Going Public…the trip…is over.  We are home, on our way to being rested, and remain delighted in God’s abundant goodness to us.  He not only blessed us, but allowed us to bless others as we served in San Francisco.

Here are some highlights:

98 children enrolled in VBS at Calvary Hill, with 4 professions of faith.  The children shared music and choreography for their church family on Sunday morning.  It was lots of fun!

4 websites created, a database created and 400 donor letters copied, folded, stuffed and mailed for Page’s Street Center’s upcoming 40th Anniversary Celebration.

Lots of cleaning up and readying for the next phase of construction by the labor team at Calvary Hill.

A very successful Kid’s Club for the children at San Francisco City Academy.  All the children were already Christians, but they very much enjoyed the Bible stories, crafts, games, puppet show, face painting and balloons.

Scores of socks, bottles of water and granola bars given out by the evangelism team.  Lots of conversations leading to the “5 questions” and many opportunities to share the Gospel.  There were several professions of faith, including at least one staff from our hotel.

Our 74 second Song of Blessing shared with hundreds of people….in Chinatown, The Tenderloin, at the hotel, Round Table Pizza, McDonalds, Calvary Hill Community Church, Western Hills Baptist Church, San Francisco Rescue Mission, and on and on.

Two church families blessed by an enthusiastic group of teenagers who brought a time of worship and uplifted praise.

A moving of the Holy Spirit in our prayer and praise time. 

An annointing of the Holy Spirit in our performances.

And some great fun, too….Ghirardelli Square, shopping in Union Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Alcatraz, the Giants/Dodgers game….walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Going Public…the mission…is not over.  Lives were changed forever.  Churches were changed forever.  We thank God for His mercy toward us, His blessings on us, and for the privilege of serving others in His name in San Francisco.

Our concerts at Union Square were very well-attended.  The sun was out….and when the sun comes out in SF, people come out.  Our kids did a great job connecting with people afterward and met many Christians, many international visitors, and were able to share their testimonies and pray with several people.

Today we sang at the SF Rescue Mission and afterward set about to minister in a brand new way.  We have learned a 74 second Song of Blessing.  We divided into 7 teams and each team set out to find people on the street in the Tenderloin district and “bless them.”  We sang to homeless, shop owners, people obviously under the influence, people who spoke no English, and even police officers.  There were huge smiles, tears and eyes full of gratitude for the few moments we were able to stop, sing and offer to pray with people.  My team of 7 sang to more than 25 people on our 45 minute jaunt.  So, multiplied by 7, that’s a lot of people touched.  There is such a pervasive presence of evil, a sense of hopelessness, and a longing for connection in this place called The Tenderloin….but we know that we were able to bless many in the name of the Lord.  It was an emotional, but uplifting experience for us all.

Specific prayer requests for Thursday…VBS decision service at 11:30 a.m…..ministering to the lonely and ill at Laguna Honda Hospital.

The planning and preparation really paid off today as all teams had very successful mornings.  There were about 80 children at Day 1 of VBS at Calvary Hill.  20 children attended the Kid’s Club at the Rescue Mission.  The tech team began with upgrading a couple of websites and set up a data base for Page Street Center.  The evangelism team went to the Haight and engaged several people in conversations.  The labor team cleared out several storage areas for construction to start at Calvary Hill.  The day was concluded with two concerts at Ghirardelli Square.  I’ll be honest….I am still amazed at how many people stop when they see our kids perform.  People take pictures and I think we may be in scrapbooking collections around the world.  People not only stop, but they stand around and listen for a long time.  Some find a place to sit and stay for the entire 45 minutes.  We had very large crowds today and we could tell that there were many Christians in the audience.  The kids say that you can just tell on their faces that they are connecting with the music…being blessed by it.  There were also many tourists and many from other countries.  We did get to engage several in conversations.  One gentleman said to me, “Oh, they’re so Baptist.”  I thought he might be ready to make some sarcastic comment, but then he proceeded to say, “I’m Catholic and we have so few families…it is great to see so many young people showing their faith.”  Well, that’s the kind of comment we love and the kind of expression that keep us going when we are tired and weary.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us…..we feel it.

Our quiet time passage for today was from Matthew 11.  Verse 28 speakes of “being burdened.”  We already see our students being burdened for those they come in contact with.  Tonight a group of students and adults prayerwalked around our hotel.  They were burdened for those they had already seen and prayed, walked and asked God to show Himself through them as we “live” here for the next 8 days.  Pray that we can be salt and light to the hotel staff and guests.  Pray that this location is blessed by our presence!