Street Skills 101

The student advisor of the AOM is Beth and she's amazing. She let the new members (Selah and myself) take the first 2 weeks to decide where we want to be...

Week 1: Little 5 Points

I decided to check out L5P for the first week to get my feet wet in true street evangelism. The evangelism we use is pretty atypical comparitively to the "normal" way of reaching people for Christ. No tracts. No mention of Jesus until a relationship is formed. Who are we to judge and condemn in the first 5 minutes?

The group I was with was Paul, Danielle, Brittany, and Me...we met tons of super cool people. People that I'm pretty sure I would never have been brave enough to talk to pre-internship. I'm still amazed how God has changed my view of people. So...we talked with Jonesy the artist, a rap artist, the lady from Senegal that owns an African shop (she was amazing...she has young two daughters...she showed us how to play the Jimbay and her daughters taught us an African dance/game)...we then met Robin and Joe. We met Robin because we met Joe.

Joe. He was wasted. "I ain't drunk! God still wit me sos I ain't drunk. If'n I was drunk God wouldn't be wit me...so I ain't drunk!" "I done had bout 15 beers...hehehehe" so...it was intensely intriguing watching Paul try to talk about God with Joe when Joe was not even close to being able to comprehend. But he was able to curse up a storm and share some truthful insights about his own spirituality....Robin told him he was blaspheming. And proceeded to defend Christ to Joe...it was all very lively involving lots of spit and curse words from Joe and lost of peace and patience from Robin.

Robin has 5 kids. and a black eye. she just got a job at Philips Arena. Despite peace...she had an overwhelming sense of sadness and despair around her.

That night gave me lots to think about. And pray about.

Week 2: Underground/Ronald

This past week I went to UG. My group was David, Selah, and myself. David gave us a tour of the UG and introduced us to his African friends and Sarah (converted Muslim to Christianity from India). It was fun being able to meet people that already had a relationship with someone in the ministry...we also got to pray for a couple of them as well...

but...the real fun began when David introduced us to his friend Ronald. Ronald. Ronald. Ronald.

He's a homeless guy that lives in a van about a thirty minute walk from the UG. The company who's property it's on let's him stay as long as he watches the building. Pretty cool. According to David...Ronald got really sick awhile back and went broke because of medical bills. He can't work...so no work means...no money...no money no house/food/etc. He's also a Christian and well educated...Well...Ronald gave us lots of tips as we walked to where he lived...

• don't go past the '45' sign under the bridge...that's where people are always getting shot
• just say 'I'm Straight' if anyone asks you if you need anything, otherwise they'll misinterpret anything else you say (saw two drug deals that night...hmmm)
• never come here alone
• don't stand in the same spot too long (cops will bother you. drug dealers will want to sell to you)
• stay by the lights

Ronald was going "canning" that night. 26 cans equals 1 pound. 1 pound equals 62 cents. He was saving up to buy a thermometer. the hospital won't admit him if his temp isn't over 101. He says it's around 100.9. He doesn't dig too deep in the trash cans...just the tops...or picks them up from the side of the road. When we were with him, he asked the garbage truck guys to throw down any cans they had...they threw out 2.

Ronald says the hardest part about living on the streets is if you hurt your leg or if you get sick and if your leg hurts and your sick...you're screwed. You have to walk everywhere. if you can't walk you can't get water. If you can't get water you get dehydrated. and so on and so on...

Halfway between Ronald's van and the UG is a huge vacant lot that some guy comes to every friday with a big u-haul type truck and feeds the people. There had to be about 200 people waiting on the way to Ronald's and about 200 people spread out all over the place with plates full of food on the way back.

I've decided to stick to the UG and Ronald's hangout. David, Selah and I decided that we would help feed the people with the guy with the truck (I think his name is Gary...or Greg...anyway apparantly he told them the first week that we could help them anytime). I'm pretty much really excited about this.

Could definitely use some prayer for more relationships...safety....and open hearts...

I'm just happy that my internship wasn't all for naught....that the change that occured because of it...is a lasting change....