January 18th Prayer Update
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!”
Our last outreach of 2024 was very productive. We were able to distribute many gifts of food, hot coffee, and numerous Bibles and freedom from addiction booklets. We identified a few folks who were in need of a warm jacket and the occasional tent. It's our prayer, the Lord helps us to be discerning about when to hand out tents because we don't want to enable homelessness. Nevertheless, we want to live out the mercy and graceof God to those in need. We continue to point people to the gospel and some local resources such as the Bay Area Rescue Mission. Above all, it's our desire to give help to people with the love of Jesus and His word. On this outreach, we handed out 19 English language Bibles, 12 Freedom from Addiction books, and 1 Spanish-language Bible.
As we close the year 2024, please consider giving an end-of-the-year gift to our ministry. At the moment, we are behind our annual budget goals. As always, we trust in the Lord to provide for all of our needs.
We were excited to be able to do an exploratory outreach to Livermore. We hope to partner with Gospel Community Church in more regular outreaches there in partnership. This exploratory outreach is an effort to determine how we can best serve in this new city. After some exploring to find ideal spots, we met a women - Kenya, by a river North of the city.
Kenya (left) told us she believes in God and willingly took a Bible. She spoke openly about her situation. She has a total of five children. Two of her kids live in Virginia with their father and the other three are in local supportive services. The team shared the gospel, prayed for her and offered a Freedom from Addiction booklet along with a blessing bag filled with necessities including sandwiches. Her boyfriend has a job and Kenya also desires to find a job so they can get housing. The team prayed that the Lord would provide for their needs.
In Martinez, our team talked with Mike who said he had a stroke a while back and "died and was brought back." The stroke left him disabled but he claims to "want to do whatever God brought him back for." He agreed with the gospel message presented to him. He was happy to accept a sleeping bag and jacket. It's our prayer that he has a genuine faith in God, is saved and that he would get connected with a solid church.
In Antioch, our team met a couple named Kelly and Issy. They are living next to a church they attend on Sundays. Kelly expressed she has strong faith in God. She talks to Issy about her faith which he does not share while complaining she is too outspoken. Issy told the team he "had" a job holding signs on corners advertising local businesses but was hit by a car while doing this. The team prayed with and for this couple.
The North Concord team had several good conversations including an extended one with Andre. He seems to be a good candidate for our RV Bible studies. He has an interest in learning more about God though does not have a relationship with Him as of yet. The team clarified for him what faith is. In addition, they spoke with several who were genuinely grateful to see our teams like Donya, Noah, Daniel, Buster, and Granville. As always, we ask you to pray with us that the Bibles distributed will be read and God will use them to change hearts and lives.
In Vallejo, the Lord blessed us with good quality conversations believing that those we met were attentive to what was being said. This included a conversation with Jen about why God allows sin and suffering in the world. In addition we spoke with Randy about the promises of God. A gentleman named Wayne discussed with us the problem of evil and the trustworthiness of the Bible. We left many with Bibles, Freedom from Addiction booklets, bagged lunches and hot coffee. It's our prayer that God will use those conversations to plant the seeds of the gospel in the lives of those we met. This was of great encouragement to our team.
Please pray for these individuals who took Bibles or previously received a Bible. We ask that you pray that they would read the Bibles provided.
Nacho
Pasha - more open
Terrance
Lonny
Alicia
Malaya
Andre
Buster
David - prayer for humility
Donya
Nicole - we highly encouraged her to seek out the Bay Area Rescue Mission
Louis - received a Spanish Bible
Jim
Mike - received a sleeping bag and jacket
David - thankful for the food.
Kelly - grateful to receive a Bible
Keith
Jen - full gospel conversation
Maria - took an English and Spanish language Bible
Kenya
Kristy
Pray for these people who were friendly but declined Bibles. We pray that they will be more open on our next outreach.
Michael
Roger
Kareem
Maya
Anthony
JR
Noah
Daniel
Steve
Raphael
Rich
Alexander - some interest in church
Josh
Amy - accepted a coat and blanket
Chris
Issy
Jamale
Julie
Roberto
Michael
Michayla (spelling)
Randy
Wayne
Timothy - teared up when we prayed for him
Larry
Pray for these people who were closed to a conversation, that God would soften their hearts before our next outreach.
Sean
Amy
Tony
Darryl
JOIN US!
Our Next Outreach is February 1st 2025
Please consider serving during a Saturday Outreach in one of the following ways:
1) Prepare Lunches
2) Evangelism at the Homeless Camps
3) Volunteer Breakfast
4) Cookies for Volunteers
Our ministry is a labor of love with the main purpose of providing gospel hope through practical means to the homeless. Thank you for serving alongside of us!
We continue to pray for those who might be able to contribute a small additional monthly gift of $25 or $50 a month to help with ongoing Hope680 expenses, including our ministry supplies, offices, and RV maintenance. We are trusting God to continue to provide through you!
FYI Our Executive Staff and Leaders (including Toby and all team leaders) are unpaid volunteers - all donations go 100% towards the running of Hope680, including administrative contractors, our facilities, and RV maintenance costs, as well as ministry supplies.