Friday, June 24, 2005

Connecting With LBCF

I had the honor of praying with intercessors from Long Beach Christian Fellowship. They are located on Airport Way just off of Spring Street near the Long Beach Airport. The intercessors there have consistently been praying for the city for the past five years now. It's awesome to know such committed intercessors who have hearts for this city. As I prayed with them, they lifted up members of their local body who had certain needs. We also prayed for individuals who have been sent to South Africa to work with those enduring HIV and AIDS there. We prayed for those here in Long Beach as well. The body at Long Beach Christian Fellowship is very much sensitive to serving the needs of those with HIV and AIDS, as well as supporting the healing process for those experiencing various kinds of brokenness - relational, sexual, emotional. It was a refreshing time of intercession.

It's clear here that the Lord has led them to living out their faith among the brokenhearted - to have compassion for them and to serve them. They share that a shift needs to take place in our paradigms for outreach - perhaps even semantics. In living out our faith, the people around us are not projects but rather relationships that could be formed. I agree with them. What would it look like if the Church lived out their faith by simply building relationships absent of any agenda? What if we came along side people, out of love, supporting and encouraging each other, no matter what the burden was?

We also took some time to lift up the local body and intercessors at The Last Call Christian Outpost. We prayed for their encouragement, support, and strengthening. I will keep in touch with the intercessors here at LBCF to help coordinate with those who will be prayer walking North Long Beach with us.

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