Huge turnout for Neighborhood Fellowship

This past Saturday was awesome! We had four teams out in the Neighborhood. There were approximately 20 volunteers for Outreach. God provided extra food to give out this week. The volunteers handed out the October Newsletter, as well as a flyer for the Trunk or Treat event next Saturday. It was a blessed day! Our team in particular prayed for a family whose uncle was just diagnosed with Cancer. We also prayed for Ms. Elma who is one of the elderly ladies we love to visit with. We met a young man that is interested in making a change in his life. We shared the opportunities that Take It To The Streets offers to better his education and find employment.

It has been such a blessing to see all the new volunteers come back in awe of what God is doing in the neighborhood. Like the saying goes, "Bless someone, and you will be blessed more." It is true!

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Outreach On 10-17

Today's outreach was packed full of good lessons and good time to fellowship. We had about 30 kids come out thanks to our street team who walked around and told the kids about our filed day. We had a mixture of new and old attendees and the new kids had to get used to who we were and had to adjust their behavior accordingly.

We learned some valuable lessons as volunteers. We have to step up to the plate and begin to mentor the kids who simply need the love of a father figure where one lacking. We ended the filed day early because of a decision by Martha, our field day coordinator. The kids were told to come back next week with better behavior and respect. With this we pose two questions: will you help mentor a kid 2. What ideas can we put together to create community with the adults and parents.

Any thoughts of current environment and possible improvement.

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Convoy Of Hope

This past Saturday Take It To The Streets partnered with 25 other organizations and 75 churches to help host this years Charleston Convoy of Hope. It was a very humbling experience. I literally felt like I was in another world all day as watched over 5000 of my fellow charlestonians come out seeking aid. Volunteers arrived at 7 a.m to start setting up for this all day event. Take It To The Streets worked with Guest Services all day to help those 5000+ people get in to the event in a timely fashion. We handed out water and drinks to people as they were waiting in line in 90 degree weather. Some of our volunteers handed out games to the kids to help keep them in good spirits and walked around blowing bubbles with them. Our volunteers walked around and talked with those waiting in line and helped direct them through the front gates as the received information on all the different offerings Convoy had to offer.

There was a tent for everything. One tent was offering free haircuts and giving hygeine products. Another tent was giving out free shoes and washing the feet of the guests. There was a tent for health services and screening complete with a free chiropratic check up. There was a tent for job services where employers from the low country came to help those in need find employment. There was an incredbible kid zone that was like a mini fair unto itself. The kid zone had jump castles, clowns, face painting, cotton candy, and so much more. There was live entertainment all day from music acts, to poetry readings, and even a wrestling for jesus ring. Perhaps the most important tent of them all was the prayer tent where 3000 bibles were handed out 4,500 people were prayed for and 300 people came to know Christ for the first time. Right now you should be saying Amen as you read this :D If you would like to see more pictures from the event please visit our website at http://ti2ts.org or join us on facebook. If you have special God size moments from Convoy of Hope please share them in the comments section. Couldn't be everywhere at once and it would be nice to hear some of the ways God showed up.

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Children Lifting Up Children

This past Saturday Take It To The Streets finished our teaching series at Field Day on character building words. This week we gave the kids TI2TS bucks (which they get for good behavior and Christ like actions, that can be redeemed for ice cream or other items at the end of each month) that they had to give to someone else. Each kid had to give away his bucks to someone else for being nice or helping out in some way. The response to this was overwhelming. The kids could not say enough good things about their friends. In some cases they got annoyed that we did not have enough time for them to continue praising one another. The looks on their friends faces as they would lift each other up in praise was priceless. It was an amazing thing to witness and see the impact that we are making in the lives of these kids.

The days activities were also a blast as you can see from the pictures. Kevin and Jan Herr organized a relay race for the kids Double Dare style. After the first race there was a resounding cry of "Can We Do It Again" Thanks to Kevin and Jan for organizing last weekends activity from the pictures it is obvious that the kids had a blast. The full set of pictures can be seen on our Facebook page and I will be uploading them to our website soon. This Saturday there will be no Field Day as TI2TS will be supporting Convoy of Hope. More information on that can also be found on our webpage as well as Facebook or by googleing Convoy of Hope Charleston. I look forward to posting multiple stories from this weekends event as well lots of pictures for those who won't be able to make it.

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HAPPY Birthday!

I think we all can remember our favorite birthday as a child. For me it was my seventh birthday and it was at a roller rink. This birthday was extra special not because of any of the gifts (I cant remember one of them) but who was there. All of my friends from the third grade especially my girlfriend Erica. It is the people that make birthdays special and memorable. This weekend Take It To The Streets had the awesome privilege of celebrating Zirons (aka CJ’s) seventh birthday. The “Praise Warriors” got a giant cupcake/football shaped birthday cake along with a card and a few small gifts. Ziron sat down on a folding chair in the middle of a huge circle of volunteers and kids as we all sung Happy Birthday, all he could do was blush. Immediately after that we opened the card and I got the opportunity to read it to the group (see expression in picture). In the picture you are not seeing a child’s expression of how cool his present is but how much he values the love of his family and friends “priceless”. This picture is incredibly important to me and let me tell you why. Earlier in the week, Thursday to be exact I got a chance to meet up with Ziron and his family. Thursday was Ziron’s official Birthday and his family was going through some really difficult financial problems. I knew that Ziron’s family was not able to throw a Birthday Party or even celebrate this glorious day, at that moment is when I remembered my seventh birthday party (the one at the roller rink). This picture is “priceless” and a testimony to Gods love poured out to his child through our “Praise Warriors”, I believe Jesus was smiling just as big at that moment.

Connor

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Neighborhood Fellowship

Neighborhood Fellowship allows us to meet residents where they are. The Lord has opened up some amzing doors to tell families about Jesus off of Dorchester Road. We push forward no matter what to show the residents that God loves them despite their curcumstances or surroundings. We do Neighborhood Fellowship on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month. In fact, we are going out into the neighborhood this Saturday- meeting at the field behind Alex's restaurant at 3713 Dorchester Road at 1:30 pm. By 2:00 pm we will be hitting the streets passing out food, praying with residents, and showing love to the sick and down trodden. We have been blessed every week we go into the neighborhood.

Last year we visited an older lady every time we did outreach. The lady was 99 years old and her 60 year old son would see us waking down the street. The son would call us over and say "don't pass our house". The mother was laying on a bed in the middle of the living room. We would bring her food and she would walk and put it in the kitchen. Later on she would just be laying in the bed and she would say "let's pray". She said "I know I am going to heaven, so I am not worried". She loved to pray with us. One Saturday we went by her house and she was dead- her son said she passed away. We know this is one lady that will go to heaven and she blessed us with her willingness to pray and invite us in the house. We hope she is praising Jesus in heaven and asking Jesus to bless Take It To The Streets and our our team. In fact I am sure she is praising Jesus and one day we will she her in heaven in her revived body where she is not confined to the bed. This lady who was 99 years old saw the power of the Holy Spirit at work. There is now power greater than the power of God at work within us. It is the type of power that can move mountains. We have so many stories just like this of the Church being the church outside the building- Let's continue to Take It To The Streets.

A servant of the Lord- Jesse

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Kids stepping it up at Field Day

Today TI2TS saw a major rise in volunteers, all under the age of 16! A new tool was implemented today inform of the Take It To The Street Buck. This is reward system that we are hoping to use to encourage Christ-like behavior and it was a major success. The kids were in a frenzy about these new dollars. We had a trash pick up crew and a line leader (which helped out with line organization immensely.) One of the highlights of the day was watching a line of kids that looked more like worker ants carrying field day supplies back into the supply the closet. They were so into helping that at the end of it all we had to remind them that they were getting rewarded. They just enjoyed feeling like they were a big part of the ministry. God really showed up today in these kids. What was so amazing its that these kids were living out the lesson all day which was:
1 Corinthians 9:24

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

Our field day activity was a ballon race which is in the above picture but the Spirit of God was in all that those kids did today! What a wonderful day that the Lord has made!

Martha Martin Childrens Ministry Coordinator

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