The outreach was almost not going to happen this year as the team was not forming up at all for this year and I was having a terrible week. I have to personally admit the status of my own heart was in dark clouds from disappointment, rejection, and a sense of doubt over my personal calling. It was a hard week and not just for me but each of those who eventually made it to the outreach and also the prayer team leader (my Wife).
On the night of the mandatory training event I was uncertain whether anyone would show up, but Roy did, just as he said he would. We talked about the basic plan and made some tactical decisions together for how we were going to engage parade goers. It was great to have Roy follow through and show up, and even offer his resources to the outreach efforts. Then, we went out to hit the streets of Hillcrest so we could practice the miracle question tool. We talked with several people and only prayed for one of them. No crazy miracles or fate changing decisions that we could see, but lessons and encouragement started to take up residence in my teammate and I.
On the night before the Pride Parade Outreach I found out another person could join us after all, she had gotten food poisoning that week (more war fare).. It was an exciting moment no doubt, as Sandra (pseudonym) is a lady who hears and obeys God and really seems to carry God’s heart.
The morning of the outreach came and the streets were being filled with the early arrivals of parade goers, the beginnings of what would reach up to 250,000 participants. Roy, Sandra, and I gathered together and wrestled with the reality that we had to maneuver through the urban jungle and figure out where the site of our pop up outreach tent would be placed. We were navigating closed roads, traffic, and stress--but we made it to a location where we would be. We were in Balboa park, up 6th ave from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, adjacent to some ultimate frisbee enthusiasts field, and south of Upas. We set up our pop up tent, we prayed, and jumped in.
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| Our location |
Before describing several of the cool events that went down, I would like to highlight the intended mission. We were going to give out a bunch of waters to parade attendees, no strings attached. Also, we were going to practice the miracle question. For those who are not familiar with this, we ask people the following line of questioning IF THEY ARE WILLING: Can I ask you a question? 2) If God could do one miracle in your life today what would that be? 3) Can I share the greatest miracle with you? If they want to stop interacting with us at any point, we completely bless that by communicating our thanks for their time and our desire for them to have a good day.
So, we start the outreach and it took off, slow, but beautifully, building through the morning.
We handed out bottles of water to those who were interested. Some asked: “I’ll take one, how much?” We gladly told them free, gave them one, and let them go on their way to the parade. We handed out more to those we asked and wanted them. To challenge our team to the next level, I asked Roy and Sandra to share with the next people who accepted our water why we were giving out water. We handed out more water and sometimes said, we were trying to demonstrate small acts of love toward LGBTQ peoples and their allies.
During this time, i started to try the miracle question and was met with a lot of people who just kept walking and the ones who said yes I could ask them a question, didn’t want prayer. But, regardless of closed people, we kept going. We kept trying. Then, I felt led to ask the team to try the miracle question. After i finished praying for a lady’s paralysis, 2 different times to no avail, I went back to the group to find they too had tried the miracle question and a person’s back was healed. I was amazed but kept engaging the outreach.
Roy’s faith was growing greatly because of Sandra’s influence, directly and indirectly. At one point, he was in the miracle question protocol with a lady who had told him, “my body is falling apart”. She and her spouse were totally up for prayer. Roy then told the lady that he was going to have his friend come pray for her. Sandra comes by and immediately heard the word adrenal glands in her mind. She told the lady and the lady was amazed that she knew the exact health issue she was suffering under. They prayed and Sandra led the lady through some prayers focused on forgiveness. We still don’t know what happened with the lady’s adrenal gland or belief in Jesus for that matter, but we were marked and we believe they were marked.
I encouraged Sandra to interpret the moment for the lady next time she had an amazing encounter like this, so that she would know God told Sandra what the ailment was and that she should have her adrenal function tested. I also asked Sandra if she shared the greatest miracle, but found out she hadn’t. We were all learning a lot. We still believe God would do something way beyond us and so we took it as a lesson and moved on.
The interesting and amazing moments kept coming as Roy’s back was hurting. Realizing that Roy’s legs might be different lengths and be affecting his back, I asked if he would sit and I can check the length of his legs. Sure enough, his left leg was about half an inch shorter than the right. We prayed a simple prayer and Roy said he felt his back being pulled and his pain was gone. We were thrilled.
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| Roy having a good day with Jesus and Family |
By this time, our outreach was almost over. Most of our waters were gone but our sense of God moving miraculously was abundant. Our faith was very high and we were very euphoric. Upon our debriefing, we realized we wanted to take it to the next level when we did this type of evangelism again. Meaning, we wanted to try to interpret spiritual moments for lost people, and give them a chance to receive a righteousness not their own. Both Roy and Sandra enjoyed the experience so much they asked, “can we do this more often”? This is such an encouragement to me, and countered a lot of my funk in calling and next steps.
The lessons we took from here are sure to bring the Kingdom to a greater measure. We thank God for intervening in this day and age and we thank Him above all that our names are written in the Book of Life because of Jesus.
A big thanks to you, our prayer team and financial supporters, friends and family, for enduring the long road of our obedience to this calling to build bridges between the Church and the LGBTQ Community so a multitude of Christian leaders rise.
