Day 3 – Downtown Outreach
After another early breakfast and waking to news of a bad storm back home, we settled in for our quiet time in the book of Joshua. The theme for this morning was “I Can Dwell in God’s Presence”. The main point was that no matter what we do or where we go, God goes with us. God helped the Israelites cross the Jordan River, His presence going before them. God gave the Israelites enemies into their hand, because he had promised them victory. When God calls us to something, we can be certain that he will go before us! (I will try to take some pictures during quiet time tomorrow!).
We then had the opportunity for the YWAM staff to teach us a skit that we will be able to use in some of our outreach opportunities this week. This was a ton of fun; the students really had a blast with it.
We then had a training on Serving. More specifically, we talked a lot about what it might look like to not only serve people on this trip in our outreach opportunities, but also serving each other within our group, daily. Diane, our YWAM fearless leader, then gave us two passages and sent us off to come up with our own skits based on those passages. We then came back and performed these skits for the others. This was a great experience.
After this it was time to head to another one of YWAM’s facilities (Global Mission Center) where we were able to join them in their weekly Worship & Warfare. We spent some time singing worship songs and then doing some intercession prayer – focusing specifically on Canada.
We then enjoyed lunch with the staff at GMC and took off to head into downtown Madison. YWAM has a house right near the University of Wisconsin campus that they do ministry out of. We used this house to make food that we would bring to give out to those in need. We wrote kind notes of encouragement to hand out also. We also handed out several Bibles and bottled water.
We took just under two hours to walk up and down State Street in four different groups, and look for people to bless with food, bibles, and prayer. Each group returned with awesome stories about the different people the Lord put in their path. We sat in a big circle back at the downtown house and shared stories of these great moments that were ordained by God.
From here we made our way on foot to the UW campus, to sing more worship songs by a beautiful fountain. Many walked by, some very curious, some seemingly disinterested, and others with smiles on their faces as eighteen 13-14 year olds sang praises to the King of Kings unashamedly. We shouted Jesus from the Fountain and Jesus on State Street.
It really was a wonderful day! It was a day that many of the students were a bit nervous about, but it became a day of growth for all. A day that they can look back on knowing that God was so proud of them for their obedience and boldness. It was a day that the name of God was put on display by some pretty amazing young people!!
