hands & hearts ministries

Ordinary People

2010-01-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

...is what a homeless friend of mine told me this morning at Solomons Porch. And he said it well. Because in all of our lives, we have different situations, different expectations, and different moments of choice. Which makes different outcomes. And when you know Jesus and are saved, sometimes the decisions of life can be so emotional or heavy that we mistake who's ability it is to do the right thing or get through them. And mistakenly, we can think that the burden is ours to carry and the results are ours to face. Yet it was during worshipping to a song that a CFNI student wrote that i remembered by hearing the lyrics "...You're the center. You're the answer. You are Holy. You are Worthy." that Jesus is the center, not me! So the things i go through because of decisons, is on Gods part: His work. And on my part: being obedient and trusting in Him. (at the same time in obedience and not using this as a means of excuse for "a man will sow what he reaps" yet the measure of Gods grace is immeasurable and available to all as we are striving to live for Him! which unlike the world is solid, dependable, and eternal!) Oh how wonderful it is to know i dont have to do everything and everything i do is not up to me! Its true with my life during CFNI campus life, it is true in my friends homeless and on the streets life, and it is true in your life. Why? Because we are all ordinary people. We all share the same wants to love and be loved. And we all make decisions that affect us. It took me a conversation with a homeless person to rememeber this simple truth, i pray it takes you just a reading through this post. God Bless!

"With full understanding of how imperfect we are, a perfect God still signed up to give His life for us that we may know Him." -Pat Murray

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

thanksgiving meal @ s.p.

2009-11-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

James, Nick, Richard and TimLots of Hungry people!
Over 10 churchs volunteered on Saturday.

Pastor John chatting with one of the guys.

Many came boldly foward for prayer after the Word,

and with all eyes open and everybody looking around.

James shared out of Romans 8 a message to our homeless family,

but mostly to our suprise, to the volunteers. His challenge

was do you really look like Jesus when you come out to

help people? Or do people see Jesus in you when you help them?

Quite a few talented singers from different churchs

sang hymns and songs of adoration, grace and thanksgiving to our God.

Ken and Jen

On the left, he just got married and Cowboy on the right has

got a wedding date in a month. One of the most honorable

things Ive ever heard of is men like these going through all of

the steps to be commited and married rightfully and biblically under God,

despite the concerns and pressures of living on the streets.

Somebodies got to do it! Maybe next week, it will be you?

Suffering Like Christ

2009-11-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Check out Lloyds testimony that he shared in middle of October! and then read below.

What did ya think? wow I was so encouraged even to watch and listen to his testimony again, a month later. Did you notice that in Lloyds life, he had to suffer through quite a bit, yet because he did, God had kept His promise to restore him. This reminded me of something me and my friend, Frank (one of the spanish guys who comes to Solomons Porch) talked about this saturday in scripture. The promise and wisdom God shares with us through His scripture concerning suffering. In 1 peter 5:10, (paraphrased) Peter says "Like Christ, you will have to suffer, and if you suffer for a little while, then He will then perfect, establish and settle you." No matter the situation or hard thing we may go through, Christ has already suffered through it. He suffered for a long while (to the point of death) yet because He did, the Father came to His rescue and ressurected Him from the grave. The physical and spiritual suffering of Christ was not eternal, it was temporary that reaped eternal benefits to humanity. And as the bible tells us, at any moment He could have gave up, yet was steadfast to make sure that His Father would get glory. We too then, must suffer for a little while and if we do, then the Father promises to come to our rescue and ressurect us. A well example is trials. When the trial comes, our mind often says to give up and turn the responsiblity of the trial on ourselves (which is more than we can bear alone). However if we turn it to God, and hold our faith in His promise to deliver us and wait through the period of suffering, then He will bring it around to work for our good (which is His glory). This also applies to temptations, tribulations, sicknesses, stresses, confusion, worries, etc. In my own life over the past couple of weeks, i see that sometimes i wait for a big spiritual moment to rescue me from sin. Yet i must phyically choose not to sin, to suffer for a time, and then Gods promise to "provide a way of escape" is sure to follow. It is truly something that will take experience and perhaps a few "scars" to learn and sometimes through the hardest of situations. YET is Gods grace because i find that in life, after the bad things happen to us, God has out attention in those moments, and can then provide a way of escape and growth in Him. Does He provide for a disaster to hit his children? Certainly not, but if disaser does hit us, we look to Him and He then will turn it for good somehow. In Franks life, distractions and lack of commitment have been weighing him down and causing Him to be fustrated. Yet he learned that if he will not wait around, yet fight to make things on time, and get to the mercy seat on sundays and take care of himself, then pretty soon, God will give Him strength and energy to keep it going. All it takes is patience and faith. How much? "As small as a mustard seed." SO persist! Persist through the times that are hard and suffer like Christ for a while, and on His timing He will reward you faithfulness and establish, settle and perfect you. And remember in every way He has already related to our suffering. In trials, longsuffering, temptations... all was upon Him for he lived the life of man, yet never once did He quit. Like the Father rewarded Him on His timing, He will reward you. HE has in Lloyd, me, Frank and will in you! -michaelScott

Moving with God!

2009-10-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

Agreeing with God to see change.

"Come all who are weary..."

We are experiencing a move of God like never before in The Body. We are seeing evidence of it in our midst. Solomon's Porch Saturday ministry time is looking more and more like the unified body than ever before. All denominations, cultures, races, and economic classes are coming together to tell of the Good News of Jesus. On any given Saturday, Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist, non-denominational, rich, poor, young, old, mature in Christ and the recently set free are ministering love and deliverance to anyone who will hear. We have spent the past 2 years praying for this to happen and we are seeing it begin to come to pass. God is moving.

At Mercy Seat Church last Sunday, we had a drug dealer, a homosexual addict, a suicidal woman, an oppressed man, and many others come to the alter individually, take the microphone and confess their sin and profess their need for a savior. Two women who joined us at Solomon’s Porch the day before and professed to be Wiccan, came back for church and received prayer for Jesus to be Lord and work their life.

Today at Solomon’s Porch, several new faces came saying I don’t need anything to eat, but I heard about your church and I wanted to come and meet you and tell you I want to come to your church. Oh, the prayers that are being answered! All the prayers for this place to be a Light in the darkness that draws the lost in like moths to a flame. Come and rejoice with us. Cry out for God’s will to be done and for His Kingdom to come. For Him to be lifted up and for men to be drawn to Him for salvation and freedom.

The door has opened for us to move Mercy Seat Church to another larger location. We are so happy and honored to be allowed to have use of the old Cornerstone Baptist Church building just south down Ervay street from where we are now. We along with World Impact, share the same heart and vision as Pastor Chris Simmons at Cornerstone and are looking forward to transforming South Dallas, all of our ministries working alongside one another. Our service time will change from 6:30 pm to 2pm Sundays beginning Nov. 1. We will also begin a 6 week Freedom Class series on Wednesday nights beginning Nov. 4.
We would be honored if you would join us to worship our Savior for what He has done and what He is going to do. -Leann

the word of our testimony

2009-10-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Lylods testimony coming soon... (1o minutes)

The Body Of Christ In Action

2009-10-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful thing. This Saturday, it was such a blessing to see God's family come together in one Spirit and in one accord. We had non-denominationals, Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics and many more, working together to represent Jesus.

We had a man named Miguel make a decision for Christ and requested help to put himself in a Christian drug and alcohol treatment program. He confessed that he had served the Lord before in a powerful way, even leading people to Christ himself. He had abandoned his faith and turned to the ways of darkness. He now wanted to return to his first love and never look back. Praise God!

Here is an example of how God works when we don't see it at the time: About 5 weeks ago, an opportunity came up for one of our team members on the street (I'll call him Fred) to get an apartment with some guys from the Bunkhouse. Fred works 5-6 days a week, is recently saved, loves and shares Jesus everywhere he goes. He truly is an example of Christ on the streets. However, these were not the most Godly men he could have chosen for roommates. He stopped coming to Saturday Solomon's Porch ministry and Church. We were concerned and began praying for him.

We have a group of "Jesus street warriors" that look out for one another throughout the week. Reports were coming back to us through them that Fred was starting to drink beer and was really being influenced by his new roomies. Our street warrior team kept encouraging him and asking him to come back every time they would see him in the neighborhood. Over the weeks, he still stayed away.

Here is the incredible part. While we were looking at the natural and assuming that Fred had left the straight path to return to worldly ways, information came to us that opened our Spiritual eyes. The man named Miguel that I mentioned at the beginning, who gave his heart back to Jesus, turned out to be one of those "bad influence roommates" of Freds!

Fred has moved out of the shared apartment and back into the bunkhouse. I suspect we will see him next Saturday. God uses everyone, everywhere who will speak His word and share His gospel. Even though Fred may not have acted just like we would have liked for him too, the presence of God he carries and the testimony of his mouth penetrated the darkness that shrouded Miguel. Praise God that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts!

What Is Your Cross?

2009-09-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

sheperds pie:

(Terri and Tims famous EXCLUSIVE recipe!)

hamburger meat, cream of mushroom, bell peppers,

mashed potatoes, shredded cheddar cheese and corn.

famous line:
"gimme some with that cheese there!"

waiting in line for lunch after the Word was shared.

What is your cross? The place you crucify your flesh and desires in obedience to Christ. Even Jesus had to be obedient to His Father, God. Thus it is an important part of your walk with Christ! Look at Luke 2:
"41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart." (ESV)
Jesus was about His Father's buisness and it was the most important thing for Him to do. Even abov his earthly parents. "The main thing is to be right with the Lord," explained Pastor Jose after this message today at Solmons Porch. And God will search out men despite our attempts to hide from Him. "We can hide from man, but no one hides from God." This certainly applies to saints and sinners alike. So remember to take up your cross and be obedient to Christ!

Come Shine... or Rain

2009-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

we talked Cowboy into a smile :)

a little wet...

coffee on a rain day..ahh hits the spot

many came for their first time saturday!

sharing out of the Word

So the rain has been falling but does that stop us from being sent? Alot of times i think, that the body of Christ lets the smallest unexpected events or discomforts affect our moods and indoingso we miss out on a God given opportunity. Now im not denying that I, too, have done this. There's been I'm embaressed to say, too many Sundays where i stayed at home and missed church because of some silly reason. Well the Texas weather has decided to take a break from all the sunshine and let some water fall from the sky. And on saturday morning, it continued to pour. But so did the coffees and waters, as we all gathered together to hear the Word and get some lunch.
I pulled up, pleased to see the team, new volunteers and some of the guys already getting ready or waiting to begin. A few tarps, some cookies and fresh coffee and a variety of helpful hands and hopeful hearts later we were all together fellowshiping and loving one another as Christ loved us! Many came, despite the downpour and fellowshiped! Truly God is worth it! And He seeks a body (the church or His bride) who will go where He is, no matter what! Come rain. Come Shine. Just let Jesus come and let me be there! Praise God for His example and that we can follow it! Jose shared the Word and prayed, and special thanks to the youth from Covenant Church who came out and helped.

Hey Everyone!

2009-08-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Welcome to the Hands and Hearts blog... if its Gods will! Mainly the focus of ths blog is to bring God glory by sharing recent testimonials from Solomons Porch, the free lunch/ministry program on Saturday mornings. As God grows opportunity to serve the people and share the Word, I thought of giving a blog a try. We pray that by reading through this, you would desire more of our Savior and be encouraged, motivated, and challenged to make a difference in peoples lives! Gods chosen you already!

"This is the first post and just for practice... Here is a short paragraph I wrote about what God showed me during one of the first outreaches I went on with Hands & Hearts in 2008." -michael

"Dan said it was a stormy day, The non-stop rain poured down on him and the other men on the street. He had no roof to be under, he had no place to sleep, how could he sleep when he’s soaked as it was. With only one umbrella and a blanket, Dan tried to keep him and the other two that were beside him somewhat dry and out of the downpour. Hours later, after the rain had finally stopped, Dan and Dennis looked around to give an account for everybody for there were others down the street or around the block. To their dismay, before they even moved, they noticed the third man, lying dead at their feet. He had died sometime during the storm with his tongue mangled for he had chewed on it greatly.

They were awestruck and sad. Looking through his belongings, which had only consisted of what one can carry on their person, they happened to find eight hundred dollars and a check. After taking the check to the bank, they found that this man had $80,000 saved in one account. From social security bonuses to panhandling on the streets, this man had much money stored up. Yet he had lived as one of them all his life and for the past fifteen years with Dan and Dennis. These men are homeless in downtown Dallas, TX. I had the honor to meet Dan and Dennis today and I hope that I will be able to again. The story of their friend shook me and I want to remember it. Another who was listening to the story there had this to say concerning the wealthy one who died homeless, “He was where he wanted to be.” Worldly popularity and riches are not what I pursue in this life. No, instead I rather pursue treasures not of this earth but of heaven. And as I practice making fishers out of men, I store up these treasures in heaven. And I want to be where God wants me to be. So I pray that when I die, I will be where I wanted to be."