While most were celebrating New Year’s Eve with their families and friends, I had the privilege to be part of a men’s evangelist retreat in North Carolina. What made this special was being part of the Jackson Park Ministries (JPM) team (http://www.jacksonpark.org). If you are not familiar with this ministry, JPM is deeply involved in a number of red district communities that are heavily burdened by poverty, illness, drugs, murders, and gangs.
As you enter into these areas, there are numerous signs and postings pleading for help to stop the murders. Yet, JPM is on the front lines providing a light of hope to those whose lives center on surviving each and every day. I was privileged and humbled to minister to these families on New Year’s Eve as part of the JPM outreach program.
Going door-to-door, we where greeted by families and welcomed into their homes to pray for the sick and share the message of Jesus Christ. I was overwhelmed by how open, grateful, and gracious these families were to us. There is an old saying, that “when you’re flat on your back, it is easy to look up, especially when there nothing obstructing your view”. The families within these crime ridden communities were hungry for the message of Jesus. And by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, over fifty souls accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior that day.
As I reflect on the past week’s activities, a simple question comes to mind. Where were the secular humanists, the atheists, the Hollywood celebrities, and the elitists? What excuse can our government possibly have when it spends billions in community outreach programs for countries overseas but chooses to overlook its own citizens in need? Where was the ACLU or the organization for the separation of church and state? What won’t these organizations do something that will add to “ensure domestic tranquility” instead of attacking the faithful? JPM continually provides food, transitional housing, and other programs to assist families in crisis, in the name of Jesus. Yet, there are so many that continually accuse the Judeo/Christian community and our values as non-mainstream religious bigotry.
The Bible is correct when it states, “You Will Know Them by Their Fruit”…
Check out my article “The BIG Bad Christian Influence” at: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=44353&id=25844
