Well, it’s been a while since I first posted, but the Ministry continues. Participation seems to have increased a little bit but contributions are still a little low. I’m not sure how to best get people involved, but it’s not good for the three of us to keep shelling out the funds for this. It only costs about $15-30 a week but that adds up over time. I don’t mind (this is part of my gifting to the church) but I’d really like to see others involved. This is currently the only formal outreach our church does so it’s not like everyone is committed to other programs. At the same time, I don’t want to bully or guilt people into giving. I’ll continue to pray about it and trust that God will provide as needed.In other news…our visits to the homeless have proven to be very successful. It’s tempting to measure success in terms of conversions et al but true success is when you connect with someone. The homeless are really no worst off than any of us. They are victims of their own desires and sinful nature as the rest of us are/were. We hope to just show them God’s love and patience and to live as examples as Christ has called us. So many ‘Christians’ try to convince or even attack non-believers but this is not what we are called to do. We are called to spread the gospel but not inflict it. We have to submit to the sovereignty of God and realize that only God can convert some one, we are only the means He uses to accomplish this. Often, we are only a portion of the means used. We may be the first real conversation some one has or the last before they ‘see the light’ but never the whole method.One thing I notice is that despite how broken and ‘jacked’ these people are, they continue to live in their sin (like all lost do) and they do it with the same conviction as anybody else. When taken to this extreme (living on the street) and seeing how they continue to not recognize their sinful nature, you have to accept that you can not talk somebody ‘into’ Christianity. God must change their heart so that they can hear the truth and understand it.I’m losing steam so I’ll pick this up later. Be sure to visit www.kaleo.com to read some really good stuff.
