I know it's been awhile since we have posted anything and a whole lot has happened in these last couple of weeks!
Let me start with Dave (Kevin's dad).... He came down here from Fort Wayne and he wanted to meet our new friends. Exactly what I thought might happen.... did! Once he got down there, we had a hard time getting him to come home! For 5 days he was pretty much down there from early in the morning til late at night.





He would walk into our house with soo many stories. What was so cool is that he got to share with all of them how God transformed his life just a few years ago. He sat by the fire and read the bible to them. Dave realized ( just like we had) that what they want is relationship!

Dave really wanted to bring Brian to our house to at least get a shower. We weren't sure we were ready to take that step but Dave insisted that Brian's heart was soft for the Word and could sense that he was ready to move on from the camp...
When Dave asked Brian to come to our house for the evening.... we were having dinner and small group with the college students... Brian started crying.
What an Awesome Blessing to have him here...
He's been with us since then. He is living in our basement!
It is incredible to watch God get a hold of someone's heart like He has Brian's.
Right now Brian is a sponge for the Truth about God. He has watched a ton of Louie dvds and is understanding for the first time what it means to be a part of God's story!





It looks like he will be working at Krispy Kream... we hope it might fatten him up a bit :)!

One of the coolest things is to go down to the campsite with him and watch him tell the others what God has done in his life!

Link, the one that Laura wrote about is now at the YMCA trying to detox. Pray for him! He said yesterday that he will come to church with us on Sunday. These next few days are soo hard... pray that he will make it through them. He took the book Don't waste your life by John Piper and said he wanted to read it in the next couple of days....
Some of the college students are fasting and praying for him. We are believing God that He will take Link out of this pit that he has been in....
What an amazing testimony of God's Grace!!!
Karen

Last week I went down to the "Goodwill Camp" and met quite a group of people. I met a family- aka a group of homeless people in the camp. They are a little bit dysfunctional, but hey so was my family. These people will change your life. Yes, they smell. Yes, they are drunk by nine in the morning. Yes, they smoke and cuss all the time. But they see that this group sent to them is from God Himself. Like Bryan said "These people are our friends. Church people don't bring their babies down here!"

Let me introduce you to my new friend: his name is Link. I can't go into all the details about this man's life, but he has lived a hard life. He was placed in a mental institution because of things he had done by the age of 10. He stayed there over 2 years and was called crazy. Going on to college, he got his BA in literature. The man has the ability to quote authors like nobody's business! He was put in prison as an adult because of things he had done. Now he is drinking and living a homeless life.

The first time I met this man, he looked over at me and said "Angel, come here." (They all call us "angels") He gave me his bottle of vodka and told me to throw it away right before he passed out. I found out later that he had told everyone earlier he didn't need food, just alcohol. Then the next day he told everyone he doesn't need anything, not even alcohol. By the next day he willingly handed over his bottle (not empty) over to me. I was surprised, to say the least. In the coming days, God granted me the priviledge of getting to know Link as a person. Everyone was pretty much convinced he was demon posessed because every now and then he would just look evil. Straight up I asked him if he was demon posessed and told him Jesus could grant victory over his demons. He asked if I thought there was a demon in him. I responded with a what do you think. One word response "Yeah." He told me his life story. I cried with him, and told him Jesus Christ is the only way to have victory over anything in life- alcohol, being homeless, jobless, and hopeless. We parted ways but He made me a promise before I left: he told me if I could find a program that will help him detox with medication he would stay sober for at least a year. He told me "I want to feel alive again because my soul isn't hurting anymore, I know its dead." How well he sees the truth of life! I told him that everyone standing here who was visiting the camp all had dead souls, but Jesus made us alive. His response was "I know: Jesus walked on water because he only saves drowning men." Wow! That is God at work in a life!

So here is the challenge I walked away with, and I extend to anyone reading this blog. Do you have the faith, beloved, (no matter how small) in a God who can perform miracles? Who can reveal truth like this to a drunk? That makes no sense, why would God choose to reveal himself to a man who isn't even sober? Because He is God and He is amazing! God ordained Link's life- maybe this is the only road that would lead him to the Goodwill camp and to a group of Jesus' followers willing to sacrifice their time, safety, and money for a greater Kingdom. Some may think we are enabling, or being taken advantage of, or performing a fruitless task; but I think I speak for everyone- it sure doesn't feel that way. I don't feel like I am being taken advantage of when a demon possed killer looks in my eyes with clarity and declares in a sound mind that Jesus saves drowning men. How can we look at that and think this is fruitless? God is in control and for the time being I say- let's just go for it. This is being the church, being united with Christ in his sufferings so somehow to attain from the resurrection from the dead. Please, join me in prayer for Link and all the others in that camp. God has the ability to do it, so lets trust in Him! To Him be all Glory- because faith is going to start here in this camp! Laura

Isn't it funny how God works?
We make our plans but God is the one who determines our steps!

I don't even know where to begin with how God is working in our lives right now...



We have been learning in our college small group and in church what it means to worship Him through giving to the poor. It is one thing to learn it and have the head knowledge but quite another to actually have God lay the opportunity to live it out right in your lap!!!

Aaron (one of our college team leaders) was dropping off clothes to the Goodwill down by campus on Labor Day and happened to see that behind the building, hiding behind a big blue tin fence, was what we now call a "homeless campsite". There are anywhere between 5 and 10 homeless men (a couple of women) who stay there every night.

Aaron decided to go behind the fence to talk to them (we all thought he was nuts!). He began to build a relationship with some of them. We were all blown away by the stories he would tell us after he would visit.

As we were learning about how the King is going to separate the sheep and the goats (Math. 25:31-46), we all started asking what we were supposed to do with this info.?! Amy and I decided that we would help Aaron take some coats and blankets down to the site.

A little afraid (ok maybe a whole lot) we went down to the site a week ago. Talk about life changing!!

There were 5 men there at the time and we couldn't believe how much they touched our hearts... their stories of how they got to this place in their lives are absolutely amazing! Some of them have college educations. Most of them have families that have disowned them. All of their stories are sad.



Keith could barely walk. He showed us his knees and they were all swollen with cuts and bruises. His twin brother told us that they were swollen because of the cold. The forecast was for rain so Aaron decided to put a few of them up in a hotel for a few nights. Once again we thought Aaron was crazy!

On Sunday Aaron and Billy went to pick them up at the hotel not knowing what they were going to find... the guys that were staying there had picked up the room, made their beds, and even swept! When we went back to visit them at the camp we didn't even recognize them... they had showered and shaved.

On Monday afternoon we decided that we would do something really crazy....
We all went down, college students, kids and babies included! Our new friends were so excited! Billy (not our Billy) told our kids stories, Jack (he has Parkinsons disease) loved holding Bailey, Kenny, Alyssa and Christen belted out Old Rugged Cross and Amazing Grace.

During the time that we were down there, the men would say "circle up!", meaning they wanted us to stand in a circle and hold hands with them and pray! One of the times we ended up all down on our knees praying that Jesus Christ would break the chains of bondage that they are in!

One word that we have been using to explain our times with them is RAW...
The evil that is there is just completey out in the open and exposed! The things that are said and done are not hidden. So different from our sin... we mask it sooo much better!

On Tuesday Kev and I got a chance to go back and see some of our friends in the Fort! It was so cool to share what is going on and have them pray for us and our new friends at Goodwill! They also gave us coats and blankets to hand out. Yesterday Aaron and I got to take them the coats. You will see in the picture that they are sporting the new coats.... man were they grateful!!





Please pray for us as we continue to minister to these guys....
They asked yesterday if they could come to church with us some Sunday. When I said "OF COURSE!" Keith just looked and me and said "You know that we stink don't you?"

I remember listening to a sermon by David Patty at small group last year. He was talking about
how we need to look into people's eyes and see that "there is a person in there". That runs through my mind all of the time. They have souls and they are hurting!

One thing that seems to be cool is that we are actually going to them. They can't believe it! Jenny keeps saying to us "so what's your gig?" They are used to having to go TO a shelter to get help. Isn't it a neat picture of Christ? He came down to us! He pursues us!!!

We are believing God for a MIRACLE... and that is exactly what it is going to take!!!!!!

-Karen