MOB OF PARTIERS AT LEICESTER SQUARE,
LONDON, ENGLAND HEARD ABOUT A GOD
WHO LOVES TO HAVE FUN:

Leicester Square is full of clubs, pubs, and street performers. It was the perfect place to reach the masses. The first night we performed our mimes, Although it was raining, the audiences that gathered were overwhelmingly attentive and receptive. On several other nights we performed our music as Echoplex. One night there was a church group set up next to us preaching with a megaphone. They were coming off somewhat harsh and antagonistic. The crowds would stop only to mock and express displeasure. We began to play our songs, share testimonies and see people really taking in what we were saying. Afterwards, the same people who were cussing out the church group next to us expressed how much they appreciated us and the love that we showed to them. One homeless man gave me a big hug and said “you guys are the best act out here tonight. Your message was great. It’s people like you who give us hope to go on.” We gave this man and many others free copies of our music tape. They were shocked and touched. We met a lot of partiers and just plain wackos but we met many more who were very open to talking about the Lord. Meeting German, French, Italians, Spanish, and English on our trip especially at Leicester Square made me think of when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost to people of many different nations.

Even though we were only ministering in that one particular location, we some how touched people from all over the world.

CARDBOARD CITY:

PAUL'S BLOOD AND HIV SCARE:

A cardboard sign hung outside the building announcing “Free Concert! - American Band!” Friends from the homeless shelter - our home for 3 weeks were excitedly handing out flyers for our outreach concert about to begin across the street. Our team was setting up their instruments and converting the plumbing shop to a night club. Looking on from the second floor window of our humble abode, I saw something. In the excitement of the London, England city street, I saw Paul - a homeless heroine addict of 13 years - dash across the street with blood dripping from his hand. Soon after, he was at my door. He needed help. Paul pulled his hand from around his back. A thick piece of old nasty fabric ties around it dripped crimson red. Unwrapping the soaked fabric his blood fell into our old sink. It was evident that he needed immediate emergency medical help but my pleas with him to go to a hospital were futile as he was extremely fearful. Maybe he thought they would arrest him once they found drugs in his system; I don’t know. His finger was cut grotesquely deep and the skin pushed to the other end of his digit. I held him up as he began to faint and cleaned the wound with water. His skin had to be stretched back over the bone before being bandaged up. I was the only one there, so I held my breath. What followed was him pouring out his sad life story of rejection after rejection as I wiped the dried blood off his hands and arms with wet toilet paper.

I shared very little about Jesus with him; that came in the later days. He finally went to the hospital the next night because the pain was so great. The doctor said he almost had to cut off his finger. Paul’s finger will be permanently deformed but I pray it will be a reminder of the American missionary woman who showed him Gods tenderness. After he left that night I had a horrible realization of what I had done. Right before he arrived I had trimmed my cuticles and had fresh blood on three of my fingers. His blood was all over my hands. HIV. Thirteen years of needles and who knows what else. What would happen to my family if I were to die of AIDS. I couldn’t sleep. I felt so stupid. When we returned to California 2 months later I had a test at our hospital and it came back 100% negative. It made me think. I was scared; but, I was glad that if I were to die, it would be doing Gods work.

SPEAKERS CORNER, LONDON:

It's wild. There is an oddity in London's Hyde Park called Speakers Corner. It blows my mind! It's not the five people or so positioned around the tree shaded pavement who have the guts to yell, (and I mean yell) at the top of their voices their views on politics or religion.

It's not the professional hecklers who stand in the crowds and try to make the speakers get off the subject or just cry and run away. It's the audience. All you need is a loud voice and something to say and you will have a crowd bigger than most churches on Sunday morning (one hundred or none depending on your ability to draw a crowd). I had a go at it by sharing my testimony - no one can heckle that - and then Juan and Matt followed. We had around 150 ears thoughtfully listening. Juan and Jerome even rapped a Christian rhyme before presenting the gospel to everyone, the crowd ate it up! Later that week we taught the evangelism team of Kennsington Temple out mime and as a result of them performing it, there were many, many people who made a decision to follow Christ. Ohhhh what a sight it was to see over 10 small groups of people huddled around around speakers corner praying a prayer of commitment to Jesus.

THE MASKS WE WEAR - MIMES TO MUSIC

People in London saw our mimes to music and were faced with a decision. We used masks in "King of Hearts" which told a story about how we hide behind masks of glamour, joking, anger, and religion. When the masks are removed we find self hate, depression, fear, and blindness to peoples needs. Christ tears away our makes us free from hidden bondages. The second mime called "The Tree" shows creation and how we are enticed by money, drugs, alcohol, and lust. Ultimately by choosing these things instead of God in main character - (Rachel Galloway) becomes in tangled in black sashes that represent bondages until Jesus chooses to be crucified for us and takes them off. But that's not all, when He removes our hurts He gives forgiveness in the form of a white sash that the lead character then offers to the crowd.

Amazed at the powerful visual of their own spirituality the audience is confronted with a decision. A decision to remain bound or be made new. Their choice.

IN SOUTH IRELAND...

We were exhausted, discouraged, undure of being shut down as we set up our music equipment on the front steps of City Hall that Saturday morning. All hope was lost when the generator we rented wouldn't work. But God had taught us well along the way on this trip so we gathered together and prayed. The result was more than we could have imagined in our wildist dreams. We were able to plug the sound system into a shop nearby. The crowd came so quickly and excitedly the road was blocked within minutes.
The police came, but not to shut us down, just to clear the road. The church who invited us were busily handing out free pamphlets about eternity to everyone in the crowd as the lads in Echoplex (our outreach band) proclaimed the love of Jesus boldly. I witnessed to people in the crowd for just 45 minutes and was able to minister to 19 people. Not just give them a pamphlet but really listen to and pray for their needs. After the concert 75% of the audience stayed for 1 hour to talk with our team.

Almost each of us had eight teenagers at a time crowded around us to hear more about having a personal realtionship with Jesus. They didn't want to leave. We prayed with 11 to receive Jesus into their lives and ministered to many more. The Mayor of Kilkenny's teen son was there and excitedly received Jesus into his live for the first time. Later that day we invited all the youth who prayed with us to the home of an awesome church elder so we could encourage them to get hooked into the congergation that invited us.