My Spokane Christian Friends, please read and pass on...
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| Rachael stamping hands at our Homeless Feeding |
by Rachael Grafmiller Swanson on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7:48am
About a year ago, my husband and I had just finished the book, A Hole in the Gospel by Richard Sterns who is the president of World Vision. For a long time now I have always wanted to be a part of Gods kingdom in a big way I just need to get off my butt and do something! Reading this book is just what we needed! Anyway for those of you who don't know World Vision is an organization that helps orphans mostly in other countries. I have felt that there's a big mission opportunity in our own country and it's in our streets and neighborhoods.
We thought we'd start by trying a little church downtown on the corner of Division and second (First Covenant) and we have been there ever since. Our humble little church is doing big things for the Kingdom through the downtown poor. We have witnessed restoration and healing first hand amongst the poorest and forgotten on Spokane’s streets. On Sundays about 3:00 pm the church feeds somewhere between 100 to 200 homeless. When I am in the gym eating with the homeless and listening to their stories with compassion, I feel closer to Jesus than at any time in my walk.
We have also witnessed not only emotional healing, but physical as well. The pastor’s wife had felt that the Lord was telling her, for about a year that she had a kidney for a lady in our congregation that had been suffering badly. She really did not want to do it and the chance that they would even be a match is very marginal since one is Hawaiian and the other is European. It got to the point where finally the pastor’s wife had to obey, she knew God wanted her to donate her kidney, so she went for all the tests and there is quite a procedure just make sure that they were a match and they were.
She is now short one Kidney and the recipient has a normal healthy life back. Praise God!
We don’t have a full band and worship team to offer, our pastor has an amazing voice and sings with soul while strumming his acoustic guitar accompanied by bongo drums, reminiscent of Bible camp….
Sometimes the sanctuary is cold because we lack the funds to repair our heating system so we worship in winter jackets and see our breath as we sing.
Homeless people have been known to wander in looking for shelter and someone to care. The occasional repentant prostitute sits in our pews.
We are raw, we are real, and I will say that this is one of the most authentic churches I have attended, but few visitors stay for we lack a stage show or a fancy children’s program.
Our church has a rich history with 120 years of ministry, "thank you Lord." Over the years times have changed, what once was a thriving church is now struggling. Our members are mostly downtown poor with little to tithe. But Lord is working on the corner of 2nd and Division, because in the last year I have seen it myself, healing from drugs and alcohol to physical diseases, the homeless getting jobs and back into homes. There are few workers and thin finances but we truly feel that the Lord is working in this ministry.
If you have been seeking more than just doing church service and Bible study, and you feel the Lord is speaking to you the way he was us about moving on and seeking a smaller close knit church that is also working hard to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a broken world and ministering and loving the poor and forgotten. If you feel this message is speaking to you for a reason, we welcome you to join us on a Sunday and see what we are about. Service is at 10:30 am on Sundays I hope to see you there sometime. We just need more help, if the spirit leads you, please come and shine the light of Jesus in a place that needs all the love it can get, time is running out for us and I would hate to see such an amazing ministry come to an end.
Mostly we are requesting that you please pray for our church and direction for us in these uncertain times.
Also pass this along to your Christian friends, who knows who the Lord has in mind for our church…
Yours in Christ,
Dusty & Rachael Swanson
We thought we'd start by trying a little church downtown on the corner of Division and second (First Covenant) and we have been there ever since. Our humble little church is doing big things for the Kingdom through the downtown poor. We have witnessed restoration and healing first hand amongst the poorest and forgotten on Spokane’s streets. On Sundays about 3:00 pm the church feeds somewhere between 100 to 200 homeless. When I am in the gym eating with the homeless and listening to their stories with compassion, I feel closer to Jesus than at any time in my walk.
We have also witnessed not only emotional healing, but physical as well. The pastor’s wife had felt that the Lord was telling her, for about a year that she had a kidney for a lady in our congregation that had been suffering badly. She really did not want to do it and the chance that they would even be a match is very marginal since one is Hawaiian and the other is European. It got to the point where finally the pastor’s wife had to obey, she knew God wanted her to donate her kidney, so she went for all the tests and there is quite a procedure just make sure that they were a match and they were.
She is now short one Kidney and the recipient has a normal healthy life back. Praise God!
We don’t have a full band and worship team to offer, our pastor has an amazing voice and sings with soul while strumming his acoustic guitar accompanied by bongo drums, reminiscent of Bible camp….
Sometimes the sanctuary is cold because we lack the funds to repair our heating system so we worship in winter jackets and see our breath as we sing.
Homeless people have been known to wander in looking for shelter and someone to care. The occasional repentant prostitute sits in our pews.
We are raw, we are real, and I will say that this is one of the most authentic churches I have attended, but few visitors stay for we lack a stage show or a fancy children’s program.
Our church has a rich history with 120 years of ministry, "thank you Lord." Over the years times have changed, what once was a thriving church is now struggling. Our members are mostly downtown poor with little to tithe. But Lord is working on the corner of 2nd and Division, because in the last year I have seen it myself, healing from drugs and alcohol to physical diseases, the homeless getting jobs and back into homes. There are few workers and thin finances but we truly feel that the Lord is working in this ministry.
If you have been seeking more than just doing church service and Bible study, and you feel the Lord is speaking to you the way he was us about moving on and seeking a smaller close knit church that is also working hard to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a broken world and ministering and loving the poor and forgotten. If you feel this message is speaking to you for a reason, we welcome you to join us on a Sunday and see what we are about. Service is at 10:30 am on Sundays I hope to see you there sometime. We just need more help, if the spirit leads you, please come and shine the light of Jesus in a place that needs all the love it can get, time is running out for us and I would hate to see such an amazing ministry come to an end.
Mostly we are requesting that you please pray for our church and direction for us in these uncertain times.
Also pass this along to your Christian friends, who knows who the Lord has in mind for our church…
Yours in Christ,
Dusty & Rachael Swanson
