I began writing about what was happening with this calling in September. I'm going to pull from what I called my Dream Journal, so I don't forget anything.
Shortly after God called us, God started giving Greg sermons. He enrolled in a preaching class at Global Bible Institute in Modesto and received an A in the class. As the other students preached to the class for their final from the perspective that the class was a congregation, Greg chose a different route. He decided to preach to them as future pastors and chose a topic to encourage and teach them. This showed a true pastor's heart to disciple those around him.
About mid-September I had a vision of our future church. I saw a cozy little church with brick or cement block walls painted white, many Hispanics of all ages and people talking with each other after service. The pews were also white. I saw a lady in her 60's, alone, and several young men in their late teens and early twenties, with white tank top undershirts and cargo jeans worn too low. I sensed a lady had started praying that God would send new pastors to her neighborhood. This grew and now there is a group of about 5 praying.
In December we went on our first prayer walk. It is continued here. God spoke to me using 7 pictures regarding the hearts of the people on the westside and how to minister to them.
Greg and I began having staff meetings where we dreamed, talked about what God was speaking to us regarding our call, and made plans. As Greg sought God as to what would be the next step, God told him to start with who he knew. He knew a family on the westside, whom he had been in ministry with 20 years ago. He reconnected with them, thinking he was to minister to his friend, who was now a father and grandfather, but a funny thing happened at that first meeting. His son came out, who was in his early 20's and was in a white supremacy gang and who's job it was to beat people up for not repaying loans, and the young man put his hand on Greg's shoulder and declared he was ready to re-dedicate his life to Christ. Greg led him in a re-dedication prayer, and so began our relationship with this family. A month later, Greg was able to shine a light on the man's drug use and need for help and the parents realized they needed to take a stand for their son. Greg facilitated his enrollment in Teen Challenge and he is currently there, doing well. We've been to Teen Challenge several times to visit him and Greg goes every 2 weeks discipling him in the areas of his greatest struggle.
Tomorrow I'll talk about how Greg and God were able to prepare me to go to the westside, something at this point I was fearful to do. Blessings on this hot, sunny Wednesday.
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