Roller-Coaster Drop-In

The amazing thing about last night was that God provided us with a good number of volunteers in time for the anticipated backlash. We had Esther, who has joined the team from Vineyard Church and has youth-working experience, Paul, Gav, Nancy, Nick and me. You'll remember that the last couple of weeks were really peaceful and there were just the two of us.


New Life Church had a special service taking place at the same time, so the main challenge was to keep the kids from getting through the doors - a task that needed to be undertaken by two of us (had there been just Nick and me, we wouldn't have coped this week - God is indeed good) - even then they almost squeezed through on a few occasions and had to be caught and brought back in. On one of those occasions I was threatened with a head-butting, which resulted in Nick barring the lad for two weeks - we won't tolerate threats to volunteers, even the 6'5" ones like me. The very satisfactory outcome was that the lad apologised to me before leaving for home. Nick's 'word' with him had the desired effect and we shook hands.


Much of the extra work resulted from two brothers attending simultaneously - where in previous weeks one of them had been unwell so only one turned up. These lads are a handful as individuals (not unlike a certain Outside Light team member was at around their age), but together their impact is more than equal to the sum of their two parts and we need eyes in the backs of our heads to keep track of them. That said, Nick kept one of them busy in the kitchen making smoothies for quite a while  - a task that the lad seemed to enjoy. We'd really appreciate it if you could pray in particular for these boys.


Again at the end of the evening several of the lads stayed behind and helped us clear up - I think this was the messiest I've ever seen the kitchen - unsurprising given who was the chief smoothie-maker. Many hands make Outside Light work though, and it didn't take long before we all had sat down for prayer again.


Two of the lads had asked us last week to pray that they'd be taken off report - one was. Another lad asked us to pray that he'd be able to get an education. It seems he's been excluded from local schools and is being sent to a boarding school - he doesn't want to go but he's clever enough to realise he's unlikely to get a job without an education. Something of a dilemma for him.


It'd be fantastic if you could find time to pray for these lads and redouble your efforts, please, in prayer for next week's drop-in. 


Thanks again for your prayers this past week.


John