friday update 7-13-18

Blessed Portion Friday Night update 7-13-18

Hello Everyone,

What happens when you bring a whole lotta people together with their crazy pasts? The answer is you reflect the goodness of God through your message from your messes. We have a team of people who week after week come even though they are having struggles, tired from their jobs, who maybe are just having a bad and cruddy day and yet they come and leave those things aside for a few hours to serve the needs of so many people. I am reminded again tonight of just how God uses each of us and our stories to help build one another up and to also give others hope of what God can and has done. We are a team of MANY people...not just those who serve on Fridays, but those who drive each week for us so people can attend church. People who each week make sure the Pathway Community Church refrigerator has meals in it for those who attend on Sunday. People who donate each week whether its by prayer, through tangible items or those who donate financially. We also had our Children's Pastor Kevin-Natalie Frauhiger and his team who chose to make The Blessed Portion Ministries this years charity for Vacation Bible School. Kevin-Natalie Frauhiger and his team were able to raise more money than they did last year and it was a God thing for sure...Thank you!! So with everyone helping where they can we are seeing so much fruit come from it.

Here are a few things that stuck out tonight for us...

Got a call from a friend who has been outside since we started and he is currently in the process of getting housing. We have been getting texts each day as to where he is at in the process and its pretty amazing.

Saw our newest friend tonight and he was still beaming ear to ear about finding Pathway Community Church last week and how he is going to call it his home church. He was still in awe of how so many people from Pathway smiled at him, offered to help carry items for him as he has a walker. He shared how that he loved our worship and the message. Needless to say he has a standing reservation in my van each week for church.

Also our friend Toby (I have his permission to share his name) is doing amazing. He has been transformed truly by the love and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. He was brought to us last year by a friend on the street and he did well for awhile then relapsed. As he relapsed though one day he shared how that he literally saw himself going to hell and had quite the experience...that day changed him, changed his direction, his habits and set him free of his addictions. He shared tonight how that he now goes looking for people to disciple during the day...people that he even did drugs with. We have seen the change in him and it gets better each week and God is showing up and showing off for him and we again are blessed to see it.

Also talked with a friend tonight about the direction his life is taking and all the good changes that are ahead for him. We talked about being consistent and how important that is for all of us to remember. So many have not had consistent love, encouragement, or even faith and by being consistent in someone's life it has the potential to change a person. I admire where he is at and where he is headed and I appreciate his words.

So tonight the Greek Ladies --Jackie Mangas and her team of such beautiful women fed everyone and we love them. They are faithful to those we serve and they bless all of us. We had our bins full again which was a blessing, because its been hard to keep them full. We had a peaceful night which always is good and we heard lots of good stories and we saw love. We see love in how people look out for another on the streets, see love when men at the mission help their brothers in need, see love when we talk with the women at Hobson house and see them in their sobriety, honesty and friendship for each other and us. We see love when our team chooses Jesus each week, and we KNOW love because of God.

There are many lives on the streets of Fort Wayne that need consistency, love, forgiveness, encouragement, a hug, a tangible item and Jesus. Were not different from them deep down...we all need the same thing and when we experience love from the Father, we should be compelled to show that love back however God is asking us to, because its all about Him, for Him and because of Him that we do anything.

Thank you Pathway Community Church, Grace Summit Church , Hamilton Church of Christ, Tracy Hine-Bullion, Dale Bullion, Sarah Sarah Bigelow Lapadot, Mark Stebing, Jennifer Lynne Stebing, Mjs Apparel, Auburn Massage and Wellness, Chris Magnuson, Amber Gaskill, Christina Scheiber,Rochelle Bloomfield-Wilson, Toby, Michael Jordan, Vbs kids of Pathway,Kevin-Natalie Frauhiger, Tiffany Mosley Fields, Kim Ted Shook, Jackie Mangas, Trish, Bobby, Marika, Maria, Kathy!