Hollywood, CA + 7.23.05

For the second week in a row it was just going to be me heading up to carry the cross on Hollywood. Just before I began the evening I called a friend to pray with because I wanted to lift this night up with another person. Little did I know what God had in store for me that night. The night started off with me talking to many people about the Lord right away when I reached the Chinese Theatre. I prayed and chatted with a few people and the Lord was already strong. As I continued walking this manapproached me and I couldn't tell what was going on. He had been drinking but I still listened to him talk. He just kept telling me thatI had to watch out who was around me when I was carrying the cross.

While I was talking to him a man came up to me and said,"My wife would like to say a few things to you." Then this lady just started to give me words of encouragement and blessing. She got all fired up for the Lord. She gave me Proverbs 28:1 as a verse of encouragement. The verse talks about being bold as a lion. She had the gift of evangelism and I could tell she was a Godly woman with knowledge of the Bible that you could only gain with intense studying. After talking for a while she prayedover me. Her prayer had so much encouragement in it and gave me so much hope inside. It was truly a blessing and exactly what I needed. I continued on after that. As I just finished talking with her Fred comes up to and says "hey how are you?" Let me tell you about Fred. Fred is a
homeless man who is from Shawnee, KS. His wife committed suicide and that is how he ended up on the streets. I had not seen Fred for about 2 months but I had been praying for him and hoping that he was ok. I gave him a big hug and he told me he had been downtown for a while but he was back in Hollywood. Then he asked me when was the next time I was going to eat Pinks hot dogs cause he wanted to go. God is truly a faithful God. He answered my prayers with Fred. As I continued walking down the street I ran into another friend Will and his friend Sticks. I see Will often but I had never seen his friend Sticks before. To make a long story short Sticks chooses to be on the streets and he just shares theword of God. He travels to different cities when he feels led. Later I learn that he knows all my friends in the YWAM program in San Francisco. How cool is that.

About an hr later these people see the 3 of us with a cross and ask "Are you Christian?" and we answer them and them and they say"Will you prayer over our son he has leukemia and the doctors said he has only 2 weeks to live." So 2 other Christians join us who were standing nearby and we all hold hands and lay hands on this boy in a wheelchair. We all pray for this boy that he will be healed. This other man continued to talk with this family and let them know that they shouldn't listen to a doctor who doesn't have a message of hope. I feel like the presence of God was right there when we were praying for this boy. Now as all of this was happening, this man Pedro begins to chat with me. He said he saw me across the street earlier so he came over now because he had to know what was happening. He wanted to know why people like that family were drawn to us and I just old him its all God and the Holy Spirit. We chat more and through the work of the Lord, Pedro accepts Him as his personal savior and he asked me from this day on July 17th will you pray for me and my family in Mexico. I told him yes. After he accepted the Lord I could see a change in him he was happy and full of hope and joy. It was a beautiful thing. God is working in Hollywood California. Please Pray for this city. If you feel led please contact me and I can give you names and streets to pray for.

Hollywood, CA + 7.14.03

God has been moving in Hollwood since we first started carrying the cross there. I thank anyone that has been praying for that city. So for the past month and ahalf Bruce has been living with Paul and I. I met Bruce 4 months ago in Hollywood. Every Thrusday since then we had been praying for Bruce and a month ago we decided that we would take Bruce to Orange County to live with Paul and I so we could help him get on his feet. Though it is a lot of work god is using paul and i to help bruce out. Sometimes to fully serve and understand God you have to go out of your comfort
zone.
God has given us the oppurtunity to share Jesus with so many people and pray with so many people over the last few months. One man in particular is Jon. Jon is homeless in Hollywood but he is on fire for the Lord. Every Thrusday he looks for us and he's very excited to hang out with us and carry the cross. Jon is an amazing beatboxer. God has been using his talents to bring people around us when we have the cross and then we share the gospel and ask people if they need pray. Eventhough Jon is homeless he still gets the oppurtunity to serve. If even a homeless man with nothing more than change in his pocket and clothes on his back can serve God than why can't we?? Its not hard. Also this guy Eddie who met in march came running over to us to weeks ago with a big smile on his face. He was so happy to see us and he told us that he had his own palce to live now and that he had a job. We had been praying for him every thrusday and God had answered our pray. If you are faithful in your prayers God will answer them. The power of prayer is so amazing how can we deny him ever. The streets of Hollywood are slowly in Gods time becoming cleaner. Please pray for Hollywood. Pray that the drugs will go away pray specifically for this one corner where crack is sold like candy. I will not say which corner but God knows what corner.

God is alive and working in Hollywood. If you ask for it in prayer He will answer in His time.

Hollywood, CA + 3.13.03

Last night Nate, Nick and I carried the cross in Hollywood for the 3rd time. This was the first time I have felt a really strong negative vibe while carrying. For some reason I just felt like that night was just going to be a night of no visible rewards. And the first half of the walk was exactly that way. The only people who talked to us mocked the cross or as one lady put it F*** Jesus. So I started thinking that maybe we should read some scripture and sing or something. But instead of saying that, I just said hey I feel like we are under attack tonight. Then Nate said something like, "I'm glad you said something cuz I feel that way too".

Then a little later he says he's going to stop and read the scripture to find out what we need to hear tonight. Which was right in line with what I was feeling earlier about reading scripture. So he stops and Nick and I continue walking. When he catches up I tell him, that maybe we should be singing. So then he busts out the scriptures he randomly found, and they are all about persecution, and three times it said to sing praises unto the Lord. So we did.It was totally amazing to see God unify our hearts like that. And after we sang we met some awesome people that totally wanted us to pray for them. Plus we even got to take our new friends Bob and Bruce out to Pink's to grab a Pastrami Burrito Dog.

Hollywood, CA + 2.20.03

So this week Scott and I carried the cross down Hollywood Blvd for the 2nd week in a row. We walked by the where they film the Jimmy Kimmel show and after we passed it this guy comes running after me to see if I wanted to be on TV. I responded, "Yes," and they interviewed me. They ask me if I knew these celebrities and why I was carrying the cross and I was able to share Jesus with them. Even though they didn't say exactly why I was carrying the cross on TV the people who produced the show had to watch it so somebody got to see that part.

Later that night as I was walking I asked some guy how he was doing and he said, "OK". We talked for a bit and I asked him if he knew the Lord. He said he knew of him and walked away. As he walked away I prayed that God would touch him in some way or he would think about the cross. About five minutes later this same guy walked back up to me and he apologized for being rude and said he wasn't trying to offend me. So we ended up talking again and he said he once asked this lady while on the bus if she knew Jesus and she turned to him and said, "You mean you don't know the Lord?" She was going to share with him but he had to get off before she was able to finish. I then asked him if he went to church at all and he said he was to busy. I asked him to share Jesus with him but he didn't have time because he had company coming over. I told him I wanted to talk with him more so we swapped numbers and he told me when a good time would be to call. The Holy Spirit totally worked on this guy. This was proof on how strong the power of prayer is. Even if it is just a little prayer, God hears it. God is so awesome.

We also saw two people from the week before who we prayed with. It's great to begin relationships with some of the people in Hollywood cause then we get to talk and share more with them every week. The people in Hollywood are in need of prayer. There is not a real Christian church in the area. Pray that God will provide a church for these people who need a place to fellowship. God is so amazing and if we pray He will answer. I encourage all my Christian brothers and sisters to pray for the city they live in. I want to leave everyone with this. Read Psalms 108. Be a soldier in this time of prayer. God bless you all.