What we did on Outreach

One adventure is over and a new one has now begun. But before we really get into the meat of what is next lets take a look at what my team accomplished on outreach. God is good and moves when we partner with his heart. We spent ten weeks working our way up the west coast, and last friday our DTS came to a close back here in Hawaii with graduation. However, before we as a team left the mainland we took a look at what we had done and took some stats. So here is what we did by category:

Salvation's

6

Full Gospel preached

18 times

Healing or partial healing

11- 9

Received Holy Spirit

10

Times of Communion

10

Prayer walks

16

Prophetic Acts

4

Time of outdoor worship

6

Acts of Mercy Ministry

10

Times of teaching or preaching

16

People Prayed For

500-1000

We will never know how many people we actually affected because of the ripple of our lives. But I do know this, The Kingdom was advanced on the west coast and, people know about Jesus a little more because of it.

The Adventure Begins

Last week the Lord told Kirsten to start raising money to come to Kona, for the first two weeks of August. And so the adventure begins. Getting from Cape Town to Kona is no small thing, they are literally on other sides of each other on the globe. But she is obedient to the Lord and has never had a lack, so she began to ask her friends for help by donating 20 dollars each. within 5 days she got $360, and another $360 pledged to her. We don't fully know what the final price for a roundtrip ticket will be, but we know we have a lot to go. God is Good and has never left us lacking, and both of us have always gotten to the place God called us to. We did it with your help. Will you help to people in love be in the same place for the first time in two months? Will you help by donating 20 dollars or more? Leave a comment or email me at afgraves@gmail.com.

The SHOP

After hinting at this for months it is now time to tell you all about The SHOP.

In the fall of 2009 while I was in China, my friend Alyssa was speaking in a conference about prayer and worship and she said, "When we pray for our cities it changes the atmosphere." Right then I saw a picture in my mind of a map of Seattle covered with glowing dots, the dots were houses of prayer, and the glory of God was coming down out of heaven onto the houses of prayer. Then it spread out connecting with each other changing the city from a city of darkness to a city of light.

The next thing I heard was, "Do it." I said to the Lord, "God, if you want me to do this you need to show me how." The rest of the trip he gave me strategy for what is now called The SHOP.

What is the SHOP exactly? At the most simplistic level it is believers living in authentic community with their lives centered around loving Jesus and seeing the love for the Lord transform Seattle. But what does that actually look like?

The three forms of the SHOP are: Community houses, The coffee shop, and The corporate Prayer room.

First the community. Everything in the Kingdom of God starts with Community, from the creation of the world to the SHOP. What we are going to do is get a house and live in, turn one room into a prayer room and go after true community, not just co-habitation. It is one thing to get a bunch of people to live together, frats do that, this is about being real raw and deep with each other. Laying down our lives to see each others dreams come to pass, encouraging and sharpening each other in our faith. The big thing here is community, calling in our neighbors and letting them know about the love of God by actually loving them.

Then there is the coffee shop. The last thing Seattle needs is a mediocre coffee ministry. Our first priority beyond even lots of ministry, is being the best. As a cafe in Seattle we want to have the highest quality in everything we do, from who we get our beans from too the roast all the way to pouring a perfect latte. Every cup is prayed over and all of our baristas will be trained on how to pull a perfect shot every time and how to hear the voice of the Lord. Attached to the cafe will be a prayer room, when the cafe is open the prayer room is open, and we will have people always in the prayer room singing songs to the Lord changing the atmosphere in the area. Then when some one comes into the cafe and gets their latte some one can give them a word from the Lord, then lead them to Jesus and right there in the cafe connect them to a community of people that will disciple them.

Discipleship is really at the heart and core of the SHOP. Teaching other people the teachings of Jesus and how to teach it to others is what Christianity is about. Its the model Jesus used, He got 12 knuckle heads taught them all he could over three years, died, rose and said now go teach everyone else. Thats what we want to do, Teach everyone about Jesus. But if only one person does it on their own the task is too big. So we get it smaller by multiplying ourselves.

Lastly is the corporate prayer room. This will be a place in the city that will be open fully to the public 24/7. The goal is to get 24/7 Prayer and worship shifting the spiritual atmosphere of the city.

Thats what the SHOP is all about.

The End Of A School And The Edge Of A Cliff

We are a week away from the end of our DTS, my students are absolutely amazing. I could not be more proud of them, they go out and tell everyone about Jesus. God has done some crazy things in my heart on this trip from bringing Kirsten into the picture, to giving me a renewed passion for discipleship and fresh faith for transformation in Seattle. After I return to Kona I will have a little bit of time off to sit reflect and relax after 6 intense months.

The other day The Lord said something to me, "Alex, get ready for an adventure." In six words God took every plan and sense of security and threw it out the window. You see when God tells you to get ready for an adventure that means you are about to dive into anything. There is no telling what may happen, it may be as small as going to the store and getting a free shirt, or you can end up in the middle of russia, or perhaps live in an airport, the options are as infinite as the one taking you on the adventure. This can be a scary place to be, a great abyss of unknown staring you in the face. However, when you understand God a little the fear melts away. God is infinitely good and loving, He is the one calling you away, He is the provider for the whole thing. When God tells you to get ready for an adventure, what he really is saying to you is "Get ready to see how good I am. I'm about to show off and everyone is going to see."

What will happen with The Seattle House Of Prayer? Will I go to South Africa and see Kirsten? Will I live in another airport? What is going to happen at Circuit Riders? Will I ever finish writing about my last adventure? I guess we will all have to wait and find out.

Living by Faith and Help

I live by faith. But I gotta pay the bills. In the last two years I have had more expenses then I truly care to think about, from plane tickets to food to rent, it has added up. Every penny I have prayed in. But every penny came from some one. So that being said I want to thank you.

Thank you.

I have not been able to be on this journey if it was not for you. You have made all of this possible. You have been just obedient to The Lord as I have. Thank you.

With that said, I want you to know that I have made all of this finance stuff easier for you my readers by expanding the blog and adding a page for you to donate on. Check it out.

also The SHOP. Get ready a post is in the works!

Thanks for reading. Also thank you to everyone who read last weeks post it was the most popular post in the history of the blog. I like that. I like her.