SWERVE CHURCH
  • Home
  • New Here?
    • What To Expect
    • About Us
  • Get Involved
    • Ways To Serve
    • Upcoming Events
  • Give
  • Messages

Faith is a journey not a guilt trip

Covenant House - When My Faith Was Stretched

10/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Covenant House is a place of refuge for youth that are homeless, abandoned, and at-risk. We've been going there going on five years now. We bring a short program which always includes powerful stories of How God radically transformed lives and an encouraging teaching from the Bible.

Some nights we have 20 or 30 youth come out to the program which is incredible because it's completely voluntary. No one has to show up. But it's great that some do, even if reluctantly at first.

This past Saturday would be different. We would set up the chairs like always. The soda and snacks were brought in like always. And the invitation to
join us was made as always. But that night would be different. We experienced a coldness and rejection of our invitation like never before.

          Now, we always get the "heckler", the "ignorer", the "roll-my-eyes-er", the "I'll come back later", etc. But this night no one wanted to come. No one responded to the invitation. In fact, the opposite happened. We were mocked for making the invitation as the got up from their seats and walked past us. "It's not mandatory for you guys to come, but you're more than welcome to stay and enjoy the snacks and soda after". Nothing.
So we returned to the empty seats. The seats we had set up hoping that some youth would sit in them and hear the hope of the gospel.

In the years past, someone always came. I remember a time when one tired girl came, fresh out of work, eyes bloodshot. She sat down, tired as she was and gave us the opportunity to share the gospel and how much God loved her.

One person! We traveled all the way from Bushwick to 41st Street and 10th Avenue, fighting traffic, setting everything up, for one person! And you know what? We'd do it again. Because one person is important to God.
Picture
But we've always had someone come. Whether 3 or 30, there was always a group that showed up. So what about this time? 

We were faced with the decision of either staying and waiting or counting it as a loss and heading home. The latter seemed easier to do. After all, God saw the effort. He knew we tried our best. I guess it just wasn't our night.

But we didn't leave. We opted to stay and preach to the seats. "Tell the seats whatever you were going to tell the youth" I told Danny Martinez. "We're going to run it like we always do and maybe someone passing by will hear something".

So we began to pray. We prayed for the youth at Covenant House. We prayed for soft hearts. We prayed for direction and clarity. Then Martinez began to share his story. He spoke about how he met Jesus at Covenant House. He was once addicted to heroin and crack. He was living on the street. His family didn't want to know anything about him. But God miraculously saves him in a way only God can.

Half way through talking, as he's reading a passage, a group of youth come in. They quietly and reverentially entered the room and sat in the once-empty seats. I was overjoyed. What if we would have left? What if we would have called it a night? What if we would not have preached to those empty seats?

God taught me a lesson that day. My faith was stretched. How has your faith been stretched lately?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    SWERVE BLOG

    Follow the blog for the latest info on Swerve and for helpful info on what makes us tick.

    Archives

    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Brooklyn Nets Outreach
    Bushwick Love Week
    Church Planting
    Covenant House
    Devotionals
    Ephesians
    Evangelism
    Events
    Fall
    FAQ
    GenSend
    God With Us
    Guest Blogger
    Halloween
    Health
    Launch Team
    Leadership
    Lessons Learned
    LifeChurch.tv
    Life Groups
    Micro Missions
    Mission
    Missions Teams
    Nets
    NetworkChurches.tv
    News And Announcements
    Notes
    Ology
    Outreach
    Prayer Requests
    Send North America Conference
    Sermon Series
    Servant Evangelism
    Service Opportunities
    Sports
    Summer
    This Sunday At Swerve
    Travels

    RSS Feed

Picture
  • Home
  • New Here?
    • What To Expect
    • About Us
  • Get Involved
    • Ways To Serve
    • Upcoming Events
  • Give
  • Messages