Dear Prayer warriors.
It is Tuesday already, and the weeks continue to fly on by. Last week was a full week with visitors coming and going. First, I had Seth Barnes spend two days with us, to check in and get an overview of the ministry. Seth is the founder of Adventures in Missions.
The day he left, Mike Anderson, my employer prior to joining AIM in 2004, and Stuart White, our Sunday school teacher and fellow deacon at Roswell Street Baptist, arrived to see first hand what the Lord is doing here in New Orleans. Both are special friends and have been used by God as a tremendous influence in our lives since moving to the United States. We spent an incredible 2 days together, and they were able to see how God is moving in such a mighty way in New Orleans.
We have seen the Lord at work through some incredible miracles over the last 2 weeks, and have seen Him clearly orchestrate events and situations. I shared with our leaders on Sunday that we had all witnessed miracles, and that we should be expecting God to show up in supernatural ways during the weeks ahead. Two days later, I met Seth at the airport and he handed me a book saying that God told him to give me that book. He was reading it on the plane and got to page 123 and knew that this was a message for our team. The paragraph is talking about Matthew 11 v 20-24, where Jesus is talking about the mighty works that were done in Chorazin and Bethsaida, and their refusal to repent. The author wrote the following in 2003, well before Hurricane Katrina:
“But there is another message contained in the story. Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom would have repented had they been exposed to the same miracles. This is a promise for today. Miracles on the streets of the “sin cities” of the world will cause them to repent…… the San Francisco’s, the Amsterdam’s, the
New Orleans and the Rio’s of this world, will repent….if there is an army of saints, walking their streets, caring for the broken, bringing the God of Power into their impossible circumstances. They would repent! They simply await those with the message of the kingdom to come.”
God really spoke to me through that. We are His army here – we are only the first wave of troops, but He is working through us to bring the city to repentance. What an awesome privilege!
While Seth was here, we visited our different ministry sites and partners. I have always worked with Seth as the CEO of AIM and have never seen him in “ministry mode”. It was so refreshing to see him walking around and seeking out people to pray for, and leading people to the Lord. He has such a passion to disciple and teach the youth participants, and it was good for me to see that, and be reminded of why we are here.
During our final meeting we discussed plans and strategies for the future in New Orleans. I feel strongly that we need to have a long term approach to the ministry here in the city and not just focus on getting through the summer. The spiritual battle for this area is going to be long and the church cannot afford to give up now. So we are looking at establishing a long term base and ministry platform that will take us into the next five years. Please will you pray for all of us as we seek God’s will and direction for the future.
The day that Seth left, Mike and Stuart arrived. It is so difficult to explain to someone all that is happening here, and I was anxious that they would be able to get a small glimpse of what God is doing in the short time they were here.
We started off by going on a tour of some of the devastated areas, allowing them to get a glimpse of the magnitude of the damage. After that we had dinner at Good News relief and distribution center. The food there is typical relief food and what tasted like chicken turned out to be tuna. So the term “chuna” was created. I eat at the different relief and distribution centers most nights, and have decided that no chuna is good chuna…
The next day I had them partner with one of the ministry teams and they spent the morning gutting a house. After lunch they joined another team on a prayer walking and ministry time in the Holly Grove area. They spent the afternoon sharing the gospel with workers and residents, and had the joy of leading people to the Lord. The next day we went to our base in Mississippi, and spent some time encouraging and praying for the base directors, Rob and Kim.
It was so good to have them here, and to let them see first hand all that is going on. It is so difficult to put into words all that is happening, and the newsletters are too short to really express all that has happened each week. So, to have people see first hand what is going on, and to be able to share with others back home the vision of the ministry, is really a blessing.
We have a little under four weeks to go before our last group leaves, and I am challenging our leaders to end strong and to keep the momentum they have built up to the end. They are incredible young leaders and we have seen their leadership skills develop weekly. I have a few specific prayer requests:
- We are still looking for housing for about 60 students for the last two weeks of the summer, since one of our ministry partners is closing down their relief center.
- Please pray for the health of our leaders, there has been a flu type of infection that has plagued our team.
- Please pray for me and the AIM leadership as we hear from the Lord about the future of the ministry in New Orleans.
- And for continued safety for all of our leaders and teams. (one of the national guard captains mentioned that he had been shot at three times and that the gang members are being promoted if they kill a policeman or a guardsman.)
Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support.
Athol
