WILDWOOD HOMELESS OUTREACH | We held our first outreach to the people experiencing homelessness in Wildwood Park in San Bernardino, Calif. on Saturday, March 14.
Blessed with fair weather and faithful volunteers, we set up on the grass and proceeded to face obstacle after obstacle—mainly centered on electronics. Our sound system had a mystery buzz, cables had to be replaced on the fly, and Tony’s guitar had mishaps ranging from components detaching to a string breaking on the last worship song.
Despite these odd mishaps, the Lord blessed us to make new friends among those living in the park, some who turned out to be brothers-in-Christ experiencing hard times. We shared the Word of God, the love of Jesus and gifts of hygiene kits, food cards, water, clothing and Bibles.
It was a small gathering, but a powerful time of worship and fellowship. We were blessed to see heads bowed and hands raised and to be joined by Pastors Jason and Yvonne Lewallen of Selah Christian Fellowship and their son, Alex, who helped in ministering to the people in Wildwood Park. We were also blessed to meet Pastor Matt Corfee and two members of Community Christian Church, who shared that they, too, would like to come out to this park and help. We exchanged contact information and hope to minister together in the near future.
At the close of the outreach, a young man named Joshua, his eyes glistening with tears, thanked us for thinking of him and all the people living in and around the park. He and others shared with us their specific needs and prayer requests, although some did not want these posted publicly (which we respected). They now eagerly await our return and will be sharing with others in the homeless community about the ministry.
When we return next month, we hope to bring some of the requested items such as men’s boxer shorts, women’s underwear, crew socks, and small packets of laundry soap. We will also continue to share referral information about programs and shelters that may help them to get off the street.
Thank you to all our faithful prayer warriors, volunteers and generous supporters, including the Hagar-Torres Family (Paul, Judy, Christine and Robert), Adam, Scott, the Lewallens, the Happle James Family, the Gideon Camp of Lake Arrowhead and Selah Christian Fellowship for making this outreach possible. May the Lord richly bless you!