her two kids were running around with a dog. She was going in and out of consciousness.
In the midst of this life and death situation Destiny was cutting the little boy's hair. We asked Destiny if she would go to the hospital. She answered only after the little boys hair was cut. I looked at Doug and he agreed to go into the bathroom and finish the haircut.
The older boy had special needs. The boys were approximately 7 and 4. They also needed to be dressed in order for all of us to go to the hospital. I was helping the older boy put his shoes on when I began to cry. The boy asked me what the matter was? I explained that his mommy was very sick and we needed to help her.
It occured to us that we needed a place for the boys to go if we were going to take Destiny to the hospital.
destiny told us between labored breaths that her mom was planning on getting the boys to buy them Halloween costumes. The grandmother wasn't going to be there for another 45 minutes.We didn't know if Destiny would last that long. Destiny told us her mom worked at the hospital. That solved the problem.
As we packed up the boys to go to the hospital, Destiny grabbed the dog and struggled to tell us that the dog had to go outside to the bathroom. Destiny was standing on the steps of her trailer when she passed out again. This time she was standing up and passed out right on Doug.
He caught her and tpicked her up and manuvered her ackwardly into his car.
Meanwhile I was trying to catch the dog and gather the boys. If it wasn't so intense it would have seemed quite humorous.
We finanlly caught everyone where they needed to be and proceeded to the hospital. On the way I asked the boys if they prayed at night and they nodded their heads yes. I asked if they would pray for their mommy? They responded yes. We prayed and as we were praying I thought this could be the last conversation they have with her. I started crying again.
We arrived at the hospital and grabbed a wheelchair so we wouldn't have a repeat of trying to get Destiny into the car.
We met the grandma at the hospital, Doug took Destiny into the hospital room and I took the boys to the grandma. After getting to the grandmother she said "no offense, but who the hell are you?" It was a legitimate question. I didn't have a great answer. I tried to explain how we had went to pray with people met Robert and he had introduced us to Destiny. She had a more confused look on her face. I explained how I was a pastor and we just cared and wanted to help.
She was thankful and apologetic, we had done our job and then we left Destiny at the hospital.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Winterizing Trailers and answered Prayer
After the first day and meeting Robert (all names are changed) we didn't have a plan to go back to the park. I thought it was neat to pray with some people, shared the story that next Sunday and thought it was done. After the service a person involved with a county wide service project came up to me and asked if this park needed any help. I thought well we went over there once maybe we can go back. The next day Doug and I went back to the park left a message for Robert and left not knowing if he would call us or not. Within an hour he called me. I asked him if he had any work projects we could do for the park. His first question was "how much is this going to cost?" I assured him it was free. We agreed to meet during the week and talk about what we could do.
Wednesday night of that week three of us went over to Robert's trailer and talked to him about the project. Robert told us that we cold winterize the trailers. The task involved wrapping plastic at the base of skirting of the trailers. This was were the pipes were located and in the past they would have pipes freeze. If one pipe froze than the whole parks water supply would have to be turned off until it could be fixed.
There was also a couple named Dave and Joan who lived in trailer number 7. We found out that night the park was known by trailer numbers as opposed to people's names. Number 7 was putting on an addition and had a huge hole in the side of their trailer.
That night we went and looked at the hole, the two other guys with me talked to Dave and got a feel for how much work could be done and agreed to help him that coming Saturday.
That Saturday arrived and we had a group of about 15 who went into the park. The park had become much more friendly since the first day Doug and I had tried to pray with people.
Robert was the park maintance man and knew everyone. Robert knew everyone and was well prepared for that morning when we arrived.
There was an older gentleman who lived in #10 who in Robert's words "was close to death." We didn't meet him but were able to winterize his trailer. Dave and Joan's addition was worked on along with winterizing Linda's trailer which was #3 and Roger's who lived in number 5.
We had one small issue with Linda's trailer while covering her windows on the inside one of the volunteers knocked off a set of glass goblets. They both broke, Robert took the blame but we felt bad and said we would buy a new set for her.
Joan came up to a group of us half way through the day. She was smiling ear to ear. She said something to the effect of "I told Dave you would come." We were puzzled. So we asked please explain. She had been going to a church for some time and Dave had never went with her. When he started this project he asked Joan if any of her church friends would help out? She told him she would ask. She ended up not going to church the week before due to a sickness and had prayed that God would send someone to help. God had sent someone to help, it was us. We were different church people but God had answered Joan's prayer.
We were pretty excited and thought maybe this was the reason why we had felt God had asked us to pray in this neighborhood.
Wednesday night of that week three of us went over to Robert's trailer and talked to him about the project. Robert told us that we cold winterize the trailers. The task involved wrapping plastic at the base of skirting of the trailers. This was were the pipes were located and in the past they would have pipes freeze. If one pipe froze than the whole parks water supply would have to be turned off until it could be fixed.
There was also a couple named Dave and Joan who lived in trailer number 7. We found out that night the park was known by trailer numbers as opposed to people's names. Number 7 was putting on an addition and had a huge hole in the side of their trailer.
That night we went and looked at the hole, the two other guys with me talked to Dave and got a feel for how much work could be done and agreed to help him that coming Saturday.
That Saturday arrived and we had a group of about 15 who went into the park. The park had become much more friendly since the first day Doug and I had tried to pray with people.
Robert was the park maintance man and knew everyone. Robert knew everyone and was well prepared for that morning when we arrived.
There was an older gentleman who lived in #10 who in Robert's words "was close to death." We didn't meet him but were able to winterize his trailer. Dave and Joan's addition was worked on along with winterizing Linda's trailer which was #3 and Roger's who lived in number 5.
We had one small issue with Linda's trailer while covering her windows on the inside one of the volunteers knocked off a set of glass goblets. They both broke, Robert took the blame but we felt bad and said we would buy a new set for her.
Joan came up to a group of us half way through the day. She was smiling ear to ear. She said something to the effect of "I told Dave you would come." We were puzzled. So we asked please explain. She had been going to a church for some time and Dave had never went with her. When he started this project he asked Joan if any of her church friends would help out? She told him she would ask. She ended up not going to church the week before due to a sickness and had prayed that God would send someone to help. God had sent someone to help, it was us. We were different church people but God had answered Joan's prayer.
We were pretty excited and thought maybe this was the reason why we had felt God had asked us to pray in this neighborhood.
The beginning of Neighborhood Ministry
In July a group of us decided to start praying at 5 :30 am daily. It wasn't so much for a plan, formula, or for anything bigger than just praying together. It led us to begin to pray for change in the lives of people in Northwest Indiana.
We didn't have an idea or plan of how this might happen we were just praying that it would happen. Between those of us who were praying we had seen the affects of sin in peoples lives who lived in this area. Some different ideas surfaced but nothing concrete or long lasting happened.
Then one day in September I was sitting in my house on a Monday morning. The day before I had interviewed at a church out of the area and had felt pretty clear God had closed the door of us going to this church. I was upset and angry but knew that this was not the direction God had for my life. I wanted to know if that wasn't it what was it? What was I suppose to do?
I felt a small voice say go pray for your neighbors. I live in a typical middle class subdivision and most of the people in my subdivision actually work and are gone during the day. I was puzzled by what ths voice I attributed to God was telling me to do.
Then I realized that there was a trailer park at the outside of my subdivision. This park had a horrible reputation in my neighborhood and had known sex offenders living in it.
I thought is this really God telling me to go to this trailer park? I thought well it is better than feeling sorry for myself. I wasn't entirely thrilled or thinking anything would come out it.
I called up our church maintance man Doug and he I went to the trailer park named the Park.
It is a park of 14 trailers most of them built between 1950-1970. We nervously went up to numerous trailers and were turned down by different people including a blind lady.
We asked each of the people if we could pray with them and they told us no.
I was furious after being turned down by the blind lady. Here I had obeyed God and done what I thought was right and everyone didn't want prayer.
At this point in time Doug asked if he could knock and ask to pray at the next trailer. I said absolutely. We agreed that this would be the last trailer. A 20-30 something amle came to the door. He said we could come in if we really wanted to and pray with him. He wasn't excited but he wasn't mean. We had a hour+ long talk with him and found out about his life. He was a convicted sex offender, had all sorts of other different issues in his past life including drug abuse, trying to commit suicide, and being sexually abused as a child. He shared these all these struggles with us. We ended up praying for him and another gentleman that first day. The second gentleman was drunk and told us about his drinking issues. He told us how he wanted God to take away the taste of alcohol from his mouth and kneeled down at my feet and prayed with me.
We thought this would be the end of the story but that was three months ago and it turned out to be only the beginning.
We didn't have an idea or plan of how this might happen we were just praying that it would happen. Between those of us who were praying we had seen the affects of sin in peoples lives who lived in this area. Some different ideas surfaced but nothing concrete or long lasting happened.
Then one day in September I was sitting in my house on a Monday morning. The day before I had interviewed at a church out of the area and had felt pretty clear God had closed the door of us going to this church. I was upset and angry but knew that this was not the direction God had for my life. I wanted to know if that wasn't it what was it? What was I suppose to do?
I felt a small voice say go pray for your neighbors. I live in a typical middle class subdivision and most of the people in my subdivision actually work and are gone during the day. I was puzzled by what ths voice I attributed to God was telling me to do.
Then I realized that there was a trailer park at the outside of my subdivision. This park had a horrible reputation in my neighborhood and had known sex offenders living in it.
I thought is this really God telling me to go to this trailer park? I thought well it is better than feeling sorry for myself. I wasn't entirely thrilled or thinking anything would come out it.
I called up our church maintance man Doug and he I went to the trailer park named the Park.
It is a park of 14 trailers most of them built between 1950-1970. We nervously went up to numerous trailers and were turned down by different people including a blind lady.
We asked each of the people if we could pray with them and they told us no.
I was furious after being turned down by the blind lady. Here I had obeyed God and done what I thought was right and everyone didn't want prayer.
At this point in time Doug asked if he could knock and ask to pray at the next trailer. I said absolutely. We agreed that this would be the last trailer. A 20-30 something amle came to the door. He said we could come in if we really wanted to and pray with him. He wasn't excited but he wasn't mean. We had a hour+ long talk with him and found out about his life. He was a convicted sex offender, had all sorts of other different issues in his past life including drug abuse, trying to commit suicide, and being sexually abused as a child. He shared these all these struggles with us. We ended up praying for him and another gentleman that first day. The second gentleman was drunk and told us about his drinking issues. He told us how he wanted God to take away the taste of alcohol from his mouth and kneeled down at my feet and prayed with me.
We thought this would be the end of the story but that was three months ago and it turned out to be only the beginning.
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