There is another long update to do as we just returned (returned is a very relative term if your home is in a bus, on this occasion "returned" means that we are in Souix Falls,SD) a few days ago. Since we have returned we have been blessed by the staff of LifeLight and have been able to pitch in and have felt very welcome, thank you LifeLight! the Greenes are just awesome, you guys rock! www.lifelightfest.com
Now that we have said the beginning piece on Souix Falls, though there will be a lot more to come from this part of the country, I will fill you in on Sturgis. As there was just so much that went on (as usual) I will hit on highlights.
For the first year ever we actually had power in Sturgis! wow... that was quite a blessing to us and made the stay a whole lot easier than on previous occasions. We were blessed to work with a lot of people at Jericho Camp some that we had known before but new friends as well.
We spent a good deal of our team on the streets ministering, first just prayer walking and putting up posters for Jericho Camp (as they got torn down every or every other day that was just about a constant job, every other day we would be back out stapeling or taping them back up). We did street preaching, music and drama (you can see photos of this now but there will be more photos to come shortly!) as well as ministering in those ways at the camp and helping out in the kitchen. Some people from Bemidji,MN came down for a couple of days (2 different groups) and were really an encouragement to us and God used them in neat ways and has made changes in their lives as well. There was street ministry for the first time going on for a lot of people. The thing was that the drama that we did on the street and the preaching and the passing out of tracts was ridiculed by people and we were called names, called crazy and called freaks and many other things went on, but through that we were filled with JOY, we have no shame in being called freaks for the sake of Christ, Jesus Freaks? anytime.
It was really neat to see how it was not just the youth that came out but after a couple of days of them coming out on the streets with us some of their families joined us as well.
We joined up with several different ministries from different places in our music and also the one night we were down on the streets we joined with a group as well.
The drama that we did caused shock waves in Sturgis, that is an incredible thing in and of itself, people were talking about it... wondering about it... and we even got a report here of someone who saw it! and they remember! praise God, may they be reminded of it again and again.
One really neat thing that happened was that there were some major bands playing on the Sturgis main stage, for the first couple of nights right durring our service time the main stage (which was right accross from Jericho Camp) would come on and just blast us out until late late at night. We prayed about main stage and asked that the Lord would just take down those things, the evil influence...ect. The next day the concert was incredibly short and we were wondering what went on. Come to find out the next day that the promoter had taken the money (some $350,000 dollars) and had run off! there were no more bands in Sturgis.
It is also a very sobering thing to be in Sturgis and to minister on the streets and to look for any hungry souls and not find them. It is a terribly sad thing to here people mock where they should repent and it is aweful to here see people reject Jesus Christ. We carry that sorrow along with our Lord though in such a small measure in comparison. We are blessed to be counted among those that have been persecuted in the smallest measure for our faith and stand true to our Lord. We pray that here at Life Light as the festival begins (September 2-6) that there will be hearts that are willing, ears and eyes that are open.
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