Pam thought, just go there to be a blessing and offer the comfort of Jesus Christ without wanting anything in return.
She heard in her spirit “the harvest is ripe.”
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The Blessing Station
The Blessing Station
Churches and ministries volunteer at local flea market
By Pamela Hutzell
A few months ago the Lord led me to take a trip to the local flea market. I really didn’t want to go but while I was there the Lord began to show me that it wasn’t just a place where people came on weekends to clear out there overflowing possesions. There were a lot of people with extremely meager offerings in tight circumstances just hoping to come home with money to cover the barest necessities. As I walked through the tables, I could see there were a lot of hurting people. I heard in my spirit “the harvest is ripe.”
The experience stayed with me and a desire to do something grew. I wanted to do something for those downtrodden people – something to lift up the community. Suddenly the words “Blessing Station” came to me and a vague concept of renting a space at the Flea Market and getting some people together to go down and offer cold bottled water and prayer to anyone we could. Just go there to be a blessing and offer the comfort of Jesus Christ without wanting anything in return.
I explained the idea to a few friends that love the Lord and found an enthusiastic response. Others suggested we collect and offer free Christian books, cd’s and other materials that were donated. Another brought the idea of face painting and balloons.
We recieved an abundance of contributions through word of mouth to include Christian books, cd's, balloons, helium, water, space rental, shade tents, ice, banners, face painting and most gratefully the time and prayer of an amazing group of volunteers. After talking it over, we decided that we wouldn’t officially represent any particular church or organization. We knew that there should be no hint of any agenda but freely offering to demonstrate the love of Christ.
We started out on Saturday, August 8th at 7am setting up our spaces and icing down the bottled water. God blessed us with a beautiful day! Our team handed out water and offered prayer to hundreds of people at the Flea Market. At the end of the day we distributed 576 bottles of water (24 cases). I'm sure our team drank some but at the very minimum we touched over 500 people with the love of Christ. As the people passed by we actively handed out water and offered them prayer and free "goodies.” We weren't able to keep track of everyone - we didn't take names or keep any records but at the minimum - my best conservative guess is that we prayed for at least 200 people with various needs - from cancer to just general blessings.
It seemed like God created a "zone" on the pathway in front of us, so that when people were first walking "in" they might have been a bit skeptical of us and our agenda - sometimes refused the water and mostly refused the offer of prayer but by the time they got to the second tent they'd amazingly stop and receive prayer. This was the trend going in both directions for most of the day.
Several people went out to visit the vendors at their tables carrying water and offering prayer. In the morning one of them came back only to discover that his new iphone was missing from his belt. The phone was only a week old and carried valuable business billing information and irreplacable stuff - it was a top of the line phone and was very expensive. It was nowhere to be found and a big loss. The GPS feature of the phone was disabled because whoever had the phone had turned it off.
Obviously, the enemy was determined to take away the peace and focus from this family - by this potentially serious loss. We prayed that God would make that phone like a hot coal in the hand of the people that had it and would convict their hearts to the point that they would return it.b Determined not to let the enemy steal this ministry time - the family put the loss aside and threw themselves into the mission of touching lives for Jesus. Amazingly at the end of the day, the police department called their home and someone had turned in the phone - missing the protective cover but otherwise intact! Praise God! He is so faithful!
We were so blessed with opportunity to share the love of Christ. People were so touched! Often people asked what church we were from but we told them many churches - we were just a bunch of Christians that love the Lord and wanted people to know Him. We were only there to show the love of Jesus and nothing more. We were just there to be a blessing. We had no other agenda.
There is no way for us to know what kind of impact we had but everyone that participated on Saturday left with a sense of awe and wonder. It was thrilling, freeing and wonderful to be there. We have decided to do it again on September 19th and would be open to setting this up in other places if others are inspired (it's easier now because we have all the "stuff").
Please join us in prayer that Father God answers all the prayers we prayed for the people - so that they may know that Jesus Lives and that Almighty God is well able to answer their prayers and that He knows the desires of their hearts.
Thanks again and God Bless you!
Churches represented by volunteers:
Agape Christian Church, Stephens City, VA
G2:20 Lifehouse Church, Front Royal, VA
Crossroads Community Church, Winchester, VA
Church of the Valley, Strasburg, VA
Riverton United Methodist, Front Royal, VA
1st Assembly of God, Front Royal, VA
New Hope Bible Church, Front Royal, VA
New Hope Alliance Church, Winchester, VA
Ministries represented:
Project Prayer Front Royal, Front Royal, VA
Prayforourschools.com, Front Royal, VA
If anyone is interested in publishing a faith article on this web column, please contact Mark Gunderman at gunderman2001@aol.com.
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