Be Careful What You Pray For...
I'm not one to get super involved with the latest Christian trend. My observation is that most trends have some nuggets of Truth that attract us to them. This spring, we began praying part of the prayer of Jabez (I Chronicles 4:10) for our work through The Boston Project. We asked God to "enlarge our territory" by naming streets where we longed for new or deeper relationships.
Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.
Little did I expect to see the EXPLOSION in numerical growth with our neighborhood youth ministries this summer. We have had over 100 unique children come to our afternoon park programs, 100+ teenagers have attended our teen cafes, and just last night we had 100-120 come to our Big Event (closing celebration for our summer programs). Numerical growth isn't the end goal, but it represents more opportunities to share the Good News with others.
I'm excited as I look towards the school year and think about the opportunities our staff and volunteers will have to invest in many more lives. We hope you will join us! - paul
