ChicaGO Update
The action started early, as friends and Pastors Steve and Tracy Bartlett, from Abundant Life World Outreach of Chicago, met us at the building at 2 PM with an outreach team ready to hit the streets. After a brief orientation about the neighborhood, armed with our invitations and their Gospel DVDs in many different languages, about half of the team went a block down Pratt to our beach and beachwalk (a now familiar trail), and the rest headed down Sheridan toward Loyola University. They had an awesome time sharing the Gospel and praying for people for several hours, and a couple of folks came to the meeting later that night because of their witness. It's great to see the Body of Christ in unity!
Taking time out before the Living Stones team arrived, Dick and I grabbed a cup of coffee at the Ethiopian Coffee Shop - those of you who know me well know that I don't drink coffee, but use the term in very broadly, which mostly includes me drinking tea :) . While we were sitting outside, anticipating what God was going to do that night, a young couple with three kids walked in from the street and began looking in our window. This was not the first time that afternoon that people did that - in fact, it happens all the time! I went over with an invitation and introduced myself. Turns out they were pastors Keith and Hanna from the Rogers Park Community Church, coming by to welcome us to the neighborhood. We had a great time of sharing, and Pastor Keith invited Dick to the neighborhood pastors' fellowship. Later that night, another pastor and his wife came to the services, being the third pastors that had dropped by to welcome us in two weeks. Each one shared their thankfulness that we had come to the area, saying that Rogers Park needed as many churches as possible! We appeciated their kind words and look forward to getting together with each couple soon to get to know them more.
The afternoon had flown by, and our team, which included Pat and Sonia, Eric and Felicia, and Vince, were ready to go. People started to trickle in as Ben Horges began worshiping on his guitar. Annette was back; Lucy too! And many new faces - eight to be exact. This second week, we had about 20 less people, which gave a little more breathing room and a much cozier atmosphere, as we could put our chairs in a circle and really begin to share with each other. Dick had a great teaching on our seedling church being a "house of prayer for all nations" and began to teach on basic elements from the Lord's Prayer, stopping at times for a question or comment from one of our guests.
Oh, and did I mention that the electricity and air were on this week, making things quite a bit more comfortable than opening night!
After prayer, some people left, as others hung around for fellowship or to tell us about themselves. One young girl from Poland even showed up when it was all over! She fit in so well, we thought she was part of the Youth With A Mission Team, wanting to help us clean up the kitchen. Turns out she just saw the lights on and wanted to come in. I hope she'll be back!
When all was said and done, we agreed that ETHNIC EMBRACE, NIGHT 2 was a wonderful success for God's glory. Can't wait for round 3!
