NM Summer 2005

Neighborhood Ministries summer prayer letters 2005

A note about the summer blog:
Thank you for praying with and for us. We depend on it. We know you do!
Thank you for praying for Katy. The blog that was set up for Katy has been a great resource and blessing to her, her family and many others.
We thought a blog might be a great vehicle to connect with you about the diverse and significant needs of the summer ministries here also. So we are setting up a blog for summer updates. When you pray for us please take a few minutes to check both Katy’s and the summer ministries’ blogs
http://katyreel.blogspot.com/
http://nmphx.blogspot.com/

June 12, 2005
Dear Friends,

What a challenging, difficult, beautiful, life giving and rich school year this has been … and we miraculously have spilled over into summer. Somehow, in God’s grace and mercy, we have made it this far …

Summer ministries have begun!

• May 26 our summer team of 26 arrived and started …

Felicia, Kali, Victor, Andrea, Ashlyn,
Abraham, Tony, Luis, Jose,
Tanya, Octavio, John, Lilian,
Sarah, Chris, Frank, Cinthia, Miguel, Marlene,
Andrea, Jenny, Mandy, Valerie,
Emily, Andy, Noel, Anna

Leadership development … it is our passion! This remarkable hand-picked of God team has stepped up for the whole summer. They are learning; they are bonding with each other and finding strength in their diversity. They are understanding that they can make a difference for Jesus, for the kingdom … and taking this seriously. They give me joy and so much hope. Praying for them, WOW … praying for them is the greatest gift you can give the barrios of Phoenix for this summer.
A special prayer request for one of our summer emerging leader interns: Andrea Contreras has a tumor on her pituitary gland behind her eye. She is having it removed on June 23. Pray for this very difficult procedure. The side effects are very dangerous. Pray for her full healing and restoration. Thank you for loving her this way.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-4
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
We continually remember before our God and Father your work
produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance
inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you

They are starting to send out their prayer letters to their support teams:

“We have had daily training … I am amazed at how I am constantly challenged to see Jesus’ life through ‘urban eyes’.” Here I am . . . feeling completely foreign in my own “backyard”. It is amazing what a little bit of driving around, knocking on doors, and prayer can do to your perspective. I knew it would be an interesting transition, but I didn’t expect to feel like I am living in a different place. If you know me, you know I have been hanging out in the downtown area—specifically in the arts district—for the past 5 years, have worked with the high school group at Neighborhood Ministries for the past 2 years, and recently moved downtown last March. Still, if you don’t have time to look, you don’t have the ability to see. My heart has become more and more broken as I go into the homes of kids I’ve known the names of for the past couple years and get a glimpse of their world. Their world. . . it is very different from mine, even now.”
- Noel

“The time I’ve spent here has been truly amazing and hard at times. I am sure that God hand-selected the people on this team. The devotion times and classes have been excellent! I’ve had the privilege of learning about God’s heart for the poor, racial reconciliation and other themes. I have also heard testimonies of how God has used Neighborhood to bring light and hope for this community. Last week I sat in the room witnessing how two ex-gang members from rival gangs talked about their lives and how they could have killed each other but how God had different plans, and they were standing side by side to glorify God.
Our team is very diverse. We have 1st and 2nd generation Hispanics who grew up in the barrio and people from the suburbs, a girl from Pennsylvania that grew up near the “Amish country”, ex-gang members. It is just so cool to see God in each and every one of them. They all bring different points of view and different ways of doing things. At first I thought I would feel weird celebrating my birthday with strangers but they are not strangers anymore!
So, registrations… what exactly is that? Well that is when we go to the kids’ houses to register them for either Junior High Kids Club (1 week day-camp for around 100 kids) or Kids Club (2 week day camp for about 300+ elementary school kids) or Kids Camp (1 week regular overnight camp in Payson for a few kids). We work in teams of 2 or sometimes more to go around the city looking for this kids and when I say looking for them I mean it. Many of the kids move and neither them or their parents call Neighborhood to inform is and then we have to track them down by asking the neighbors or relatives.
Registration routes times have been my favorite and least favorite thing at the same time. I get to spend time with the person I work with for the day and also meet some of the kids for the first time but I also get to see things that break my heart. I want God to break my heart with the things that break His heart and it is a weird feeling looking forward to seeing something like this and not looking forward to it at all at the same time. I have been to some houses where I can’t help but wonder “how can anyone live in situations like these?” I have seen mothers calling their kids with the ugliest things you could ever hear coming out of a mother’s mouth. But I am also reminded that God’s hands were in the mud when he created mankind and for His glory, the mud can turn into a marvelous new creation!
Another thing that I have seen is that the enemy is not happy with what is happening here. We have been under attack! But we know that God protects us. Last week my car was vandalized, not in the “hood” but in the suburbs, and the back window was broken. A day after I replaced it, somebody attempted to steal my car and broke another window and the very next day somebody threw a big rock through the windshield of one of our team members. Weird things happen and I know it’s all to try to get us to doubt and to be afraid, but we are still here, standing in God’s grace, love and power!”
- Abraham


Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults,
And with my song I shall thank Him.


• Praying for THIS NEXT WEEK – JUNE 13-18

JUNIOR HIGH KIDS CLUB And BEACH CAMP

JUNIOR HIGH KIDS CLUB

… begins tomorrow!
• 140 kids registered
• A new end of camp trip to Sedona’s slide rock
• A great leadership class preparing some of these Jr. Highers for leadership in BIG Kids Club in two weeks
• Curriculum written just for them: “You can be God’s hero!”
Isaiah 63:1 (summer curriculum theme verse)
Who is this coming … Who is this hero marching in his glorious uniform? "It's me, the LORD! I have won the battle, and I can save you!"
… please pray:
1. For those young Christians who have entered into leadership that they would learn to put their “armor” on and experience God’s protection
2. For the junior high kids … to hear the Word, to be challenged to decisions, to repent and believe, to know the love of God
3. For all the leadership – that teachers would be inspired, that small group leaders would love unconditionally, that we be strengthened
4. Pray for the Holy Spirit to surround the whole camp that we might know the Presence of the Lord
5. Pray for our vehicles, for safety and for protection


BEACH CAMP

There will be around 15 kids, 5 leaders who will go to the beach in California. These kids are fringe kids who are new to Neighborhood Ministries, freshmen, or just don’t get what church is about—so we are using this to build relationships with them!

(This is a new attempt to meet the needs of our high schoolers in different ways throughout the summer. Our H.S. kids are being ministered to in a variety of ways: some are in leadership as emerging leader interns, some will be work crew for Kids Club, some will go to the Mexico missions trip later this summer and some to Young Life camp in Northern AZ in addition to this beach camp.)

• Pray that each kid would make a connection with a leader
• Pray for Kevin Starrs who will be the speaker at this camp
• Pray for the hearts of these teens to understand their need for a Savior
Hebrews 12:1,2
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.