I have been married to my best friend and partner, Gina fifteen years. We have two children, Hannah, ten years old, and Luke, seven years old. We are excited that the Lord Jesus Christ has called us to be servants in His ministry. I want to take this opportunity to share briefly how the Lord called us into this ministry. Gina and I lived in a small town in upstate New York. We lived there three years before God called us into an outreach ministry. We answered God's call to pursue an outreach ministry in the summer of June 2001. God's call on our lives became more clear when He revealed the scripture to us that summer. The scripture given to us was Romans 10: 11-15: "Whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed. There is no difference between Jews and Greeks. They all have the same Lord, who gives His riches to everyone who calls on Him. So then, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can people call on Him if they have not believed in Him? How can they believe in Him if they have not heard His message? How can they hear if no one tells the Good News? How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? As scripture says, how beautiful are the feet of the messengers who announce the Good News."
God showed us through this scripture that we must go into the fields and reap a harvest for lost souls. We began to search for outreach ministries that ministered to the lost, the homeless, and those that were unreachable. God led us to Open Arms Church, in Tampa, Fl. We flew down to Florida and attended the morning service. After hearing the message and the same scripture, Romans 10: 11-15 spoken by the pastor we knew it was God's plan for us to move to Florida and to serve at Open Arms Church. God also provided more confirmations this was His plan for us. After eight months with Open Arms Church, the pastor placed us to lead the Homeless ministry. We served at Open Arms Church for a year and a half. However, God called us to start our own ministry. And so in September of 2004, God showed us that we must go deeper in reaching more souls for His kingdom. We began to prepare to start our own ministry.
God gave us an assurance in His word that we are called to repair broken walls and to restore the streets of Tampa, Fl. with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The dark streets and alleys are filled with people that are drug addicts, drug dealers, alcoholics, prostitutes, and those with mental and physical illnesses. Ministering on the streets has opened our eyes to the pain that many of our homeless friends deal with everyday.
We have an awesome team of ministers that minister with us on Saturday nights. We provide approximately three hundred sandwiches and bottled water a month. We give out Bibles, Daily Devotionals, Blankets, Clothes, and Canned Goods. We also transport individuals to rehab facilities to receive help for their addictions. We are a ministry that is about reaching lost souls for Jesus Christ. We are interested in teaming up with other ministries to further the cause for Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that as you read our testimony you will be encouraged to know that God wants to use you in whatever He has called you to do for Him. "I'm convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus." - Phil 1: 6