a blessed time

Brothers & Sisters, Take a second to think of how great our God is and how truly blessed we are to be found in Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no greater joy that can be recognized in this or the next life, than knowing and accepting Jesus as one's Lord and Savior of sin, condemnation, and eternal suffering and damnation. Last Saturday, we welcomed a new brother, Stephen, to the family of Christ after recognizing the joy and grace he was missing out upon without the blood of Christ. Praise Jesus! The night started out with a chilly walk, along with Jen Karaman, Sam Chapeau, & Ben Fast, in the Minneapolis night to the Salvation Army. After handing out Gospel tracks and/or sharing the Gospel with those we passed along the way, we finally arrived to the Salvation Army to pour into the homeless of Minneapolis. We shared the Gospel and prayed over many individuals that were hungry for God. After a blessed time at the SA, we made our way back to meet the rest of our group. Amongst our group, we made a pact to at least attempt to either share the Gospel or put a Gospel track into the hands of EVERY person we passed on our way to meet the rest of our group. By God's grace, we were able to achieve this and I pray that those words and tracks break the souls of those who we handed them to. Once we arrived back to meet the rest of our group we met a young man named Stephen. We shared the Gospel with him & he admitted he has never accepted Christ in his life. He acknowledged his emptiness without Him and was very adamant that he wanted to accept Jesus Christ at that very time. He prayed by acknowledging that he was completely separated from the Father without Christ and that he accepted the free gift of grace given to him through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Praise Jesus! As we prayed to close out the night, Stephen came & interrupted us by saying, "Please pray that Satan does not overcome me or this dark city of Minneapolis. I have been won by Christ & I am now completely living for Him and His glory…". We handed Stephen some Gospel tracks, and we saw him pass out Gospel tracks and talk to EVERY person he passed, as far as we could see. Please pray for Stephen that his confession was truly genuine & that his life is wrecked by the Gospel each & every day of his life. As a last note of encouragement, I leave you with Galatians 2:20, " I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." I pray that you are filled with Christ's glory & that you truly live for Him as a new being in Him. In Christ, Mitch Atchison

I ran into death

It was the weekend before Halloween and it had been months since I had been out proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. As I got out of my car I went to the edge of the ramp and looked down at the people and thought that I might be the only one out this night as I waited for those the Lord would have me witnessing with. I do not expect people to just show up and come out with the Jesus Freaks I pray for the Lord to bring those that He wants there to Further His Kingdom. We are nothing Jesus is Everything.I went down and started handing out tract to the everyone in site. I had been praying all summer for the Lord to reignite the fire inside me as I had been feeling lukewarm at best(burnout). I needed rest and I wasn't realizing it until I had no ambition to do ministry. Then I knew in my heart that there was something wrong. God was going to use this time of rest to refine me. We all know, "the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” (Hebrews 12:6) I was grounded by my Father.So then I waited for the Lord to use me, as He was to show me where I needed refining. 8 Jesus Freaks were filled with excitement as we walked the streets of downtown Minneapolis. We split in 2 teams and agreed on a time to meet back up. It had been 4 months since I was on the streets. I prayed before I got out of the car that I would just observe and hang back a little. Not knowing how the Lord was going to use me this night.The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. Chris and I were in the company of Molly who had been out once before and Jessica this was her first time. You could see the boldness in them ready for sharing Christ's love. I was walking right into the bus shelters full of people on Nicolet proclaiming The Gospel as I did before. This time with genuine love and compassion to the lost. I could see it in there reactions I was getting as I spoke of sin and redemption. I could actually see it in there eye's that they understood and comprehended the message I was sharing and that it truly concerned them. I would then ask if they had a bible at home if not I would offer one to them. We planted hundreds of seeds this night and prayed God would provide the increase. The one encounter that sticks out the most is I ran into death. He was dressed in a grim reaper costume and all you could see of his face was 2 red glowing eyes. I approached him as he was walking down Nicolet. I stepped in front of him and He screamed at the top of his lungs at me. I stood there until he was done and continued to witness to this man. As I was sharing with him he hugged me tight and I was taken back a bit but did not stop the witness. He had done this 2 more times during the conversation and told me that he was thinking about this the night before and that this was not a coincidence that we met. You will never know of the lives you touch with the gospel unless you get out there and start sharing Christ. Mark 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mike