Hey everyone!
Thanks so much for the prayers toward the Juvenile outreach. It was an absolute incredible concert/ministry.
The staff at South Bend Juvenile Correction was awesome to work with. Mrs. Beverly William the coordinator/director came in on her Saturday to help make everything go smoothly directing the young men and working with staff. We shout a big "thank-you!" to her- Hey Beverly, your awesome! (in picture is me and Beverly in front of the courtyard.)
The Band PS150 (Brandon, Sami, Moses and Joe) did an outstanding job with music and ministry. We were allowed to have this concert in the courtyard outside which was great! The sound was jammin' good. The lifeline team showed up in abundance, a great size group around 20 of us, along with a few from RAVEN ministries.
All but four young men were able to come to the event, ninety-nine total were there. Along with the music and ministry from PS150, we shared a few testimonies and ministered from the Word between sets of songs. We even had one the staff leaders sing an incredible song which was so anointed! The kids just loved it! We praise God for that.
At the end of the concert we had an altar call/prayer time and this was incredible, as half the kids came forward for prayer and ministry. I personally had some cool ministry with a few guys who were Christians they asked for prayers for a deeper walk with God, safety for their families, and bad habits to leave.
We were then allowed to feed the guys lunch. My dad and I grilled the hotdogs earlier in the morning at home. The facility wasn’t able to allow us to bring the grills in (we couldn’t take pictures inside as well.) so we had previously grilled the hotdogs and packed them in coolers to stay warm. It turned out well! ..Anyway, we were able to serve the guys lunch. 2 hotdogs, chips, 2 cookies and lemonade. It was so neat serving these guys, just like Jesus did, He came to serve and not be served, so this was a great example to the young men. The team did an outstanding job humbling themselves and serving the plates of food to the guys.
When the guys got their lunch they all single filed into the gym to eat. This was pretty neat as we were able to continue to talk and minister to the guys as they were eating and finishing up eating, which lead to some incredible ministry and prayers of salvation. I personally had two young men who never called out to God to be saved- they asked me for prayer for God to help them stay out of trouble and to take bad habits away, in which I assured Him would give them the strength to overcome- but they needed to get right before God- calling out to Jesus for salvation. They both prayed, repenting and asked God to forgive them and to save them. .. Praise God! These two fellows names are Zach and Brent. Please keep them in your prayers.
All the other Lifeline/Raven ministers were canvassed around the gym ministering/praying with everyone they could- it was an awesome site. In all, sixteen young men called out to the Lord for salvation! Hallelujah! Praise God!
Totally awesome day! We made some great relationships this day and another cool thing is we will continue to minister/disciple these guys as we go into South Bend Juvenile Correction every Friday and two Tuesday’s a month. Then as the guys left the gym we handed out over seventy Bibles.
Please saints, continue to pray for these guys. We know the only hope for our young people is Jesus and a personal relationship with Him!..Amen!
Thanks so much for the prayers! God bless.
~Steve Ignowski
574-612-0555