Just a Few Stories from the Street

Wednesday, a known drug dealer came to us totally shaken.  He said that he wanted to be saved and before we could say anything he started crying out to God on his own.  I mean crying out.  He repented from his sins and called upon God's mercy.  The only thing we did was me on the right and Bogdan on the left with our hand on his shoulders agreeing with his prayer.  God is the one that saves and convicts us of our sinful nature.  The only thing that He requires us to do, is to open our mouth.  To be His feet, hands, and mouth.

Barbara

Under the bridge, in the middle of her belongings, blankets, clothes and whatever else piled on top of her to keep her warm, was an elderly woman, by the name of Barbara.  Barbara is alone, cold and striving to have any sense of love she can grasp.  She is so in need of love that she carefully holds and cares for an old worn out stuffed dog.  With the kind of love that a child would have for a stuffed animal, Barb hold dear this symbol of love.  It was cold, and it was clear that she was in need of some attention.  I went over to her and asked her if she would like a hot chocolate, she accepted.  A little later her friend brought her a meal.  As she was eating, I was meditating on her situation.  It was clear to me again, that we are no different, just desperate for love.  Circumstances, and clothing, and a home, and some decisions along with a lot of the grace of God is all that really separates us from these poor people destitute and in need of love.  If only the city leaders would be able to see what I have seen and hear the stories, that I have heard, I'm sure that their approach to those broken would be different.

Demon Possessed Man

A man came under the bridge and was walking around preaching that Jesus is the Son of God and preaching various other things, which were in fact true.  The problem was completely possessed.  It was amazing to see this man declaring the truth, yet he was completely enslaved by the devil.  When I looked at him, it reminded me of the story from Acts 16:16.  A demon possessed woman with the ability to tell the future came after the apostles saying, "these men are servants of the most high God who are telling you the way to be saved and Paul turned and said to the spirit.  In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her."  By the time we left the grounds, the man was set free.  In the same way that the demon possessed woman was completely different after being set free, so was this man.  Completely different.  In the case of the woman, the owners lost profit and Paul and Silas ended up in jail.  In the case of our men, we ended up with harassment from the police, and tickets for our troubles.  That's right, you are reading this right.  To this day, on a regular basis, we are receiving tickets for helping the poor and preaching the message of hope.  Their reason - we are illegally parked.  Even though the street is closed for construction, a drug dealers are all around us, the police again single us out and harass us.

City Hall

We are all overwhelmed with the presence of teenagers on the streets.  Today there were half a dozen thirteen and fourteen year old girls that came to me looking for our help.  What could we do.  We gave them food and drink and at the same time warned them about dangers and difficulties of the streets.  I gave them some suggestions about some different places they could try to get a place to stay, but what is more shocking is that at the same time the mayor was interacting with a group of school kids with teachers, laughing and joking and being a "good mayor".  As I looked at this, I noted that something was very wrong with this picture.  How is it that the same person can have compassion and a heart for school kids, yet completely ignore desperate scared kids on the streets right next to him.  God have mercy on all of us.  Guard our hearts.

Gospel Road

This Sunday, at 2:00 pm we have an opportunity to speak about different topics such as abortion, homosexuality, Christianity and politics, origins and of course what Jesus commands us to do.  We welcome you to tune in and listen.  1140 AM radio.  It is a one hour live talk show so we ask for your prayers, that God would give us wisdom and discernment along with the right words at the right time to reach the hearts of some who may be lost and in need of a savior.  Also, we will be challenging the body of Christ to come out of the four walls and reach out to ones that by other means would not be reached.

Also, we will be speaking on Shine FM exposing the tactics of the city, harassment, intimidation, and bringing the truth out into the open.  Calgarians deserve to know about the waste of tax payers money that has been used to persecute God fearing men and women serving the needs of the poor.  It will of course be another great opportunity to preach the gospel.

New Radio Show 

It looks like God is opening some new doors for us to have our own half hour talk show.  We are really looking forward to hear your thoughts on the matter.  What do you think? We are not moving ahead until God will supply all the funding for a full year of shows.  We feel that our show would discuss all the black and white facts of life, the hard topics that nobody else likes to talk about.  The show would include interviews with street people, ex-drug dealers, prostitutes, homeless, a voice crying in the wilderness.  Uncompromising truth.  Can you imagine the opportunity for some of those voices to be heard.  How did they feel, what were the biggest challenges that they faced?  Of course it would all be seasoned with God's truth.

Blessings to you and yours in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

Art Pawlowski

On behalf of Street Church Ministries