Douglasville, GA

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This report comes to us from team leader Jeremy with our team in Douglasville, GA:

Ekpen joined me last night for an outreach at Douglasville’s Stranger Things Block Party. A number of scenes in the hit Netflix show were filmed here, most famously the Hawkins Police Station. The event attracts fans from around the country. This year it was bigger than ever as they used the new amphitheater space.

This outreach was especially meaningful to me since one year ago I was planning to launch our local SPSE team by doing our first outreach at this event. But I had to cancel it when I had to go to the emergency room due to excruciating pain in my gut. A bacterial infection perforated my small intestine and I had to spend 12 days in the hospital! A year later, I am grateful for the healing and for the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel with this ministry.

We set up along the sidewalk both our rosary table and the Perspectives banners, borrowed from Cru. While people were not as interested in engaging with the banners as I had hoped, I had a couple of fruitful conversations while Ekpen gave out rosaries. I was very pleased to see her engaging passersby entirely on her own, using the Rosary to share the gospel. At one point she was surrounded by a group of five adolescent children, whose parents waited patiently as she explained the Rosary to them. It was a beautiful site!

What I hope will be the most fruitful encounter for me was meeting a devoted Baptist named Vinny from Kansas City. My youngest brother, Jake, who is not a Christian, just moved to Kansas City to work for the IRS. Vinny is around Jake’s age and is also unmarried. I have been praying for Jake to meet Christians his age who can draw him into a church community. Vinny enthusiastically agreed to reach out to him. I pray that Jake will respond and they will form a friendship that may result in Jake becoming a Christian.

Praised be Jesus Christ!