Crescent Oaks Ministry

Jerome, Chris M., and Mario prayer walked through Crescent Oaks a couple weeks ago, which is a predominantly Muslim apartment complex. As Jerome walked past the bus stop he saw an older Muslim man and had a sudden tug on his heart from the Spirit. Before getting much further he turned around to go talk to him. The man said he was Moh Sin, the ‘children’s teacher’ for the mosque nearby. Jerome had seen a picture of Jesus graffitied outside the mosque just before this conversation, and he used this as an opportunity to share the gospel. (the graffiti was likely put up by a Christian as a result of the recent California attack by Muslims)

            Jerome started out by apologizing on behalf of Christians that his mosque was defaced and said that this was a well-meaning but senseless act. He also explained that Jesus does indeed want to reveal Himself to them, but through a very different way. This was a bridge to talk about what Jesus has done for us.

            By the end of their conversation Moh Sin said that he’d like for Jerome to come to the mosque sometime to share everything with the whole group. Last week, Jerome was preparing to go follow up with Moh Sin. As he was praying for his time he knelt down and hit his head on the corner of his bed frame, leaving him a gash between his eyes requiring stitches. Suffice to say, his meeting had to be cancelled.

             Please pray for Jerome as they try to meet up in the coming weeks. Pray that Moh Sin would be having dreams of Jesus and experiencing Him before they meet and that Jerome and other team members would be able to speak into many people’s lives as a result. Thanks!

Gifts of Love

Sugar Creek hosted their annual Gifts of Love program today, and we were blessed to get see how God used it in the lives of many international families. The goal of the program is to bring in certain low-income families and show them Christ’s love by providing gifts and celebrating the holiday with them.

This year our team was able to invite 30 refugee families (15 from each site). We were focusing on non-believing refugees, so as to share Christ with those who haven’t necessarily heard before, but there were a few believing families that we invited simply to be a blessing to them and build new bridges.

By the end of the night all the Nepali kids that attended had made decisions to follow Christ! One of the Nepali mothers that was there also committed to Jesus.

Please be praying for these new believers, that they'd grow close to Him, and pray for our team as we seek to reconnect with all the families. Our goal is to meet with every one of the families twice before the year is over. And we would love to see all these new contacts come into the Kingdom and become missional. In general, as we work with adults more and more the hope is that several families would begin operating as their own redemptive community that will begin multiplying over time. Thanks for the prayers!

As our team has been expanding, it's been amazing to see God move in new ways and new places.  We've been able to move into a new apartment in November, San Marcos.  This apartment is largely Hispanic with some African-American families as well.  A both physically and spiritually oppressive place, God has been making a way there.  Many members of both the Ranchester and Salem Oaks team have been praying over this place for months and ministering there.  Last week, while on the way to visit an Afghani family there (the only Afghani in the whole complex), a young Hispanic mother stopped us on the way and asked, "Do you live here?"  This opened a conversation about what we were here for and why we keep walking around the complex (to pray).  

This young woman, Diana, was amazingly prepared by God and told us God had prompted her to go and talk to us.  She had been having spiritual dreams about conquering satanic attacks and preaching the gospel to a neighboring apartment complex that's also been on our hearts. She instantly wanted to come with us and learn and told us she was willing to "do whatever we told her to do."  Wow!  We encouraged her that God had been telling us that He was preparing leaders in San Marcos Apartments to start a movement that would change that area, the city and even their home countries, and that we thought she was one of these leaders.  Diana received this word with tears, saying this was from God.  She ended our time with praying over us before we went to visit the Afghani family while listening to worship music in the laundromat.  We then prayed over her as she knelt among the washers and dryers with tears flowing down her face.   Pray for Diana as we continue to work with her.  God has big things in store.  

Next, we went to visit the Muslim family.  Though sometimes not allowed into a new home right away, this family received us with smiles and ushered us into a sitting room.  They served us tea and cookies and warmly talked to us for hours.  We shared briefly with them that we follow Isa (Jesus) and got to pray healing over their baby who was sick.  Today we visited them again and he was better!  They thanked us for their prayers, but please pray they will acknowledge that Jesus healed him!   

Night of Worship

Tonight we came together to worship the Lord with a number of the disciples here at Los Arcos. We desired to be a light to the community and let him see our love for each other and for him through this. There were around 70 people who showed up from about 7 different nations. Children as well as adults came to enjoy a time of fellowship, musical worship, bible study, and prayer. We dug into Colossians 2 tonight and two of our prayer points were praying for the lost here in Salem Oaks and repenting for the sins of the land. We then had a time of allowing God to give us direction at the end.

• Please pray that many of those on the fringes would be challenged by what they learned tonight and commit themselves to the Lord in a greater way. That they would they find their joy in truth so that they might desire be obedient to the Lord.
• Pray also that they would have favor as they complete the assignment of sharing what they learned with their families. 

Thanks!