Update

Just a quick update.

Yesterday New Life Wesleyan Church in Chesterton had a few local ministries like NeighborLink Porter County, Chesterton Campus Life, Frontline Foundations to share about what God is doing in the area. And Neighborhood Ministry was one of them. Since yesterday we have 7 new people who want to help spread the good news of Jesus Christ to our neighbors in need! There are some other doors that the Lord might be opening as well.

What has been on my heart recently is to see if we could get the children in these neighborhoods into summer christian camps and/or Sunday schools or basketball camps. I would also like to see if we could have a way of getting people to the church by van or by bus. I know that there are few churches in the areas of Chesterton, Valparaiso, and Portage that have vans or busses that may be able to help in that way as well as the summer programs for kids.

A couple more things that I think we could do is simply just pray with the people here in the trailer parks and see what God does from that. There are aprox. 7-8 trailer parks within 2 miles of each other and around 1,000 trailers around here and that is just within a couple of miles here on rt. 20! And if we can team up and go with at least 2 people at a time, that would be a good thing. I can't tell you how important it is to have women helping becuase there are a lot of single moms who need us to help. So with new people from New Life Wesleyan Church we have both men and women who can help. This is tremendous! Thank you Jesus!

I'm open to any thoughts you might have. I will be talking to a few people in the next few days to see if this can happen. Please keep praying! God is responding!

Newsletter Update

Neighborhood Ministry

Newsletter

Revelation 3:8 “. . . See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength . . “

2 Corinthians 12:9 “. . . My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Dear Beloved Saints, I am learning to love my Jesus more and more all the time. I am made complete only because He lives inside of me. Without Him, I am nothing. With Him I can be whatever He calls me to be.

These two verses came to me the other morning as I was thinking about what all God has done in me and through me. The verse out of Revelation says that God opens what He wants to open and shuts what He wants to shut, but as He opens a door for us He equips us even when we ourselves feel weak. The Lord wants us to bloom where we are planted.

The second verse out of 2 Corinthians says that He doesn’t always do what we want Him to do but rather His grace which is Him giving something from Himself that we certainly don’t deserve but He does it out of LOVE! And this grace is enough for us and it is made perfect even when we are weak.

I have to say that without the second verse, the first verse would be impossible for us to do. These two verses go together. There have been countless times that God has placed an open door for me but it’s up to me and only me to go through that door, but once I do His grace fills me with strength. Perfect example of this is actually before I was born again in May of 2006 when my life was a pit of mud. And I knew God was calling me to live for at least 6 to 12 months at Pure Life Ministries in Kentucky where I would have to give up my good paying Engineering job, leave my son and my wife and all my friends to go and live in the middle of nowhere in the hills of KY with 55 other guys who I didn’t know who were in a depressed state just like me! I mean talk about stepping out on faith! To be honest, maybe half was faith but the other half is I didn’t know what else to do. None the less, I did it and as soon as I made the decision and took steps toward that decision His strength came pouring in!

I would like to share with you some things that the Lord has done lately. Back a few months ago the father of my ex-wife became very ill with cancer and became obvious that he needed to be cared for 24/7. So, He ended up living at a nursing home in the area. My ex-wife, her brother and my son cared for him day in and day out. Then as his health started to decline I felt the need to go and visit him in the nursing home but given the situation that his daughter is my ex-wife it started out kind of awkward for me. So, I asked if I could visit him and my son went to ask him and he said I could as long as I don’t preach to him. You see, This man has always said he didn’t want to hear about God and about a few months ago a woman lead him in the sinners prayer but he still didn’t want to talk about God. So, I asked the Lord what to do. Then I got a clear and precise answer. God told me to be there every day serving him for whatever he needs even if it is just to sit there next to him while he sleeps. Now, approximately 10 days before this I felt the Lord say to me to fast for 12 days straight and He was going to do something at the end of the fast. I’ve fasted before but never 2 days in a row let alone 12! So, I put it off for about a week until God said its time to make up my mind to do it. So, everyday I went to the nursing home and my “ex-father-in-law” really enjoyed me being there. But he got worse and worse. And as he slept I just prayed over him quietly. Then Saturday Febuary the 5^th came and when I got to the nursing home his breathing was very shallow so I held his hand and prayed as he slept the next few miniutes of his life. I realized later that day he died was the 12th day of my fast! I'm not saying that God saved him. That is between him and God but I am saying that God is true and keeps his promises when we pray according to His will. So, I believe God spoke to him and gave him the choice to surrender. Praise the Lord!

One last thing, I really need your prayers. I have been asked to speak at New Life Wesleyan Church in Chesterton Indiana this Sunday. I want the Lord to speak through me about this ministry and glorify Him in it. Please pray that I don't stick my foot in my mouth and that God would be glorified and that the ministry would get the help that it needs.

Thank you all and God bless everyone of you this week.

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Ministry Blog: http://neighborhoodministry.blogspot.com/

Email: neighborhoodministry@gmail.com

Doug McGowan

Neighborhood Ministry
"Shining God's light to our neighbors."