Read the latest newsletter from Pauline!
Dear friends, family & prayer warriors, June 9, 2010 LA6
In NYC, we’d joke, “if there are two nice days, we call it Spring”…then, that suffices to say we’ve had a long Spring in SoCal! Here’s where it began…
Catching the vision to “Pray for LA”
Last year, Lauren caught the vision to join me in prayer running the LA Marathon…this year, she cast the vision & Katie (pictured with Lauren), and her friend Joy signed up…and Mark from Mariners Church also caught that vision to Run and Pray for the City! At first, I was a bit disappointed that the new Stadium to the Sea course was being taken out of the inner-city and made into a tourist attraction, but then I got really excited thinking about how strategic it is to pray for 24 landmarks! Thanks to those of you who joined us in that prayer journey, even from the comfort of your couch! ? Won’t you consider prayer running or walking the inaugural Rock‘n’Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon on October 24th?
The Compton Initiative
This 40 year commitment to bring restoration and hope to the community of Compton is being carried out not only with our partnership with Saddleback & Emmanuel, but many churches, ministries, businesses and thousands of volunteers!!! The most recent development is The Compton Initiative partnership with NBC’s School Pride, to bring a brand new show this Fall focused on uplifting communities through transforming their schools and educational systems… please watch for it this Fall!
Volunteers painting positive reinforcements such as…
Leadership: The act of directing a group of people for a common purpose.
My highlight: Through picking up trash in the alleys, to painting houses, I found my niche serving on the prayer team, where we can visit a few of the sites. Sometimes we’ll prayer walk the ‘hood, other times we’ll pray with the family whose house is being painted…but most often, we’ll have countless opportunities with curious neighbors asking questions about what is going on, and why people in the yellow shirts (or green in Santa Ana) are doing this. What a great opportunity to share the gospel and pray for the neighbors! Almost always, people are open, receptive, and even welcome us to pray for them right there…it’s incredible! Then we had a divine appointment…Allie, one of the neighbors, invited our prayer team into her home, and as soon as we entered, I felt her home was a ‘haven in the ‘hood’! It was there that we discovered what an amazing woman of God Allie is…when she prayed with us, the house rocked!!! Allie was getting ready to host an evangelistic tea in a couple of weeks in her backyard for neighbors, the homeless & shelters , etc., so I was able to get a few guys from the work team to move some heavy stuff from her backyard in preparation. We were the ones so blessed as we prayed & saw the body of Christ working together!!! Pictured with Allie’s grandson & Betty on the prayer team.
The Santa Ana Initiative
The Santa Ana workdays are still in the initial stages, on a much smaller scale as funding isn’t secure. Please pray that this initiative will really be able to move forward with major partners Victory Outreach & Saddleback. And, please pray for this vision: The Pacoima Initiative or The Valley Initiative?!?!?
If we believe the primary cause of poverty is:
• A lack of knowledge
• Oppression by powerful people
• The personal sins of the poor
• A lack of material resources Then we will primarily try to:
• Educate the poor
• Work for social justice
• Evangelize and disciple the poor
• Give material resources to the poor
Bits and Pieces
*Tutoring high school in the barrio ended this week for the school year…I will miss them!
*Please pray for Yelena…a Russian woman I had the joy of leading to Christ! Pray that she’ll hunger for God’s Word as I disciple her & as she contemplates moving back to Russia.
*Please pray as several outreach opportunities have presented themselves recently.
It’s all about partnerships. THANK YOU for your partnership in prayer & giving!