Night one the group sang on the Ocean City Board Walk, they sang their hearts out. There were tons of people mocking them and some that loved it and some that walked right by them. The part that spoke to my heart the most was that none of that mattered to them. We are called to spread the good news not make people accept us, or the message itself. I think that is the most important part for us to realize, our calling is simply telling others about Jesus. It is the Holy Spirits job to convict hearts and really change the heart. I was truly blown away by the amount of people who at least stopped to hear what this was all about. I can’t help but wonder how many seeds were planted in hearts that night.
The next concert was at St. James Park and the turn out was again phenomenal. There was some sort of health fair going on there and while waiting for the truck to arrive we were told to go tell people in the park about the concert and invite them over. I talked to these two older women who were sitting together. I basically in short said we are a youth choir from Richmond Virginia and we are going to be singing some gospel music in a little bit and one of them looked at me with a huge smile and said oh praise God that ya’ll are doing that! The lady introduced me to the pastor sitting beside her and said she wouldn’t miss it for the world. The park was full of people who had seemed to need something eternal. The crowd really showed up and the youth choir really did an amazing job.
The next place we went was Freedom Chapel. This church was quite different at first since it was out of our comfort zone and a little different style of preaching. We spent the day there and sang one song in the church service. We then went to Coney Island that afternoon to hang out and pass out flyers for the church’s rock the block that we would be involved in later that week. We came into contact with some very interesting people there. Then we went back to the church and spent the night there.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON TEENCHALLENGE: The church runs this thing called teen challenge which is a Christ-centered organization that offers aid and support to men, women and families suffering from life-controlling problems with drugs alcohol or crimes. They love them and give them free housing ! There are so many incredible testimonies that came from this organization. Jimmy Jack is one of them his friend Billy and him had enough money to buy four bags of heroine. They got it and Jimmy snorted one bag of it and injected the other three bags into Billy. Before the finished Billy was turning blue and not breathing on the streets. Jimmy says in Lower Manhattan they had no help he remembers crying out to God Please don’t let Billy die! As he looked at Billy’s lifeless body out of nowhere an ambulance van pulls up and the older man asks him what is going on here Jimmy quickly responds heroine overdose. The paramedics did everything in their power to revive him and eventually started to shake their heads like there were no other options left. Jimmy started crying out to God and bargaining with him and genuinely saying he would do whatever God wanted him to just don’t let billy die. He looked over at the van and Billy had the resurrection power flowing through him. He ripped the needles out of his arms and jumped out off the stretcher. He says he heard a voice in his spirit say ‘I showed you’ it immediately brought him back to the church service earlier that evening when the pastor prayed that God would show Jimmy he was real and that he did. During a drug deal his van was stolen and he found a screwdriver on the ground and was going to kill whoever stole his van if he found it but after not finding it he got the bus to take him to a gun slinging and knife throwing bar; after drinking lots he saw a guy glaring at him from down the bar and he went after him right at that time Georgio Degaldo saw him and went in after him. He told him about teen challenge and that is where he went. After many circumstances Jimmy gave his life to God..
Another shorter story: One of the guys from teen challenge was into drugs and alcohol and he had a rough life. His brother hung himself and his sister died in a car accident and two weeks ago tried to hang himself and was unsuccessful and now is completely in love with Jesus.
Monday we woke up and had about a five hour drive to Utica New York. They were going to perform a full show for the New Hartford United Methodist Church. The church was so very welcoming and had pizza ready for everyone to eat dinner. It turns out that a lot technically went wrong with soloist mics not working and some other things. However I can say one thing I think this was a break through point in the choir, I have never seen that many of them worshipping and actually legitimately meaning every word they were singing. It brought me to tears watching and listening to them and thinking that things won’t ever be perfect and that doesn’t matter we need to give God all we have in every circumstance. There was an absolute tangible presence of the Holy Spirit in that place and God was there.
Tuesday was a big day at rock the block. I had no idea what to expect. We get there and are completely ready and willing to help in anything and everything they ask us to do. Some help set up the stage some unload trucks of chairs and tables while others go out and pass out flyers and some helped in the kitchen, some head to china town! The group that stayed at the park unloaded all the chairs and sat them up three separate times since the guy didn’t know how he wanted them. We also were interacting with the many people there. Some played basketball with the kids, some jumped rope, some just simply talked to the people around the park. I took Heather to get some food from a nearby shop. We at first were fine walking by ourselves to get food. We get down about a block and a half away from the park and then these three guys walk by and look us up and down and one of the guys turned entirely around looking at us, slightly intimidating being two girls. So I in return asked heather do you have a phone with you, she says no! I said oh good me either. We quickly turn around and head back to the park to get a guy to come with us! Jerem was the elected one. We go to this little grocery store on the corner of the street and walk around there for a little looking for something for her to eat. Luckily we found some cereal bars and v8 juice and head back to the park. Later the youth go on stage and we sang their hearts out. They had dancers from teen challenge, they had a choir from the church and our youth choir. All of which were giving their all to God. AT the end they had an alter call and before that he explained evangelism to be one beggar telling another beggar where he found the bread. Really making it clear that none of us believers or not are better than the other and we are all trying to find something eternal and worth living for. There wasn’t a dry eye in the park, people were praying over others, and others crying out for something real that wouldn’t abandon them like their high. The spirit of God was definitely filling that place and slowly softening the many hardened hearts. We went in with the attitude to bless others and came out of the experience with a new perspective and being blessed ourselves.
On Wednesday we went to the empire state building and then had a short time to shop around. I went with my incredible counting group Emily, Rachel, Sarah, Shannon, Natalia and, Olivia and we had Chipotle for lunch. Then we headed to Effort United Methodist church and were supposed to do a full show. A few things went wrong with one of the buses and we were late and a lot of the kids didn’t get lunch. They did an incredible job singing. I know at one point in the show all the leaders on my row had tears streaming down their faces. Just seeing you all bless the LORD with your genuine worship and smiles beaming off your faces in love for what youre doing touches my heart. Then when we got finished with dinner and everything we had a short devo and tons of testimonies from what was going on in the lives of the youth. What God was revealing to them. Etc
I am so proud of the youth for worshipping with everything in them and truly showing the love of Christ to everyone around them. I am so excited for the friendships that have formed and fire that has been ignited in the souls of everyone!
