great month

what friends and family....man has it been a great month of seeing God continue to provide everything we need here in philly. (except for my bed...my air mattress popped last week so ive been sleeping on the floor since then...lol....Jesus had no place to lay his head either)

so yeah...God continues to bring volunteers to us...last week we had a great leaders meeting.  we are up to 3 volunteers...so we increased by 200% from the last meeting.  (we had 1 at the first meeting.)  it was a great time.  we went to the rib cage and i got sauce all over the side of my face and no one told me the whole night...kinda their little joke...ha,ha..it was funny...(i kinda got them back by accident the next night.  see i was invited to this concert and i invited them...i was told it was free...well, when we get there and sit down...we find out that its a benefit concert for an innercity school and we all ended up having to give....i hope they forgive me..lol)and then we went and spent some time in the word...ephesians 2:10-for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared us in advance to do.  i shared the vision of what we are trying to do in philly and then prayed....please continue to pray that God will had to our numbers...matthew 9:37-38--then he said to his disciples, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

another great thing this month that happened...was committee-leader weekend for our region...man..was it good...all 5 of our committee members went and we had some fun.  God is knitting our hearts together in ways in which i would of never thought possible...God has definitely brought men of peace together which has been my prayer.  please continue to pray for us as we grow in numbers...we want to look like the city that we are reaching out in...pray for more men of peace...

i could write for days but i'm not good at it obviously..i will be like John who at the end of his gospel says...basically Jesus did alot of things and i couldn't possibly write about them all...and thats the same in here in philly...Jesus continues to move and shake and bring things together...

i will close with this...i came upon this verse the other day and its stuck with me...philemon 1:6--"i pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."  that is my prayer for us(you and me)...that will actively share our faith...wherever we are..so that we will have a FULL UNDERSTANDING OF EVERY GOOD THING WE HAVE IN CHRIST."

be one the lookout...i working on getting some photos on here....i want to take a picture of our first school...william penn high school...i found out that the head principal there is a believer in Jesus...pray for favor and leaders as we begin there on april 1st...

thanks so much!!

grace and peace.

mike

some praises and some craziness

whats up everybody!!!!  

so i got some really cool things that i need to let you know about...

1st.  so two weekends ago, we had a second winter weekend at rockbridge for kids in cities on the east coast....this year..we had washington, dc...stauton, va...lexington, ky...charlotte, nc...salisbury, nc...greensboro, nc...and roanoke, va.  it was amazing.  sophia cox was our speaker and i haven't been thanked more about bringing a certain speaker in ever.  she did a fabulous job of proclaiming the truths of Jesus Christ through the story of her life and through scripture.  kids crossed over from death to life...i'm so thankful God allowed me to be apart of such a great weekend.  we ended up with about 275 kids and leaders there.  please pray for these kids and leaders as they are back home walking through life together.  shout out to dj promote.

2nd...i had probably the best meeting i have every had with a pastor on thursday...pastor manny from spirit and truth fellowship in north philadelphia.  i encourage you to check him out...he was the type of guy you just know you want to follow around and watch live...he is doing so much in the community and has such a long legacy of kids he has reached out too now in full time ministry themselves.  21 kids so far of the streets and now ministers/pastors...cool..isn't it.  he is also a professor at westminster seminary...i'm praying that he comes on our committee...please join me in that.  i was meeting with him about the latino student program we got approved for...(he is a latino pastor)...so yeah..really good guy and a guy i will hopefully see each week now through some stuff we are going to pray through and try with his church and the church plants from his church.

3rd...we had our first volunteers meeting last night....YEAH...me and one other guy meet at his house and prayed for kids in philly...it was a really cool time....pray that our numbers continue to grow and that God just leads us to right people....men of the peace.

craziness

so yesterday i spent the day in the city...so i was hanging around the school that we want to go to first...william penn high school on broad st....well, the school is huge..so i was walking around it and praying.  this isn't odd because its on a main road and so people are walking there all the time.  you know...so when i was coming around to the front...there were alot of students going into the school and there was this older gentleman yelling at them.  i don't know what was going on but he was yelling things about Jesus Christ and stuff like that.  it was really bizarre...please pray for the hearts of kids...that God will change their hearts...will soften their hearts...that they will be receptive to the Gospel and that these odd perceptions that they may have about Jesus won't get in the way...that those perceptions will be broke down as leaders walk beside them telling them each day..the good news of Jesus Christ.

thanks again.

please be praying for more support and committee and leaders....pray that we continue to meet with the men of the peace...as well as the peace and prosperity of the city(jer.29...God wants us to pray for that wherever we live.)

thanks again...grace and peace in abundance to you.

mike

wow, i truely apologize...i had no idea

whats up family!!!  

i had no idea that i hadn't been on here for almost a whole month.  i apologize.  man, its been an amazing month...i'm currently at a younglife regional training time so let me just give you 1 quick story that shows God's amazingness.

so what i've been doing lately...when i wake up, i pray and whatever comes to my mind during that prayer time...i take it that God wants me to work on those things during the day....because there is so much to do in this huge city.

this past friday...God blew me away...i was praying and a pastors name came to mind....manny ortiz...he a very influential latino pastor in north philly...see...i was thinking of him because the eastern division got approved for 5 students in the latino initiative program...which trains junior latino college students to do younglife over 2 years and they get paid and all..well, i'm hoping for 2 in philly.

...so i'm in north philly at an ihop meeting with a guy who wants to come on as student staff...well, i'm early...(my first meeting ive been early for)...so i know 3 latinos in the entire city of 1.5 million...well, i'm looking at the pastors name on a piece of paper...the guy i prayed for this morning...and i look up to call...and he walks in and sits down next to me at the ihop....and get this...he was with his sophomore in college daughter who would be a junior next year when the program starts...what...i was totally blown away...God just keeps doing amazing things like that each day...I GIVE HIM ALL THE GLORY!!!  so now, she might apply for the position.

how amazing is that....

so yeah...please be in prayer....that i continue following the Lords leading each day...keeping up with everything....

pray for next thursday night..we are starting our leadership training and prayer time..if you know any potiental volunteers, please let me know

pray for this weekend...i will be at rockbridge...we will be having our annual mlk weekend for kids on the east coast....we will have kids from charlotte, nc...salisbury, nc....greensboro, nc...staunton, va...norfolk,va...chesapeake, va...lexington,ky...roanoke, va....washington, dc...sophia cox will be speaking.....i will be camp director....pray everyone is safe, camp runs smoothly..and that kids cross over from death to life...

thanks so much...i love you guys....

the210

the update that i said was coming last weekend

whats up friends and family!!!  thanks so much for continuing to read this blog even though its been a whole week since i wrote last.

well, here are some of the highlights from the last 10 days....

---an encounter in north philly--i got to hang with a friend who does ministry up in north philly on the peurto rican side of north philly...we had a great time walking around talking and dreaming about what God is doing and is going to do in the city.  nes runs a flag football league for kids....they currently have 150 kids in the league and i visited the weight room they have.  it was pretty cool....so yeah, while i was there i also got to meet the pastor of his church and that was a real honor...well, as we were speaking and we were talking about the middle school called stetson which right across the street....police start flying all over the place and the pastor was saying how he felt with the economy and all that the city was on the edge...well, turns out at the middle that a boy had stabbed a girl there in the neck with a knife...this is middle school, yall... the violence that kids live with is incredible here....please pray for that school and for the new principal there who is trying to establish some boundaries and discipline and not everyone is buying in....pray that God brings peace to this kids who are surrounded with war.

---church planters meeting---last week i had the opportunity to hang with a friend of mine from college named jim...he is a church planter for the pca church...we hadn't seen each other in like 3 years....so he and i connected and he was like i'm coming to philly to go to this church planters meeting for all the pca and south baptist churches in the philly and surrounding counties...so he invited me to come along....and it was GREAT... see, i had some reservations about going because i'm obviously not a church planter...but i do want to plant kids in churches....this blew me away....i had been given a bunch of contacts of pastors that people thought i should meet...and you guessed it...they were all there!!!  well, actually, most of them were.  the group asked me to share and they prayed for me.  it was amazing.  they have invited me to come each month to their meeting and i'm going to be there...i meet one pastor whose wife is from roanoke and he is serving a russian jewish community mixed with muslims in northeast philly....he said his service is in hebrew, russian and english...how cool is God's kingdom.

---small group aka cypher group---well, i joined a small group at the church i've been attending...thats been cool.  oh, they call their small group cypher groups.  i'll explain some other time.  we meet in west philly.  turns out the guy that runs it for the west philly group lives like 30 seconds from me.  so that is cool, we had some mutual friends and i djed a show he performed out back in the day.  he is a rapper in the group everyday process.  but yeah, we meet each wednesday night and we talk about last weeks sermon at the church....its a cool concept.  and the group has married people, single people, old people, and young people in it.  the church assigns the groups based on where you live.  its a good time.

---friends---well, i have 2 i think...my roommate and then mac the guy from the cypher group. we have hung out some.  please continue to pray for me and getting a network of friends around me...(i do have other friends...but i'm saying those that are more my age and that i would go to the movies with or something.)  this week...ive been watching all my bruce willis movies at night.  i had no idea that i had so many...i watched the new die hard, 16blocks, armageddon(classic).  tonight i'm going watch bandits....rick my roommate invited me to go roller skating with some of his friends for a birthday party....but for those of you who know me.  you know, roller skating is not the place for me to make the first impression...lets just say....i normally leave covered in bruises...bc i can't stay up..i wipe out constantly.

--this week--please pray as we have a key meeting with a potiential committee member...it will be monday at noon...i think this guy is a scout for the nfl...kinda cool...(on a side note...look for me monday night...my committee chairman has season tickets to the eagles and they are playing on monday night football and i'm going with him....so let me know if you want me to make a poster or something with your name on it....chris dowdy has already put in his request.)

--pray that more money comes in...right now, alot of people have said they are going to give but not alot of people have given.  

--pray for me to continue to meet the men of the peace..

thanks so much....love you guys...

grace and peace

oh yeah, NO MORE GUN SHOTS AT THIS POINT!!

GRACE AND PEACE

new post coming soon

so yeah...i just typed this huge update and my internet went out....i'm trying to get past that so you will have to wait till tomorrow to hear about the end of my week.

scripture i have been meditating on today....1 corinthians 1:18--for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

think about what is the message of the cross today?

grace and peace

God's banner

its an amazing blessing to be marching under God's banner.  like to raise the flag with His emblem on it.  like...no one knows me here, no one has seen a kid at anything we are doing yet, no one by appearance would think i'm right for the job, BUT GOD...He continues to amaze with the doors that are opening.  the people i'm getting to meet.  its been sweet each day.

last night was our first official "family" committee meeting...i was great.  we started at 7pm and then came out of our room at 1030pm.  we even talked about stopping because it was getting late but no one wanted to leave.  its an honor to be working along side the men in that room.  God has handpicked each one of us to be apart. (the ephesians 2:10 movement of God)  He has picked us and prepared us for good works in the city of philadelphia and with whoever we come in contact with along the way.  

last night also marked the first night i stayed in my new place in south philly.  yes,yes.  it was funny, when i got engaged i bought some fireworks to shot off to celebrate the occasion.  needless to say, i never got to shot of the fireworks.  well, last night, i was greeted with a different type of firework in the middle of the night.   7 gunshots...i don't know where they were shot from...how far away they were...but i thought it had to be holy with the number of them being 7.  it marks a different type of celebration that will be going on on a daily basis here.  as kids and adults who have never heard the Gospel, get to and start a relationship with Jesus.  there will be fireworks and great celebration in Heaven.  its sweet....the liberty bell will be ringing.

of course, my prayer is for safety and wisdom...i know there is no safer place than inside the borders of God's will for me....pray that i stay there.  pray that i continue to meet the men of the peace.  God continues to bring them along.  pray for a meeting i have at messiah college in the city on friday.

finally, pray that i don't get ahead of God.  He has brought me here and i want to stay where i'm humbly following Him and not trying to take the lead myself.  

a friend of mine shared this scripture with me and others a few years back and it has always stuck with me....

mark 4:35-41

v.35  that day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."

v.36 leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.  there were also other boats with him.

v.37 a furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

v.38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke him and said, "teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

v.39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be Still!"  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

v.4o He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

v.41 There were terrified and asked each other, "who is this?  even the wind and the waves obey him.!"

so many things could be said about this passage its so rich...but the point i want to focus on is in the first 2 verses... it was Jesus idea to go to the other side of the lake.  He suggested it and that is what He wanted to do.  but in v.36 the key words "they took him along"  i don't want Jesus to be someone i just take along.  that i lead cause i can't.  i'm not God.  i want us here in philly to not get ahead of God as He has obviously lead us to this place but to stay within the safe boundaries of the boat (His will) and let Him lead us.  that is my prayer.

thanks so much for your love and for stopping by here.  please let others know the truth of Jesus where you are at.... God has good works set out for all us to do.

grace and peace.

new video link

hey, whats up guys!!!  i just wanted to let you know i put a link up for everyone to check out.  its actually from a study a college professor did recently.  the professor gave 40 digital cameras to women in north philly(north of spring garden street....which is actually the exact target area i feel like God wants us to go to first) to take pictures of their life.  so yeah, please pray for the countless stories like these that are in the city of philadelphia.  i know God is doing unbelievable things in this city.  i'm excited to be apart of them.  

ephesians 3:20--now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to  his power that is at work within us....

isn't it awesome that God is able, God is able....He is able and is going to do so many amazing things in Philadelphia...

grace and peace