Sunday, Sunday, Sunday....

Wow....
What an experience downtown.
BASIC set a new high attendance record.
Rafael and I had the pleasure of serving 94 of Orlando's homeless people. Some people will think, gee that's a lot of people, but when you consider that Orlando has between 4 and 6 THOUSAND people on the streets at night, 94 seems like a small drop in the bucket. Don't get me wrong, it still feels like a lot of people. But when you stop and think about the real need, it sticks out at you doesn't it. What is 94 compared to 4000?
We serve because we understand that God changes people. God used one man to preach the word to people way way back in time, on pentacost. You know the story most likely, Jesus ascends into heaven, telling his followers to wait in Jerusalem and they will receive a sign. The sign comes and they go away preaching, but this was a special sermon. They were speaking in other languages. It was so new to the people who were standing around, they thought the apostles were drunk! Peter stands up and corrects their thinking. You can find his sermon in Acts the second chapter. His one sermon (coupled with the witness of the apostles speaking in tongues.) lead to the salvation of over 3000 people. If the same formula holds true, our 94 people (coupled with the witness of the church around them) could reach over 282,000 people in one day. That'd be a lot of baptizing!
I know that's a pretty rough treatment of the numbers, but one of the things we do at B.A.S.I.C. is help people understand that they have a role in the church. Our efforts in concert produce light in the community to show the way along God's path. We must remember, we follow a narrow path, so we need to shine as much light on it as possible!
One way we shine light is by providing the prayer requests of the homeless every week. We publish these online so that you can follow the command of Paul to the Galatians (chapter 6:1 ff) and bear one another's burdens. There were many burdens this week to share. Everyone of them is important, but there are a few I want to highlight. The first four requests come from the same family. That's right, BASIC served a family this last week, and by family I mean, a Mother, a Father, a son, and a daughter. The kids were between eight and eleven, and the mother was pregnant. The father had a bad knee, but had recently reaquired some work.

Here are all the requests:

*Mario Durazo: Housing, Gas
*Rosalee Patton: Housing, Gas
*Michaela Williamson: Housing
*Christian Patton: Housing
Leon Stephene: Yes for a Job
P King: Lord please forgive me. And bless us all here in faith of your son's blood. thank you
Johnny A: Pray for me and my family
Krystal Coleman: Health, Peace
Michale Sal : That he continues what he started.
James Stringer: Job (*He's a landscaper if you know anyone*)
Alphonso Ellis : Salvation
John Maguire: Please help me to get home
Baby Ruth Dean: Need a place to live les than $400.00 pay $350 monthly
Melvin Baylor: Looking for a place to live for no more than $400 a month for a couple. Me and my fiance (*Baby Ruth*)
James Stafford (*?*): Shayla, Kelly, Maryssa, and Keeli
James Massey : Money to buy rundown houses to fix up to resell.

So that's this week's prayer request. The special guy this week is Mitch, don't forget to click the banner at the top of this page to find out more about him, and our pressing needs for the week.
Thanks!!
GB HOYT