There is a wonderful organzation that joined my church a year ago. The Servant Partners is an organization whose purpose is to share the love of Jesus with people all over the world. They move into urban areas that have experienced a season of decline and seek to build them up by becoming an active part of the community. They hold community meetings, bible studies, and neighborhood cleanups (among other things). Our church partners with the San Antonio team by allowing them to use our church and resources to further their cause.
I have spent time with the members of the San Antonio team and have found them to be a source of great inspiration. The team leader is Rev. Carrie Lewis. The rest of her team consists of Levi Thomson, Lewis McNeel, and Molly Unruhe. The program requires the members to make a committment to live in the neighborhood for a certain number of years. At this time, Carrie has a five year commitment and Molly has a three year commitment. In the past year they have accomplished quite a few things in the neighborhood surrounding our church. They have established a prayer meeting group, they have completed phase one of the neighborhood clean-up program, and they are beginning to hold community meetings that allow the residents of the neighborhood to express their concerns about the neighborhood and address them together.
The project has had its share of interesting experiences. The team has told me numerous stories of success and stories of amazement. One incident occurred when they offered to pray for a woman that had a multitde of problems. Her father has alheimers, and she has a teen aged daughter that was beginning to act out as she has been getting older. The mother was completely stressed out. They talked and prayed with her and left. A couple of weeks later, the woman saw them out during their "prayer walking" and told them that the daughter has been acting better and has been doing a better job of helping out with her father. The situation is not completely perfect now, but the woman expressed a spirit of thankfulness that it has become a little bit more tolarable. She said that the team must have been sent by God because they crossed her path right when she was feeling overwhelmed by everything. My personal opinion is that people appreciate it when they know that someone else cares about them without having an ulterior motive.
prayer walking in the neighborhood
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