What would happen if we could communicate God’s love to people
in a way that they could receive it? We are finding that people are hungry to be
encouraged and we have the power to touch them!

As a person who was
radically touched by God I feel radically driven to help people come to know
and understand God’s love, acceptance, and power in their lives.

The message of Jesus is
totally awesome! However, for a number of years now I noticed that people
just don’t seem to be responding to typical methods of sharing God’s love.
You probably know what I mean. All you have to do is say the name Jesus and
boom! The wall goes up. They block you out whenever you attempt to discuss
their spiritual needs. But it does not change the fact that people need God
and need to know He cares for them.

Feeling frustrated from the
rejection I’d experienced in these attempts to share God’s love, I tried
something different a few years ago that changed my life and the lives of
many others. I led a workshop at a Christian conference on how to give
people “encouraging words?from God. We practiced on each other asking the
Holy Spirit to reveal our unique traits and gifts. Then we ventured into a
mall and asked God to lead us to those He wanted to encourage.

Our teams went to the food court, Starbucks, and by the
fountains. As God pointed someone out we approached them and said “We
just took a class on how to give encouraging words, can you help us by
letting us practice on you?? To our surprise dozens of people said yes.
Three people our teams spoke to said, “You know, I was just sitting
here thinking ‘God if you are real, send someone to help me!?

It seemed too easy. We
simply trusted our hunches (God inspired) and communicated what we felt God
was saying in non-religious language. We said to a woman “When I look at
you I see someone who is a natural born encourager, people feel safe to
share their problems with you? She smiled and responded, “You’re right, I’m
a counselor. How do you know this about me??We replied, “We’re learning to
hear from God. We‘re Christians not psychics? Many said to us, “You mean
Christians can hear God? I mean like really hear God??

Sadly most people don’t know
that God wants to speak to us and encourage us. We are finding when we use
this approach people let their walls down and are very open to talking about
God.

It was just another Saturday
at the mall where many hurting lonely people go kill time and try to feel
better. A few timid Christians who were not evangelists took a walk down the
mall and asked God to show them who needed a loving touch. In two hours
fourteen people gave their lives to Jesus and one person was miraculously
healed. Imagine the possibilities if we became intentional and trusted the
Holy Spirit to guide us to people in need of God!

Our outreach events have
begun to change the way many churches and Christians share God’s love with
those who are in need. We are finding that most people really are not all
that opposed to Jesus. Instead, many people have had a bad experience with
church or wounded by a Christian. There are literally millions of people out
there who are being drawn by God and we have the message that can help
change their lives.

As a response to this my
wife and I relocated to the Hollywood, CA area in early 2003. We feel that
God is directing us to start an outreach coffeehouse/caf?that will reach
those outside the church and train Christians in relevant evangelism.
Beginning in 2004 we will be gathering people to this vision and make it a
reality. We felt that God wants to influence Hollywood and as a result
influence the world. Watch for future events.