I arrived in Chicago on Saturday; and Pastor Jimmy and I went to the bowling alley because they were having a fundraiser for their missions trip. It was fun hanging out with the Chicago church members in a different setting. I ended up bowling a game. It was a rough for the first three frames but finished off well. I think people like talking “smack” to pastors, but they didn’t know that some pastors like to trash talk back 🙂
We had a great Sunday Celebration as we closed out the “Desert” series. It was a powerful time as the Holy Spirit was ministering to God’s people. I was able to do the first pre-marital counseling for an engaged couple. You know when a church in growing in depth and breadth when growth is happening in various ministries. We are praying that the married couples group will continue to grow.
One of the best parts of this Sunday was the baptism service that we were able to have. The testimonies were powerful and it really ministered to me. It just affirmed the reason why we started the church. The testimonies were filled with people who came to know the Lord for the first time through our church – these are the best testimonies because it is about conversion growth rather than transfer growth.
Then we headed out to UIC to continue to meet and pray with the people who are part of our church. I was reminded about the tremendous need on this church. As we are gathering to pray and seek God’s will, there seems to be a greater desire in the hearts of the people to see something happen in the near future.
Afterward, it was fun just hanging out in one of the dorms at UIC. The view from one of the dorms was incredible. As we looked out, we were able to see some of the skyline of downtown Chicago. It was a visual reminder of the vision of reaching the campus to reach the community, in order to reach the city.
As you can tell on the bottom right, some of the NU students were studying… crazy! We are trying to help them to chill a little bit more 🙂
It was powerful when one of the guys who got baptized last year helped baptized one of the new believers this year… it is truly the power of the Gospel!