Friday Update

God was moving on the streets of Woking again last night. He is so faithful! Hallelujah and Amen!

We started the evening off with 1 Corinthians 12 and reflected on how we all have a vital part to play in the body of Christ and how we are meant to be interdependent not independent.

We were a small team of 5 and once again perfectly formed ;-) I would like to welcome Naomi to our team. Naomi attends Send Evangelical Church and the Holy Spirit spoke to her last Sunday morning. Her work shift finished earlier than expected so she was able to come! She fitted in so well with the team and God used her in many conversations. Praise God!

I also want to thank the other team members (you know who you are!) for their unfailing faithfulness and their love for the broken people we are privileged to minister to.

We christened the new Thermos flasks and enjoyed very hot drinks!

We talked to lots of people and prayed with several and each of us have our own memories of people who touched us.

I would ask you to pray for A, a singer songwriter who periodically attends the catholic Church. Pray that the Holy Spirit touches her heart and she hears a call to come back to Jesus to know Him in an intimate and personal way. She gave Andrew her contact details and partly suggested she may be interested in getting involved.

G has lost a close friend and she was asking lots of questions, bravely ignoring the jeering of her friends. She allowed us to pray for her and Amanda did this with sensitivity. Her friends were trying to pull her away and she told them to give her a few minutes. She is a neighbour of Jack's. Pray that  she will wake up today and remember what God was saying to her, that she will gain strength and comfort and that Jack will be able to come alongside her and direct her to appropriate support.

B caught us at the end of the evening. We were all pretty sure we've seen him before. He was fixated on how black people came to the world, given that Adam and Eve were 'white'. He was pretty calm but argumentative and really didn't want to hear what we were saying........but he just kept on coming back for more!!! Pray that his ears will be opened and that God will speak to him.

Please pray for Graham. He was not there last night and we were not totally sure of the outcome of Monday. I hope that he may be able to pick up emails  at some point......not sure though. Please pray for peace, strength and an overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit now and over the next few months.

There were more people we spoke to so,  finally, please pray for them too!

We are hoping to arrange some training on reaching out to other faiths. It will be on a Friday night, prior to going out. I will let you know the details as soon as I have a date.

Its all for the glory of Jesus!!

Miracles Do Happen in Old Woking

You might recall that we've had some difficulties in Old Woking these past few weeks; fire extinguishers being let off, kids on the church roof, another running up my van bonnet onto its roof, personal abuse, stones thrown, physical harm to a volunteer, etc etc etc. And so it was last evening that our team felt led to fight the same war but on different battle fields. Nick and I opened while others in our team prayed! The effect of this was powerful!


The night before last night Nick and I prayed together with Rachael his wife in preparation for last evening, that as Jesus did in Mark 6, he'd get into the boat with us and calm the storm. We really believed before we got there that the spiritual atmosphere would change at the drop-in, and that's exactly what happened.


The evening's highlight for me was the help given to us by a couple of the older lads. Not only did they help control the younger ones, but they also helped get equipment out and put it away again - and they hoovered, mopped, washed up and cleared up. They were brilliant - and the big surprise was that one of them last year was obnoxious to the point that I had to leave the building for half an hour before I did something very unChristian to him. I can't believe the change in him - and I put that entirely down to prayer. It was another specific prayer the night before last that we'd see a change in this lad - and I know that Nick has been praying for that for some time.


Nick and I would like to thank, firstly, the other volunteers and numerous others for supporting the evening in prayer. It worked - big time! We'd like to thank the New Life Church Elders for their support - they decided not to charge Outside Light for the earlier damage caused. They understand what we're trying to do and they support us. We feel really blessed by that. And we'd like to thank Jesus for getting into the boat with us and stilling the storm - we know that He WAS the difference.  Mark 6: 47-51. 


A couple of points that I take from this passage: 1) is that we're not promised there will be no storms, but we must have faith that He's in control. 2) Jesus was about to pass them by until they cried out. That bit's very interesting.


Thanks to Him
John

Thursdays - Relationships are building

Hello Everyone

Outside Light on Thursday Light is proving to be succesful.  We are starting
to forge some good relationships with the local kids and have had the
opportunity to hold some interesting conversations and gain an understanding
on what's happening in their lives. Some of the kids, who at the beginning
didnt want to talk to us, are starting to open up and its been great to see
this transformation.  Last night we had an unusual situation when an
estranged dad turned up and judging by the girl's reaction it wasn't an
entirely welcomed visit. JD explained to him that he couldnt stay as adults
need a valid CRB and after about 10 minutes he went. He looked the worse for
wear. Prayers were said afterwards for the girl and her family.

It's nearly always best at the end of the evening when the kids leave -
several have started to say thanks. Others call us by our name - one lad
(who only a few weeks ago behaved as though he was from another planet)
shook hands!

We also gave up several copies of Tony Anthony's book, Taming the tiger and
we hope and pray that the words leap off the pages and into the hearts of
the readers and we see transformation.

Many thanks and blessings to you all,

John Holland

Church without walls....

Angels and gardners!

 

I am really excited at what is happening in Woking, particularly over the weekend on the streets! I had another meeting with Street Angels today as we talked about working together to reach out to Woking. I am overjoyed that there is more presence on the streets of Woking.

 

Street Angels are a group of like minded people who will be hitting the streets in Feb 2011 to help the police take care of those people who are a little worse for wear, struggling or just needing some help. Mainly built up from Christians in Woking with Christ at the centre of why they are doing this they are going to provide a valuable service to the public and totally support Outside Light in what we are doing.

 

It will be great to work together, although we have slightly different aims, I can see Street Angels referring those who want to talk about Christianity to us, and those who come to us with cuts or health issues or simply needing help we cannot provide we can point to Street Angels. Another exciting partnership is being formed in Woking.

 

Street Angels are running a series or training events in January including, personal safety, Relating effectively, drugs & alcohol and are inviting all Outside Light members and associates to these training events. They are being run every week on one evening in the week from January 12th and also running on Saturday's in January and Feb. Let me know if you are interested in this valuable training - georgeosborn@avantiministries.com

 

In addition the Friday night team are looking to run training sessions before going out on Friday's, with experts in each area being invited to come and share with the team. We will keep you posted as this develops.

 

We continue to value your prayers as we visit Send church this Sunday morning at 10.30am to share about the work God is doing through Outside Light.

 

Thursday nights is going great guns, being run by John Holland who I know would value prayers for more leaders to come forward.

 

Tuesday nights is continuing to ask for prayer for breakthrough with some tough contacts who maintain coming up against the team.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.....

 

Much love

George

 

 

Check out our gospel presentation - http://www.avantiministries.com/think.php

 

For His Glory
George Osborn
Evangelist
 
Avanti Ministries Ltd
6 Clarence Road
Southend-on-Sea
Essex    SS1 1AN
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 1702 333 319
 
Email:     georgeosborn@avantiministries.com

 

Website:    www.avantiministries.com
                  www.releaseconference.com
                  www.outsidelight.org

 

Blog:     www.georgeosborn.blogspot.com
latest news: www.4shared.com/get/ou9r3Vz4/George_Newsletter_Autumn_10.html
My story:   www.sendec.org/media/sermons/?sermon_id=105

 

I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the mission the Lord Jesus gave me, that of testifying to the gospel of God's grace...acts 20:24

We Didn't Open This Evening

Following on from last week's episode we decided again this evening not to open the Old Woking drop-in.

There was a point, as late as 6.30, when we would have opened with a skeleton staff, but then several things happened that made us think we weren't meant to be there this evening. Firstly we were very short in terms of volunteer numbers, then it rained - hard. We also needed to collect the key from Send, but there'd been a bad accident on the A3 that meant Send was gridlocked.

Please pray for our volunteers - several of whom felt this evening a reluctance to open up the drop-in because they are disturbed by recent bad behaviour.. 

Please pray for more volunteers - we're at a point where, unlike Knaphill, Old Woking can't be safely run without an adequate ratio of adults to young people

Please pray for the vast majority of Old Woking youngsters who we are well-behaved and who would also have been disappointed that we've been unable to open for a second week.

Please pray for those few young people who are so badly behaved - but remember that there is much in their backgrounds that makes this unsurprising.

Please pray for wisdom for Outside Light volunteers

Outside Light Church Services - Coming Up

24th October 10.30am
Send Evangelical Church
10 Broadmead Road, Send, 
GU23 7AD

http://www.sendec.org/

-------------------------------

31st October 9.30am

Holy Trinity Church, 

Chobham Road, Knaphill

GU21 2SX

http://www.knaphillchurch.co.uk

-------------------------------

7th November 6.30pm

St John's Church
Church Road
St John's
Woking
Surrey
GU21 7QN

http://www.stjohnswoking.org.uk

Old Woking and Knaphill - Chalk and Cheese

MARRAKESH

Marrakesh is one of those places you love or hate - or perhaps you start off hating it and end up loving it. Certainly it was a culture shock when my wife and I were there a couple of weeks ago. The first three days were like hell on a jet-ski, with unfamiliar smells, lots of donkey droppings, mopeds that swarmed around us like angry bees, dodgy tummy and people who seemed intent on parting us from our cash by hanging snakes around our neck, or trying, uninvited, to balance a monkey on our heads. Actually, by the end of our six days holiday there we ended up loving it - though we won't want to go back :o)

OLD WOKING

Even with all the Marrakesh-mayhem going on around me I felt an inexplicable anxiety, not about our immediate environment, but about Old Woking Outside Light that Tuesday night.

It seems that my anxiety wasn't misplaced, because that night there were several problems with kids getting on to the church roof, a fire extinguisher being let off (£100 down the drain), stones being thrown at a volunteer's car, another volunteer having her arm pulled (a problem because she has physical health issues), and a row of kids sitting across the car park exit to stop volunteers going home.

So, it was with great regret that this last Tuesday we decided not to open, and to pray instead at Paul's home. Jackie and I (and later Nick) went to the church at 7 to tell the kids it wouldn't be opening - which wasn't well received, especially by a half-dozen or so of the kids who repaid us by swearing, calling us foul names and by one of them running over my van bonnet, up onto its roof! Another tried to prize open the church door as an Elder was entering for a meeting. I'm afraid I called the Police, more to show that I would do that than to get them into any trouble.

On the upside, an older lad who who was last year's 'challenge', told the others to behave else we might not open again!. Other kids pleaded with us to open and not let in the rowdy ones - because they 'really enjoy coming'. Another warned me to move my van, because some of the others intended to 'terrorise' me. I didn't.

When we met later at Paul's, we determined that we WILL open next week and that we'll ban, for two weeks, the half a dozen or so kids who caused most of the trouble the previous week and this week. We'll also explain that if they misbehave like that in future, they'll be banned for a year. Hopefully this'll get their attention - but we suspect that we'll be in for a rough ride nevertheless. I think that one or two of us will be parking our cars away from the site and walking there.

This IS a spiritual battle we're involved in. Some of the kids are only 11 but they've attitudes that wouldn't be out of place in lads who are much older and who are extremely street-wise (in a bad way). But we also know something of the background of three of them - which isn't unlike that of Jon Venables. We very much doubt that they know how it feels to be loved. We really want them to experience the love of Jesus. We HAVE to believe that their lives will one day change.

We therefore need your prayers, especially for these kids. It would be a terrible thing if these kids were cast aside - even though they're unlikely to do much to help themselves.

We can't let Satan win. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY!!!

KNAPHILL
This Thursday just gone at The King's House was, in comparison to Old Woking, heaven. Most of the evening the kids chatted, played on the Wii, played cards, decorated their fingernails, chatted some more and ate Pizza. We're really starting to build relationships there. The worst thing that happened was some of the local 'hard men' who are in reality as hard as immature Cheddar, decided to throw some of the pizza at each other, outside of the building. At the end of the evening as we finished packing up, a half-dozen girls came in and apologised on behalf of the other kids. Then they added how much they appreciate us opening for them, and that they know that we're all volunteers and that we don't have to do anything for them. Wow!  I can't tell you how thankful we all were to hear what they had to say.

PRAYER NEEDS

We'd love you to pray, please, for the young people of both groups - 

• For those who are badly behaved and for whom there isn't really much hope of a future outside of prison. 
• For those in Old Woking who are sensible and who find their lives blighted by those around them (for example by our closure of the drop-in through no fault of theirs). 
• For the volunteers in Old Woking - to tell you the truth I worry for our ladies in particular. They're brave but I really think we could do with some more men to help. 
• For improved relationships, not only in Old Woking but also Knaphill - to build upon the foundations that are firmest in both places.
• For the volunteers in Knaphill - to give thanks for those we have and to ask God for more to help so that the load can be spread.
• For more of the Holy Spirit in all Outside Light ventures.
• For more wisdom, especially in challenging circumstances.
• For the two OUTSIDE LIGHT church services that are about to take place, the first at Send Church on the 24th and the next at Holy Trinity Church, Knaphill, on the 31st.

Love

John

God is good, God is faithful and God uses us all in our weakness!

Last night a small but perfectly formed team ventured onto the wet and dreary streets of Woking. It was a fairly quiet night but we had some significant conversations and the opportunity to pray for people.

Andy and I talked to a couple of muslim young men who questioned us intently and intensely on our faith and on occasions seemed 'hell bent' on tripping us up. It was an animated discussion and we parted company with a wave, smile and an encouragement for us to keep up the great work we are doing. A side note here is that many of the muslims we come across all approve of what we are doing and think its right that we should be telling people about our belief in Jesus! it would be great to spend a session sometime looking at how we can effectively reach out to this group.

We prayed for T who has just come out of prison and is an alcoholic. He wants to turn his life around and be able to support his wife and 3 children. He is 27 today!


George and Anrdew spent a  long time talking to 2 separate men, one had lost his job and the other was wrestling with karma etc.

There were many other conversations which i havent noted  and these were of equal value!

Thank you to a great team and I would ask you all to pray that everyone we talked to last night would be open to the Holy Spirit and that God would work in their lives.

We want everything we do to glorify the name of Jesus!

Same time, same place next week - please join us ;-)

Blessings!


Julie

Friday Reaching Out

God is good, God is faithful and God uses us all in our weakness!


Last night a small but perfectly formed team ventured onto the wet and dreary streets of Woking. It was a fairly quiet night but we had some significant conversations and the opportunity to pray for people.

Andy and I talked to a couple of muslim young men who questioned us intently and intensely on our faith and on occasions seemed 'hell bent' on tripping us up. It was an animated discussion and we parted company with a wave, smile and an encouragement for us to keep up the great work we are doing. A side note here is that many of the muslims we come across all approve of what we are doing and think its right that we should be telling people about our belief in Jesus! it would be great to spend a session sometime looking at how we can effectively reach out to this group.

We prayed for T who has just come out of prison and is an alcoholic. He wants to turn his life around and be able to support his wife and 3 children. He is 27 today!


George and Anrdew spent a  long time talking to 2 separate men, one had lost his job and the other was wrestling with karma etc.

There were many other conversations which i havent noted  and these were of equal value!

Thank you to a great team and I would ask you all to pray that everyone we talked to last night would be open to the Holy Spirit and that God would work in their lives.

We want everything we do to glorify the name of Jesus!

Same time, same place next week - please join us ;-)

Blessings!


Julie