An AWO Baptism

It was my privilege and honor to watch my spiritual son, Marcus, get baptized today. What an amazing moment this is! What a journey it has been to get to this point. I must say that when I first met Marcus, I liked him. That tends to be the case with all of "my kids"--I love them all at first sight. Marcus was special though. I saw in him, immediately, many gifts that I knew our Father had placed in him for a great purpose. I have never met anyone who was so lyrically inclined--he writes songs for everything, spur of the moment--and they are always very, very good. He has many talents and he has always been very respectful to me, too. I can't say that he was always respectful to others...in fact, I believe he has seen quite a bit of trouble due to "personality conflicts" with other authority figures and even his peers. That never carried over to me, though. As difficult as it was, there were times when I had to tell him he could not come to events because of his behavior. I hate turning anyone away, but as punishment there were times when I had to. Some told me he was "lost cause," and that I should "just give up." But it is not in me to give up. It just isn't. And no matter how he acted at times, my heart always filled with love whenever I thought of him. He is one of God's children and I know the Father loves him, and I just knew that God was not telling me to walk away or to give up. On the contrary, I kept feeling led to pursue him, to find him and hunt him down, even. There are more times than I can count that I did just that...search his neighborhood for any sign of him so that I could invite him to church or some event we were having. Sometimes I found him, but quite often I did not. After a period of not being able to find him (about 3 months) and only speaking with him sporadically, I was more than surprised when he asked to come to church one Wednesday. I was no less than SHOCKED when I saw him down at the altar, and even more so when he asked me to be baptized. I saw God move mightily in him, and today was the culmination of years worth of pursuing and prayer. I know that the angels even now are celebrating in Heaven! A prodigal son has come home to the Father, and you are in part responsible for this homecoming. It is your support and encouragement that keeps us going, week after week. Thank you for helping us to follow His call--it IS making a difference for the Kingdom!

Graduation is Here!

This is the second year we have kids who have been mentored in our program graduating. It is so amazing to see them growing up! This year I had the special honor and privilege of being included in a photo shoot and was able to have pictures made with two of our graduates and their mom. I started mentoring these girls before I even considered starting Arms Wide Open, and they have been an integral part from the beginning. They have attended every summer camp, ministered alongside me in nursing homes, feeding the homeless, and serving food at our annual community events. It has been a wonderful journey, watching them grow and develop into the lovely young women of God they have become. It warmed my heart to hear one of them ask to have her picture made with her "two moms" (meaning her biological mom and ME). I was proud to be a part of such a special occasion. Their mom has been very involved in the ministry as well, perhaps making the difference for their success. She is one of the very few parents who maintains communication with me and sought to "partner with me" as was my intention in this ministry. Look at the fruit produced by this partnership! I am proud to share this moment with all of you, who have encouraged and supported me behind the scenes in being a part of these kids' lives and encouraging them along the way. Thank you all for the role you play in each and every success!!

The Great Commission

I have heard several messages lately about The Great Commission, given to us by our Messiah, Jesus Christ. That has always been a strong calling on my life--to take seriously and do my best to fulfill that purpose. Though it has not always been on the forefront of my actions, I have strived to make it so in the last few years. This ministry is a big part of my effort--at times I see the harvest being gathered, but at other times I feel as though I am watering and planting in vain. Ministry can be a very discouraging area if you forget, even for a second, that He is in control and obedience is ALWAYS fruitful, even if not in the way we expect it to be. I confess that there are moments when I do forget that. This is not one of those moments!! I am blogging now because tonight seems to me to be one of the most fruitful days of ministry I can remember. Well, in actuality it is probably not the MOST fruitful, but I have the tendency to always think that when I am experiencing the sheer joy that comes from reaping the harvest. So maybe tonight wasn't as awesome as the day we saw God multiply our food like He did with the fishes and loaves of the Bible, or as awesome as the huge event where over 100 people gave their life to the Lord, but right now, in this moment, this feels like the most awesome day of my life! So, I am going to call this one of our most fruitful days and try to give you a few small glimpses of what took place today. Earlier in the week I received two calls from my kids. Now, that in and of itself is not unusual, since I tend to get calls/texts/messages from my kids almost 24/7. My job (as a therapist and as a minister) is very much an "on-call" one. I don't really get days off, but that doesn't bother me at all. One of the calls was from a young lady who asked me to take her to Pastor Zakk to have him pray the prayer of Salvation with her. The other call was from a young man who is facing possible criminal charges for a crime he did not commit. I didn't see them until tonight, so I was able to sit in as Pastor Zakk ministered to that young lady and prayed with her as she recommitted to live for Jesus. These are the moments I live for!! Later on, I was able to minister to the young man and pray with him about his situation. I also had the opportunity to minister to another young lady who is pregnant and very afraid for her future. I prayed with her, as well. When I returned from praying with her I saw that a young man who has been in and out of AWO (and when in almost always causes problems--fighting with the other kids, causing division, and is in and out of trouble, too) was down front at the altar being prayed over. What?! He has been asked to stay out of church and has had to miss events due to his behavior--he has been known to break out in push ups in the middle of a sermon, curse at a pastor, climb on the van, and other rather unacceptable behavior. But I never give up on him and continually encourage him to come to church, to be more involved, to turn away from the things he is involved in. Not only was I surprised that he even came to church but I was SHOCKED to see him down at the altar. Apparently, while I was absent, he had been literally broken by the Holy Spirit moving and had sobbed and submitted himself to Jesus. He went down for prayer again at the end of the service and was at the altar when I walked back in. I waited until he was finished to hug him and tell him how proud I was of him. As I hugged him he said, "I want to be baptized!" I wanted to jump up and down! But I restrained myself and took him back to Pastor Zakk to talk about setting up a baptism for him. I feel that, today, I am walking in my purpose and calling 100%. I love these kids! I am ecstatic right now, but I will be even more ecstatic, and full of a mother's pride, when I get to present my "son" to New Covenant Church to be baptized. I am just as proud right now as I was when my own biological son was baptized at age 10. Driving kids to church, answering drama-filled texts at 2:00 am, staying up all night at summer camp talking and praying, teaching, preaching, and most of all, LOVING, is not in vain!! I thank you for partnering with me in this mission--and I hope you are as joyful today as I am!