A couple of things I noticed...

We had another great weekend at HPC. It had a kinda crazy, off-the-chain feel about it, but it was still great. Here are a couple of moments that stuck out to me:

Friday morning:
I’m standing in the playground at the BRDC in the middle of Ladies Thrive. There are people everywhere because Cooking for Christ is just about to start serving lunch. Miss Frances is praying over the food so most of the people have quit hollering. I’m standing about five feet behind Miss Frances and although I’ve bowed my head, I’m still watching the crowd. This dude named Nathan* comes through the gate and he’s on a mission. Nathan is one of our regulars and he has some peculiar personality traits. I’m not sure how well he can see; his eyes sort of point in different directions. He’s hard to understand because he talks really fast and sometimes repeats things, and it’s hard to know when he’s talking to me or when he’s talking to himself. He’s homeless and I suspect he may have some mental health issues. So, when he comes through the gate at full tilt I immediately go on full alert. He takes about three steps and looks around. He sees people with their heads down and Miss Frances praying. He stops dead in his tracks, takes off his hat and bows his head. As soon as the prayer ends he puts on his hat and continues across the courtyard. I don’t know if anybody else saw him, but I believe that God was pleased with Nathan.

Saturday morning:
I’m driving the shuttle down Mission Street with a group of our awesome volunteers. We’re going door-to-door handing out pasta and inviting people to come to our Family Night at the BRDC. It’s this Tuesday at 7pm in case you want to be a part (this commercial was brought to you by the letter W and the number 7). So, we pass by Dufroc Elementary and I blast the horn about a hundred times because the schoolyard is swarming with HPC kids getting ready to do their school makeover. This weekend was ‘Amplified’, a special retreat for our junior and senior high kids who want more of God. They stayed at host-homes and had prayer meetings, community service projects and unbelievable worship. So, I pass by the school, everybody waves and me and my merry band of men (and women) continue on our way. Then about five minutes later, I get the call. “Hey, we hit a snag at Dufroc…the kids are coming to Winbourne to serve. Any ideas?” God is so funny.

So this is the cool moment that stuck out to me. We had close to a hundred kids show up at our Dream Center and they were willing to do whatever we asked. They painted walls, scrubbed toilets, made grocery bags, whatever. They didn’t complain about the change of plans, they didn’t ask a hundred questions and they didn’t seem to care who did what. All they wanted to know was, ‘how can I help?’ This is the same generation that you read about in headlines. This is the generation associated with school shootings, bomb threats and suicide. I tell you what, we don’t give this generation enough credit.

I went to their worship service on Saturday night. They spent 4 or 5 hours praising, praying and crying out to God. Around midnight about 40 kids got baptized in the pond. I spent most of Saturday night watching a few hundred kids worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was unbelievable.

All glory to God!