I just came back from a retreat. I brought one of the guys on the worship team with me to help out with leading worship. It was a great experience for the both of us.
We ended up ministering to a small group of leaders who are serving in the inner city of Cincinnati. It was an awesome time of worship and fellowship. Once they found out that we have been fasting for 21 Days and we were going to break fast today, they ended up joining us in fasting from Friday through Saturday. It is so refreshing to find people who are willing to put everything on the line to seek after God.
The humbling part of our trip was just observing the lives of these leaders and listening to the stories of sacrifice and love. Their love for the inner-city people was inspiring.
They literally gave up things of this world in order to live amongst the people and minister to the people with God’s love. It was truly a demonstration of incarnational ministry.
Today in the afternoon we got a tour of the neighborhood. As we were driving around, I couldn’t help to notice the hopelessness and despair in the eyes of the people. We even encountered real live drug peddlers on the street corners. I was just a fresh reminder that we need God’s light to shine in the inner city.
It wasn’t too comforting knowing that there was a shooting near their place last week. We were just thankful for their bulletproof windows in their home. But even with the safety issues, the families were willing to risk their lives to preach the Gospel.
We ended the retreat by praying for each person and asking for God’s anointing on their lives. Then we ended up breaking our 21 days of fasting at a well-known local pizza place. It was great having some “grain” in my system.
As we were driving in to Ann Arbor, my heart was filled with praise for all that God accomplished in the last few days.