It’s a powerful thing to see two former alcoholics who lived a long time on the streets ministering to our addicted homeless friends. They minister to these men in a way that we never could have. Praise God for our new Crew members!

Rick has been with us for a long time now and we consider him a member of our family, church family and ministry team. Rick was once an alcoholic and homeless, but he gave his life to God and overcame alcoholism! We consider Rick the head of the ministry home!

We met Gerald the first week of January. Gerald was a 51-year-old homeless man sleeping on concrete. In the past month, Gerald moved into our ministry home, got a job and most importantly, he gave his life to Christ!

Our ministry is growing and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in 2012.

God bless!

A day in the life of a homeless man at Christmas time.
http://www.authorsden.com/categories/poetry_top.asp?catid=69&id=269062

“Pushing his grocery cart with all his worldly goods
Sipping from a hot cup of coffee to fight the winter cold
His long, dirty hair, dirty body, dirty clothes smelled a bit
No place to take a bath when living in the streets
He stopped to watch a mother and child decorate the front lawn
Memories of long ago brought tears to his eyes
Seems like yesterday; he and his mother, in the front yard decorating the house for Christmas
It was so long ago; he wished he was home; he wished for the good times with love, joy and laughter
Some see him as a bum; too lazy for work; some see him as a low class, just a dirty old scum
He was once a proud man; once had loved ones, a home, a job and a car
Time gone bad, jobs lost, no money for mortgage or paying the bills
Family lost, stress and confusions set in; where did it all go wrong?
People passed by and remarked, lazy old man, should get himself a job
People passed by and frowned at him
A couple passing by handed him two dollars; he quietly thanked them
Another hot cup of coffee to help fight the cold winter night
Walking on down the street he passed a house with Christmas music playing “Silent Night” he stopped to listen for awhile
Oh, how he wished he was home; he longed for the times when love and family was all around
So long ago; his family no more; just a lonely old man in a lonely town
A young woman passing by handed him a ten dollar bill; he whispered thank you
To the woman it was just extra change; to the old man it was gold in his hand
A little more to eat; more hot coffee for the cold, winter nights
People stopped to give him money; they seldom stopped to talk
So cold; so lonely; he said to himself as he pushed his cart to his sleeping place
Back of a building; close to the wall, to help block the wind and the bitter cold
He placed a dirty blanket over cardboards to lay on; another dirty blanket from his cart to cover himself; so cold, so lonely the old man was
He thought of Christmastime past; the good times he had when love, family and friends, did surround him
His mind wandered from the loneliness and the bitter cold; somehow, he managed to fall asleep

Remember the homeless at Christmas time, if only in your prayers.“

Here are some photos of our Mobile Shower Unit and our Van:

We are always in need of tents, sleeping bags, blankets, and coats. If you are interested in donating, please contact us for a drop-off location.

The winter precipitation is falling earlier than ever this year, and if this is any indication of what is to come, our friends could be facing some dangerous circumstances in the next few months.

God Bless!

Isn’t she beautiful?!

The Love-Well

God is sooooo good!!

For sometime now we’ve been searching for a box-truck or a passenger van for our ministry, and well guys, we found one! This week we found a 1990 Dodge passenger van with only 50k miles on it. The seller brought it down from Jonesboro tonight. The price was right, so we bought it in a hurry!

She looks pretty good to be 21 years old! And, she runs good too!

We can’t praise Him enough for all that He has allowed us to do and for all of the needs that we’ve been able to meet! I know I’ve said this before, but we serve a BIG God!!

A couple of weeks ago, we came across a nice enclosed trailer for sale.  The only hang up was that the seller wanted to trade it for a boat. Well, we didn’t have a boat to trade, so we just wrote it off as not meant to be…..THEN, the seller decides that he had rather see the trailer go to us for our ministry than to trade it for something else! We serve a BIG God, people!

We want to give a really BIG shout-out to Pastor Allen for giving us such a great deal on this trailer:

We are putting it to good use! It is stocked with Bibles, water, bug spray, hygiene products, clothes and much, much more!

Praise God!

‘Thank you to all who donated water, money, and time to help raise water for the recent tornado victims. Instead of going to Joplin your
donations went to a small town here in Arkansas named Denning. This town has a population of 276 people and will not receive the assistance that Joplin has already. While in the community of Denning I visited with State, Federal, and Local officials, which all stated, “The destruction in Denning is a mini Joplin”. I found that no matter where you’re at, what is devastating is what was lost, not the size of what is lost. Your efforts more than doubled the water supply for these people. I just could not see driving past this town on the way to Joplin. Thanks again and special thanks to David H for providing the transportation to Denning and my brother-in-law Reggie W for providing large amounts of water and packaging of the water……….David ‘

Thank you to everyone who donated!! The people of Denning were very appreciative!

Lastly, The End & Matthew 24:14 - I just wonder how much time was put into determining the May 21, 2011 and the December 2012 theories. I also wonder why? The Bible specifically states that we will not know the hour nor the day of His return. Furthermore, the entire purpose for our existence is to further the kingdom of God and make disciples of men in all of the people group’s throughout the world. Matthew 28:18-20 says this specifically -

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (NIV) Mathew 28:18-20

So my question is Why? Why do we spend our lives trying to predict the day and hour of His return? Why do we spend our days authenticating the validity of such predictions? Why do we put time and resources into researching theorists’ methodologies for such predictions? Why?

Wouldn’t our time be much better spent doing what Jesus charged us with in Matthew 28:18-20? YES! So, to all of you theorists and to all of you trying to prove these theorists right or wrong, please stop wasting your time. We are to live everyday of our lives preparing for His coming, and we are to focus on spreading the gospel to all nations/people groups…the lost! This is our purpose, according to the Bible.

So, for those who have not read Matthew 24: 14, here it is -

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (NIV) Matthew 24:14

Jesus did not say “spread the gospel as far as you see fit and to only those  you encounter without making any major/minor adjustments to your daily routine.” No, He said “all nations.” This means all nations. Not just to as many individual people we can, but to all people groups, cultures, ethnic groups, etc. David Platt describes this wonderfully in his second book, Radical Together. Platt says, “The end of the age will not come when a certain number of people in one ethnic group come to Christ. The end of the age will come when people from every single ethnic group have come to Christ. Jesus promised that  the gospel would be preached to all the people groups.” He is right, according to Revelations 7:9-10 -

⁹After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice:   “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (NIV) Revelation 7:9,10

Every nation, tribe, people and language will stand before God. And, God charged His church with ensuring that the gospel is preached in all nations, among every people group. So, how much work is left to be done. I dont’ know exactly nor do I need to know. I just know that I have to do my part to reach as many people as I can. If you all (myself, as well) were really in tune to the severity of the consequences that lost individuals will face if Jesus came back right now, we would spend less time on petty things/useless things and more time spreading the gospel.

If you’re interested in reading more about what missionaries have determined regarding the number of people groups that have yet to be reached, I encourage you to read Platt’s book, Radical Together. I also recommend Platt’s first book, Radical. Both are eye-opening reads.

Now, I’m not alluding to the notion that all people have not heard of Jesus, and therefore, He will not return yet. He could return before you finish reading this sentence. I have no idea if everyone on this planet has been reached, but I do know that if you are reading this sentence, Jesus has yet to return. That means we have work to do….and a lot of it!

So, I leave you with this…..instead of trying to find ways to discredit May 21, 2011 or the Mayan’s predictions of December 2012, GO DO SOMETHING TO FURTHER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Go spread the gospel! Go make disciples, who will make disciples, who will make disciples. If He was to come tomorrow, I want to know that I did all I could to share the love of Christ with everyone I meet. Don’t you?