5 Teams, 3 cities
Philadelphia, Baltimore & Bronx, NYC
Students were ministered to, ministered to others, performed a hip hop dance, a drama and evangelized to people from many different backgrounds. Lives were transformed with the love of Jesus.
Bootcamp:
On Friday, July 8th students from all over came rolling into the YWAM Philadelphia campus to kick off JG with the Bootcamp phase. This intense 7 day portion of JG comes with a schedule filled with daily devotional times, speaker sessions, dance practice, drama rehearsal, games, evangelism training and much more. Students get put into one of 5 teams and join together in team building and creating community with one another. All that they learn together during Bootcamp, leads up to their 8 day trip to one of the city outreaches.
Outreach:
"Team 2- It's all for you!"
(Our team chant as we point to the sky)
Saturday, July 16th we took off to our different outreach locations. We got to road trip up to Bronx, NYC! Team two is the best team. I am a little biased because it's been my second year in a row with this group. For real though, we were phenomenal. God used us in many ways to reach even the hardened of hearts in the Bronx. Students crushed it with their hip hop skills and gave their all by creatively performing the gospel through the drama called Doors. Our last night, we held a big block party with one of the churches we worked with called Fordham Manor. It was a great success! The legend, Chris Ko is a regular speaker in the Discipleship Training School and we got to work with his ministry called Simplicity. Chris runs a food truck for the homeless and offers free incredible meals for those in need while giving the gospel message. This is something I have heard about for a long time, so it was pretty exciting to finally see it in person. At the end of it all, our team alone brought in 206 first time salvations, 84 rededications and 6 healings witnessed!
Testimony:
One of the days of outreach really encouraged me. We were underneath a bridge with a subway train rolling over us every 7 minutes. We had just finished performing our show and we would go out and minister to the crowd. Asking people if they needed prayer, or ways we could encourage them and of course share our faith. A student and I were talking with a mother with her 6 month old baby and her teenage daughter (probably around 16 years old). The mother understood some English, but Spanish was her first language so I translated for my student as she shared the gospel to this family. The mother kept saying how she's felt God calling her back home for a long time, but she's just not ready to make that commitment. She recognizes that following Jesus will mean letting go of the way she is living her life at the moment. Which she is not ready to do.
Can I first just comment the authenticity of this woman's response. I think this is something that we as believers need to consider as closely as this woman is. Counting the cost. We have to recognize what we are giving our 'yes' to. Whether it's to Jesus or to the world. Understanding that our 'yes' will cost us something, some way. But also recognizing, when saying 'yes' to Jesus, our 'no' to the world somedays will hurt more than others BUT, what we get in return is far greater.
Sorry, I had to add that side note. Back to the woman and her two children. Of course, I encouraged her and told her that living a life for Jesus will bring you more purpose, hope and love than whatever it is she is holding on to. She agreed. Then I look over to see her teenage daughter crying. It took me by surprised and I asked her why she is upset. Her mother tells me that her daughter has been a Christian for a long time and has been praying for her to return to the faith.... I lost it. This overwhelming sense of compassion I had for this family took over me. The mom started crying, my student was crying, I was crying. We were all a mess. In that moment, we got to reassure this young woman that God hears her prayers. He is working and to not lose hope. Her mom left that conversation that day and may not have said a salvation prayer, but I know that a seed was watered that had been drying out for a long time. AND, a hope was reignited in that young woman's heart to keep going. God is so good y'all. Let Him use you.
*Join me in continued prayer for her family along with many people that we reached during this week of outreach.
What's Next?
Last night we arrived back to Pittsburgh! We have a few days off to catch up on laundry, rest and get our minds back on track for Mission Adventures again. We have about 2 more weeks left of Vacation Bible Schools left in varies parts of this city. Reaching the inner city, refugees and many more.
On August 6th, I am hosting a Girls Only Event at our base for high school aged girls. We will have a makeup artist coming in, jewelry making, photo booths, games, prizes, food and two guest speakers. Shandia Booker will be sharing her book called Dear Brooklyn, Love Yourself and the second speaker is yours truly.
:)
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