Two New Chapters

How many times do you anticipate something and it seems to fall short of your expectations? Your imagination builds up a scenario in your mind, and the actual results end up being disappointing.

This past Tuesday, we were privileged to be able to serve communion to the guys at CFCF. We’ve been looking forward to this for some time now and it was exciting to finally get the chance. So naturally Dan wasn’t able to make it at the last minute. And of course it began to pour just as we pulled into the CFCF parking lot. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when the guard told us that we needed to wait a bit as there was some type of count issue. Fortunately, we got to get down to the chapel before too much time had passed. After we got “prayed up”, we waited for the guys to arrive. And waited…and waited. A couple came in, and then we waited…and waited. For a while it appeared as if we were going to have our first communion service for about 20 guys. Not that that would be terrible. Being able to serve even one would be special.

We began, as usual, with praise worship. By the time we had a couple of songs done, the room was filling up pretty well. While it never filled up completely, well, let’s hold that thought.

We had a big group Tuesday night: Bob, Royce, Michael, Kelli, Dave, Pat and I. Plus there was Shawn & Charles; two of the new guys joining the ministry. Whether it was music, prayer, sharing or distributing & collecting the communion packets, everybody took a part. Pat led the actual sharing of communion.

Earlier I said that the room never filled up completely. I was wrong. The room did fill up; with the Holy Spirit. There was a peace, a feeling of serenity, in the air that I don’t remember feeling before. We have had some times recently when there was “nonsense” going on during service. There was none of that Tuesday night. We didn’t need to keep things under control. Jesus was doing that.

The Holy Spirit can enter in different ways. I have felt it through an outpouring of emotion, a feeling of peace and as an explosion of joy. It doesn’t matter in what way it manifests itself, what matters is the power, and the love, that comes from it.


And then there was Wednesday. A couple of month’s ago we decided to try to expand our ministry, possibly by asking for additional nights or maybe reaching out to other prisons. Within a couple of weeks of making this decision the Chaplain at CFCF gave us the opportunity to take over the first and third Wednesday’s of the month. The Lord does work in mysterious ways.

One of the exciting steps are ministry is taking is the addition of a new group of guys. Bob, Royce, Michael, Michelle and I were met by Shawn and Charles, who were at Tuesday night’s service, and Rob the Preacher (too many Bob’s and Rob’s – I need to differentiate them). These guys are street evangelists and they bring something new to our ministry. Tuesday night was nice. It was serene. Wednesday was not serene. You can’t watch, or listen, to a testimony from Shawn and use the word serene. You might be able get away with nice, but not serene.

I’ll have to admit that I had a hard time following Shawn’s testimony. He was all over the place and at a very high octane delivery. But the men responded in a way that I’ve never seen. Part of it was his connection with their circumstances. He comes from the same background and history that they have. The other part has to be the Holy Spirit. It almost appears as if Shawn has received a message from the Holy Spirit that he wants to deliver, and is trying to get it all out at once; as if the message can’t be contained in his body.

Charles was able to share a short message, and although he is much calmer than Shawn was able to communicate that growing up in a tough area doesn’t necessarily doom yourself to a life of crime and substance abuse, as long as you have Jesus in your life.

Rob spoke the message and he took preaching to another level that I’m not used to. His fire and style was somewhat similar to Bob’s, but there was an outpouring of emotion that often appeared ready to burst out in tears. When he finished the message, guys were reaching out to hug him in appreciation, and joy.

I often leave CFCF feeling somewhat drained from the emotion in the room. It’s a good feeling and usually by the time I get home I’m recharged. It’s almost as if I’ve received and used up the Holy Spirit during the service. The way home seems to refill me, and sometimes I have a tough time relaxing in order to sleep. Wednesday night exhausted me, and yet by the time we got home, Michelle & I had been refilled enough that we stayed up for another couple hours talking about the past two nights.

Say a prayer for somebody today. It’s free.