Hey everyone! Wow, it has been a long time! My team and I have now been in Philadelphia, PA for close to 2 months! That means that in the past year and half, this is the “longest stay” I’ve had in one place, even longer than I was at home before relaunching on the field. So in a way, this place has become even more “home” than home itself!
When we first got here, ministry was looking like it was going to be really busy. Our team was working with “The Rock Ministries,” located in Kensington, Philadelphia, PA. This ministry is set up in a boxing gym (boxing ministry— what?!) and ministers to many people living at or below the poverty line. The Rock also performs several “social services” for those experiencing homeless and drug addiction (connecting them to detox programs, work opportunities, medical facilities, etc.).
When we first got here, we had several long days of ministry full of prayer walks, street clean up, and evangelism. And let me tell you, the streets where we were ministering have such a HUGE need for the gospel. It reminds me of my international Race; the level of brokenness we have seen here is unreal. It honestly sometimes feels like a separate country inside the United States.
Drugs seem to be one of the biggest problems in this area of Philadelphia. Hundreds of heroin needles cover the ground. Orange needle caps by the thousands everywhere you look. We spent HOURS cleaning up the streets, and within 24 hours, they were yet again covered in needles, garbage, and human waste. When we would go out and evangelize, we would often see people shooting up as we were talking with them. Several others thought we were there to “buy” at first; it was honestly surprising to see how many drug traffickers were selling right in broad daylight. All in all, it was a huge reality check for us on the team— this is America. Brokenness is no stranger here in the streets.
The first few days here were so full of outreach opportunities. But everything started to change once the quarantine hit.
Quarantine made ministry a little bit difficult to say the least. Many of the organizations here with feeding programs began to shut down because of the “now crowds” guidelines. My team was also no longer going outside to minister, and we began to feel a little stir crazy. There is so much work to be done, and no one is doing it! What can we possible do? Thankfully, my team is full of many Holy Spirit-filled believers who have very creative and innovated minds. So we found our own opportunities to get involved in ministry while still adhering to any guidelines and recommendations give to us by the CDC and local state government.
Here are some of the things my team has been up to since I last updated you all:
- Daily Bible Studies with our Ministry Host
- Our ministry host, Craig, is incredibly wise and knowledgable about Scripture, so we took the opportunity to learn from him while we can! We usually started our mornings with about and hour and half of Bible study! We have gone through Colossians, 1 Timothy, and Amos, and we are currently working through the Gospel of Matthew. I have had more than a few “a-ha!” moments with Craig. The implications of God’s grace have been blowing my mind especially.
- Food Pantry/Truck Delivery
- Every Friday, we get deliveries form a food truck with loads of groceries and snack foods for us to distribute to the missionary families. We also make a few grocery delivery runs for the elderly who cannot go grocery shopping on their own. It is a tangible way that we have been able to provide for the physical needs for the people in the area. No worries! We are wearing masks and staying several feet away to ensure we do not expose ourselves or others to the virus (or the potential there of).
- Words of Encouragement/Prophetic Words
- My team has set aside several hours to write letters of encouragement to people who are essential workers. We have sent letters to nurses, police officers, fire fighters— anyone who needs to know how much we appreciate them and how they are serving our communities! Besides this, my team has also been spending time in “listening prayer,” asking the Lord to place Scriptures in our hearts, visions in our minds, and prophetic words in our mouths. We have been sending out these prophetic encouragements as we receive them, delivering them through texts, letters, phones calls, FaceTimes/Zoom calls, and pretty much every other form of long-distance communication. It has been incredibly special to see how specifically the Lord has touched the lives of others through the things we have heard from Him. This has definitely been one of the most fruitful and uplifting ministries for me to even be a part of! I LOVE how much my team has grown in boldness in this area!
- Rock Painting/“Planting”
- This one may sound a little bit odd, but it was a lot of fun, and anyone can do it! During one of our prayer walks, my team collected some rocks at a local park. When we came back home, we painted them and wrote Scripture and lets of encouragement on them. I even painted one that looked (sort of) like a frog; it was actually pretty cute to say the least (I just wish I had taken a picture)! After a few days, we took the rocks back out and placed them. It is our hope that these rocks will bring a little splash of color and a “pocket of Kingdom” to those who find them.
- Park Cleanup with Popsicle Sticks!
- Thankfully, the quarantine did not keep us from cleaning up some of the parks (we just had to keep a good distance from others while doing it). On top of that, my team was hit with a really wonderful idea (an idea that I actually got to be part of last year): popsicle stick Scripture planting! This is another option that anyone can do! We wrote verses and words of Scripture on popsicle sticks, and our intention is to plant them into the ground to replace all of the needles and caps we clean up. In a way, we are prophetically and symbolically taking back the ground for the Kingdom. Darkness is getting replaced by Light!
- Side note: This ministry idea came form HopEthiopia, a ministry that plants Scripture into the ground all around their ministry site. What is truly amazing to see is how BEAUTIFUL the landscape became because of it. Some wild flowers sprouted “out the wazoo” where some of the popsicle sticks had been planted! Try this one out (even in your own gardens)! I’m sure you will be surprised how much fun (and how fruitful) it can be!
- Intercession
- Not surprising in the least if you know me or my teammates. Prayer is a HUGE emphasis for us on our squad. Every day since the quarantine hit, my teammates and I have been doing daily intercession with the World Race alumni on Facebook (taking only a few days off in the middle for our debrief)! We pray for 5 topics and share words of encouragement, Scripture, and cool testimonies of how we have seen God move in all of the other areas of ministry (several people receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior and even some people receiving physical healing as well). We also have done a 14-hour intercession day (each member of the team taking 2 hour-long time slots) and we will be doing a 21-hour intercession day next week. Honestly, I live for those moments! I LOVE prayer and intercession!
As you can see, quarantine can’t keep us down for the count (pun not intended, but I’m going with it). The Lord is an unstoppable God, and His ministers are determined to be a part of the solution to the world’s brokenness, however large or small an impact we make. The important thing is to always keep moving and not give into despair. It is a gift to be restless— it makes you just uncomfortable enough until you HAVE to get up and move, to do something! How can you move today to spread the Light of Jesus to those in need?
In all things, be blessed!
AG
