Brian Neisteter comments on prayer – “Intercession is not a game for this generation, nor is it a side-hobby that we do because we are too lazy to do more ‘important’ work in the kingdom. It is God’s strategy to release an unprecedented move of His Spirit in our nations.”
This Week’s Highlights:
* 80-year-old Pastor checks out Street Ministry – see below
*Irate non-believer claims Portage Place as his domain – see Ryan
*Non-stop prayers answered in Hotel parking lot – see Pastor Thomas
*Salvation and healing on Main Street – see Pastor Lorraine
* 17-year-old criminal & addict saved and baptized – see photo
Eighteen folks came out to minister on the streets this week. One First Nations couple called me over to their table in Portage Place Food Court, and asked me to pray for their 19 family members who had just been evacuated from Little Grand Rapids because of the threatening forest fire. We prayed together for the family members, and that the fire would be controlled before it destroyed more homes.
My high light of the night was meeting 80-year-old Pastor John Capps from Niverville, who came out to see what Street Ministry was all about. He is currently serving as the Pastor of Rousseau River Community Life Church. In his lifetime of Christian service in many places and capacities, he had never experienced street ministry. He is on his 4th pacemaker but appears spry and more fit than you would expect. He fit in very well and was a natural, and he was involved in several prayer encounters, at Siloam Missions, on the streets, and at Portage Place. I hope he will come back. If he does I will lose my status as the oldest team member but will gain from his wealth of ministry experience.
Ryan’s Report:
Introductory note from Al: Ryan is one of our regular prayer team members. He had led Edna to the Lord back in January. Edna is a homeless First Nations person who frequents Portage Place. She was supposed to be baptized on May 20th, but backed out at the last minute. ‘Beloved’ (or ‘No Name’) is a man who also frequents Portage Place who refuses to give us his name. He is antagonistic towards the Gospel and Christians, but continuously hangs around our Prayer Team Members, and sometimes tries to interfere with our ministry. He has anger issues and lately those issues have been manifesting more frequently. This week he flipped-out and spewed a lot of profanity.
When I came into the mall, I went to the food court to get some supper. When I stopped at A&W I got tapped on the shoulder by ‘Beloved’ ( aka no name) he started chatting and seemed to be happy that I was there since he hasn’t seen me for a while. Soon after I got my food I sat at a table with him until I saw Edna. As soon as I saw her I went over and ‘Beloved’ followed right behind. When I sat down Edna started telling me how sorry she was that she didn’t show up for her baptism but how she still wanted to do it. She said that she would like to contact her family up North so they could support her, even if they wouldn’t be able to make it. As soon as she said that, Beloved said, “Yeah right”!
Me: “Hey, she is trying to talk, if you can’t be respectful, don’t say anything.”
Beloved: “You think I,m the one not being respectable? You guys (referring to the prayer team members) are always bothering people every week, thats being disrespectful.”
I turned away from him and continued to listen to Edna. Eventually, Beloved interrupted again to which I asked him to wait his turn and then he can talk. He lost his temper and went on a tirade of very colourful words, and threatened to hit me.
Edna then asked him: “Do you believe in God?”
Beloved: “No I have no need to.”
Edna: “You know what happens when you die?”
Beloved: “Yeah I know, I die, that’s it!”
Edna: “No, if you don’t believe, you go to hell.”
Beloved: “Hell isn’t real anyway! Bring it on, hell!!!”
Edna fed-up then told him: “Oh well, go to hell then!!!”
Beloved went on another bender of colourfull words but one phrase that stuck out for me was when he said that we were coming into his church spreading our God’s word in his church!! Interesting comment, I wonder who his church represents.
Al here again: After his last tirade, ‘Beloved’ stormed out of the food court. Edna was shook-up from the profane confrontation, and moved over and joined the group at my table. Ryan was a little ‘hot under the collar’ and he went for a walk to cool down. This is an example of some of the ‘in your face’ opposition to the Gospel that we encounter in this ministry. But what is great is that homeless Edna, the new Christian, was sharing the Gospel, and the whole event solidified her resolve to get baptized.
Pastor Thomas’ Report:
Tonight it was the Tom & Jerry show as I was teamed up with Gerry Gillette. We were headed for Central Park and parked in front of the Quest Inn. We never did make it over to the park as we had so many ministry opportunities in front of the Hotel. We met a woman named Desiree who was sitting on her walker and welcomed prayer for her knee which had been operated on but was still hurting. It was a level 5 pain. We prayed once and then it dropped to a 2 and then it disappeared completely.
Beside her was Blaine from Thompson who was in Winnipeg for an operation to cut off half of his finger which was crushed in a hydraulic door when drinking one night. The pain was a 5, dropped to a 2 and then disappeared completely. He was amazed and then asked for prayer for PTSD from being in the Desert Storm war in Iraq.
An aboriginal man named Jonathan approached us for prayer for his back. After receiving healing he asked for help to buy diapers for his son so we drove him over to Safeway to get some. He is a believer with 3 years free of addictions and shared that he had a lot of violent attacks when he drank. We talked to two aboriginal girls about Jesus, one 18 and the other 22. Vanessa the 18 year old shared that her father had been drunk and froze to death in the snow up North. She began to cry and let us minister Gods love to her. Finally we met another Gerry who was hungry and wanted money for food. We walked over to Portage Place to buy him dinner an then prayed with him to receive Jesus into his life before he caught the bus to St.Vital. A busy, fruitful night.
Pastor Lorraine’s Report:
Tonight on the streets I went out with Pastor Chris. We decided to stop at McDonald’s on Main Street before we headed further down Main to the Pizzarama we often go to. We stopped and met 2 people outside the restaurant, a young man and a woman named Jade. We engaged both of them and initially the young man had no interest in talking with us. As I spoke with the young woman, she shared her story with me and spoke about her son who had tried to commit suicide. I offered to pray for her son. She was very grateful. As we talked further and I asked if she had any pain in her body. Her left foot was swollen and as it turned out, a car had run over her foot! Wow! The doctor told her it was a miracle since nothing was broken. It was just bruised and very sore. It was a level 8 pain. I told her that the Lord Jesus would heal it completely and take away all the pain. I prayed 3X and each time the pain dropped significantly until after it was completely gone and we told her to check out her foot and try to walk on it. Sure enough, it was completely healed!
Later, we spoke with a woman name Diana who was battling meth addiction and had gotten HIV from using bad needles. It turned out that she was 4 months pregnant, had 3 other children and CFS had them in care. Diana was broken hearted about this and did not have a place to stay and had no idea where to go. As she stood there I asked her about a large cross that she was wearing around her neck—Did she know what it meant and why it was important? She answered, “No”. So I explained the Gospel message to Diana and the meaning of the Cross, what it has bought for us because of Jesus Christ. She had never heard of anything like that before!! I then asked her if she wanted to receive Jesus into her life and she said, “Yes she did”. Wow!! So we led her to the Lord right outside McDonald’s on Main Street. She immediately sensed a shift in her spirit. I could see some demonic presences lift off of her while we stood there…it was a very powerful and real encounter with Jesus for her (and us!). Thank you Jesus!! Later, Chris bought her some food while I prayed for her outside the restaurant!
Later, after Chris went to pick up his wife, I drove further down Main Street and stopped around the corner of the Northern Hotel. I noticed a few people on the street and had a few women’s toiletry kits to give away. I spoke with two women who were drinking buddies. One walked away and didn’t want to engage or have me pray for her even though she was in pain from a hip replacement surgery. So I prayed for Susie. The Lord gave me a word of knowledge that she was grieving and deeply missing her children (she was an older woman, but looked even older due to her alcoholism). Susie began to cry when I shared what I sensed and I asked her if I could give her a hug. She gratefully received my hug and I blessed her. Then I noticed that she was not using her right hand and had a slight droopiness to the right side of her face. Apparently, Susie had had a stroke and could not use her right hand . I offered to pray for her and while I prayed I strongly sensed power coming out of my right hand and moving into hers! This has never happened to me before and I was astounded along with Susie…and as I continued to pray I felt a strange sensation on my right cheek bone/facial area which had not been there before. The Holy Spirit was healing her and it surprised and scared her, and wanted to leave. Looking forward to finding out what happened!! Wow! I bought Susie some chicken to eat for her dinner, blessed her and left. Hope to find her in a few weeks and see how she’s doing.
At the end of this time on Main Street I drove over to Portage Place just to check on everyone over there and spend a bit of time with people. Edna immediately apologized to me for not showing-up for her baptism last Sunday. Loved her heart and the softness I saw there!! Edna is very different from 2 years ago when I first met her! Praise the Lord for His work in her life and the changes I see!! Wow!
