So last week we went to Seattle, Washington for our mini-outreach and it was SUPER awesome. I’m pretty sure I shared most everyone’s feelings when I didn’t feel prepared at all for hitting the streets just to tell people about Jesus.
And it seemed kinda stupid.
Probably because I’m a cynic and I think too much and I just thought that we were doing it to feel better about ourselves and cause it was like, the Christian thing to do. Something in me felt like I would know when I was ready to share the gospel, like a great wisdom would be given to me and I would suddenly understand all the secrets of missions. So I was a little ticked when I realized we were sharing the gospel to early.
Then the first night I went to Cross Church.
Simple name, life changing people.
I heard the loud music from outside and made my assumptions, but it wasn’t until I walked inside to about 50 mostly dirty homeless looking people praising Jesus as hard as they could that I realized that these people were closer to Jesus than I’d ever been.
Oh and the band was just a CD turned up really loud. They played Chris Rice and Switchfoot.
Oh and it was Monday night.
The people were all there for the sole reason that they just love Jesus! It was Monday night and most of them had worked all day and had to be up early the next morning but they were at church worshiping, only to hit the streets afterward until 1am (they were nice to the newbs, they’ve been known to stay out much later) to tell bums about Jesus.
But the best part is that they don’t stop there. They leave the option to ride back to the church in a van where they provide showers, hot meals, a bed, and best of all, some Jesus. If you’re serious about it, or wake up sober the next morning and want to stay, they offer a free 6 month bible school complete with room and board! We need more Cross Churches!
After walking into that room, my whole perspective changed. I heard story after story of people that had been at Cross Church for years and were now serving, or as short as six months and were just finishing up their stay. They were there only because someone took the time to give them a sandwich and soda when they just thought there was no hope.
They even humored the ywamers by setting up a mock park bench and letting us practice evangelizing.
So by the time we got downtown, I was about to pop if I didn’t tell someone about Jesus, and I had PLENTY of chances all night long.
One of my favorites was a man with one leg named AL. he was sitting alone a few feet away from a crowd of other homeless people and YWAMers and I soon realized why. I walked up holding my basket of goodies (aka bait) with Nathan and Bethany
And this is how the conversation went
Me: “Hey man, want some crush?”
AL: “F--- off!”
Me: “Want a cupcake, or a sandwich?”
AL: “I don’t want none of yo sh-- now get the hell away from me!”
Me: “want some chips?”
AL: “…oh lemme try some of those“
Then we talked for about 30 minutes about how someone stole all his alcohol (he had one leg and walked with crutches) then some girl charged him his last dollar for one cigarette. He was a little frustrated. But after hearing him out we laughed and prayed and he told us all kinds of stories.
Then there was the time Wednesday night where we walked down a trail of death into a dark huddle of tents. Our group shrunk from about 9 to 3 when Logan, Jessie and I decided to head to where we felt God wanted us. Everyone was pissed at us for going cause they were sure we were going to get murdered.
We ended up surviving and giving most of our sodas and sandwiches to the guys huddled in the darkness. They didn’t want us to pray but after talking to them I heard they were about to move so I asked if I could just pray for safe travels. They complied so I totally snuck in a prayer about everything I wanted to pray.
Then the best part. We were walking out of the huddle glad to be alive when we ran into two other people on the trail.
Other people: “Hey guys you cold tonight? Want a blanket?”
Us: “Uh, want a soda?”
Other people: -awkward laugh “Uh, no really we got some hygiene packs and hot chocolate”
We then both realized that the other party wasn’t homeless. Our pent up fear and nervousness receded as we laughed together in the middle of a dark sketchy homeless tent cluster at midnight.
It was super encouraging. Then we followed them up to the road and all prayed as a group and exchanged crush and sierra mist for hot chocolate.
One of the highlights of the whole trip for me.
We did some other cool things, some work at schools and other missions, but those are my highest lights.
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