Hurricane Sandy Relief

        As many of you know the missionaries here at the Relief Bus went down to Haiti.  I had every intention of writing about all that God had done on this trip, but mother nature had other plans.  While we were down in Haiti Hurricane Sandy was ripping my home state apart.  Due to the storm our stay down in Haiti had to be extended three days.  But as soon as we got back we at the Relief Bus immediately started doing what we do best: bring relief.
        Even before we landed back on U.S. soil there was a tremendous outpouring of donations to our organization.  Due to the massive backups at the airports we all had to go home in different flights out of Haiti.  Unfortunately I was in the last wave and didn't get home till midnight on Friday after the storm.  But others who came back earlier immediately went to do relief work in Staten Island on Saturday after the storm!  That next week our staff ran an additional 6 outreaches to those neighborhoods hit hardest in addition to our 11 outreaches we run weekly.  We were able to partner with organizations like FEMA and distribute hot food while they gave out dry goods and blankets.  I was on Coney Island one day and partnered up with a tenant association for a project building that had lost power for over a week.  Just a few days ago I was in the South Bronx visiting one of our partnering rehabs and they were desperate for blankets, as many as we could provide. All over the city there were literally thousands of seniors in buildings stuck on the upper floors with no heat or electricity for over ten days.  The overall need was beyond astounding.
        Although the "relief" work is starting to wind down the rebuilding has a long way to go.  As many of you know who live in the tri-state area the estimated cost is well into the billions.  And there are some urban neighborhoods that still have no power two weeks after the storm!  We are still doing our best to get into these areas where there is remains a tremendous amount of need.
        Please continue to pray for NYC and NJ as we continue to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy.  Please pray for our staff as we are stretched pretty thin between running our hurricane relief outreaches in addition to our regular outreaches.  Also pray for April and I! In the midst of all this craziness we are set to get married in a little over a month!
Grace and Peace to You All....
Lance

FEMA Mobile Distribution Center

Giving out hot food in the Brooklyn Cyclones parking lot with the Relief Van.

The Unkown...

        Whether by print or internet, by the time many of you read this I will be in Haiti with the rest of the Relief Bus team.  As many of you already know from October 23rd through the 30th, our organization will shut down and we will be heading to Haiti to serve with missionaries down there.  Although we see poverty everyday this will be something totally different than anything I have ever experienced.  We here at the Relief Bus work within a well developed infrastructure that does a good job of documenting the problem so organizations like ours can work on fixing it.  This is not the case in Haiti.  The earthquake completely decimated most of Haiti's ability to do this, and from what I understand they are far from a full recovery.  Whether we will be working on a construction project or helping a youth group, the exact details have yet to be decided upon and will probably not be ironed out until our arrival.
        All that being said I have to admit that I am incredibly nervous.  This may come as a surprise to many of you, but I have never been on a missions trip.  I know many of you who support me and read this are quite the short-term missionary veterans, but I would be lying if I told you this full-time missionary isn't scared out of his whits.  I will be walking into an environment that I am completely unfamiliar with and will be serving a people who's language I don't speak.  The past few weeks thoughts of exotic insects, no running water, the potential of another earthquake, in a culture I don't understand has been plaguing my mind.  I've also been asking myself what kind of difference could I possibly make.  Working in missions I understand the amount of time we have to invest in individuals to gain their trust.  With all these concerns circulating in my head my nerves are not in the best of shape.
        Working with the Relief Bus however has taught me one very important lesson: just roll with it.  Every time I lead a team into NYC or Newark I always remind them that all we do is sow seeds.  I tell them that if they came to serve with an agenda, however noble that agenda may be, they should pack up and go home.  It's not our job to save anyone, only God through Christ can do that.  It's our job merely to sow seeds of hope, love, and grace.  I find it ironic that the same sermon I've preached to literally hundreds of volunteers over the past two years is the same one I need now more than ever.  Despite all my concerns I am trying to make an intentional effort to let go of my "agendas" and "doubts" and let God do something.  The disciples spoke multiple languages during Pentecost, perhaps we will see the same miracle!  But despite whatever happens I know God will show up if we merely keep sowing seeds, whatever that may look like.
        To be completely honest I feel as if I'm writing this more for myself than for those who are reading this.  But I wanted to share with all of you what is going on in my heart as we prepare for this trip.  Please pray for our team and myself specifically.  Pray that God will reveal Himself to me in a way that I've never experienced.  Pray that He teaches me something that I can bring back to my mission here.  Pray for my fiance as we will be unable to contact each other during this week.  And pray for our safety.  As I alluded to earlier the infrastructure is far from recovered and with that comes a host of other dangers.  And a special thank you for those of you who made this trip possible!  I can't wait to share next month what God is doing in Haiti!
Grace and Peace to You All... 

God's Promises...

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

~ Jeremiah 29:11

        Aside from John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:11 is perhaps the most quoted verses in our churches today.  It is a verse that has given millions of Christians hope and encouragement in the midst of misfortune and disaster.  It reminds us that despite our external circumstances God is still God, and God is good.  But how are we to respond to this verse when the storm just doesn't seem to stop?  When one's life is a seemingly perpetual disaster?  This is a question that I asked myself about a month ago while working with a friend of mine named "Jay".

        Jay has had a long history with us here at the Relief Bus.  Jay is not an NYC local, but a Native American Indian from Minnesota.  Unlike many who come to NYC with the hopes of advancing themselves and their careers, Jay comes here to escape.  On a moment's notice, in the midst of a bout with depression, Jay will leave his home and his wife to come out east and wander the streets of New York drowning himself in alcohol.  Over the past two years a couple of the missionaries here, myself included, have done our best to show Jay that there is another way.  A little over a year and half ago Jay came to know the Lord.  But like all of us he is on a journey.  Not long after Jay received Christ some of us here at The Relief Bus pooled our personal resources together and bought him a bus ticket home to his wife.  I wish I could say this was the end of the story.

        Around ten months later I was at our mid-town outreach and there was my friend.  Again he had gone back to what was familiar.  I brought him into our office on the Bus and as he wept I knew that we had to do it again.  We needed to send him home to his wife.  So we did.  Again I wish I could say that this was the end of the story.

        Five months later as soon as I parked the Bus at our Wednesday outreach I walked off and saw Jay walking down the street.  My initial internal reaction was NOT one of compassion and grace.  For the next twenty minutes in anger I did my best to avoid him, but I knew at some point I had to say hello.  There was nothing that could have prepared me for what was about to happen next.  When I finally brought myself to say hello not surprisingly Jay had told me that for the past two weeks he had been sleeping at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and consuming exuberant amounts of alcohol.  He then told me that 6 weeks prior his wife had been diagnosed with cancer and two weeks later she died.  In that moment I realized that Jay officially had no home where we could send him back to, no family to take him back in, and in turn no hope.  As he sat there on the side walk weeping I was overcome with a complete sense of bewilderment.  I started asking myself how God could allow this to happen, especially after we had invested so much into him.  I wondered where the promises of Jeremiah 29:11 had gone in Jay's life.  I attempted to offer some hope, but it felt so empty coming from me.  I no longer had any answers for Jay.

        Later on that night I was sharing with a friend of mine what had happened.  I told him how ridiculous I felt trying to assure Jay that it was all going to be okay even though I had very little faith in the situation.  He then told me that the reason I felt ridiculous was because I was having trouble believing that God's promise's were true for myself.  So of course how could I proclaim hope to another if I wasn't holding onto its truth.  It hit me like a punch to the gut.  He was right. 

        Faith is not believing with your head that God's promises will become a reality, faith is knowing with your whole being that God's promises are already a reality.  Faith is proclaiming His truth in the midst of the world's false realities.  It is our job as His servants to live in that truth even when we don't have a tangible answer.  Although, even for myself, it is so much easier talking about this then living it, we must never stop fighting for it.  The past few times that I have seen Jay I have done my best to proclaim this reality to him.  Amazingly despite my initial lack of faith, Jay's faith has grown in the past three months more than it has in the past two years.  Every time I see him now I see a peace in his eyes I had never seen before.  Please pray for Jay as he continues to walk this journey of faith.  And please continue to pray for myself as I walk the same journey.  Grace and Peace to You All....

The Larger Story...

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus hold told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him - but some of them doubted!  Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:16-20

        As an "urban missionary" I often find myself getting caught up in "serving the poor."  With the right spin, working with the homeless in NYC and Newark has the potential to be rather glamorous and seemingly heroic.  I find, however, that serving the homeless sometimes becomes an end unto itself.  That somehow this is the ultimate calling (to serve to poor) of God.  After all, does not God command us to feed the hungry?  Clothe the naked?  Provide the wanderer with shelter?  Now I know that no Christian would come and outright say this, but I do believe there is a subtle undertone of glamor in how the Church views our work with the poor.  This view however, whether spoken or unspoken, has the potential to be rather dangerous!

        Every time I lead a team of volunteers on the outreach I always read the Great Commission.  I boldly give my speech on how working with the poor is only a small part of God's larger story for His children.  Although proudly reading this every week I would all but forget about Christ's final word during my time on the outreach.  Furthermore I would also forget the dangerous implications for not taking this mandate seriously.  I would get caught up in simply "feeding the hungry."  About a month ago however, something happened and I was forced to re-evaluate my heart, my faith, and my mission.

        Mark faithfully came to our Newark outreach every week.  Most of the time he came for a free lemonade and a quick hello.  At one time he had expressed an interest in detox, but within a few weeks the desire had faded.  Mark was a former semi-pro basket ball player.  Unfortunately due to a knee injury his career had abruptly ended.  Mark had developed a heroin addiction.  From there he contracted HIV.  Recently cancer had also started to take over his body.  For the past few years Mark has lived in subsidized housing, paying women who prostitute themselves to keep him company.  A month ago Mark went into the emergency room with pneumonia and never came out.
        I've had quite a bit of time to wonder if I had done enough to show him the love of Christ.  Sure I had always welcomed him with a smile.  But the importance of the Christ's commission has now taken on a face.  We can read books, take pictures, and listen to music about feeding the hungry, but all this pales in comparison to the larger story that God is calling us into.  The story of taking God's love to the world through demonstration and proclamation.  The two are married, not to be separated.  This message of love and grace is not just for the poor.  Its value is not measured the feelings we get, but by the seeds we sow in life's storms and its draughts.  All who read this, I beg you, put down your books, stop taking your pictures, abandon your ipods... Go tell your neighbor that God loves them, very much...

        

      

       

Support...

"Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, 'Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!"

Mark 1:23-24

        Every Tuesday morning the Relief Bus prays and worships together.  We pray for each other, for those we minister to, and anyone else God puts on our hearts.  This past Tuesday while worshiping I started to read the book of Mark and was struck by the word "interfering."

        Being a missionary I'm often told that I'm on the front lines against what Satan is doing on the streets.  However, doing this everyday I sometimes I lose sight of that.  After reading this passage I started to wonder if I am, in fact, "interfering" with the enemy or if I've become a slave to the routine.  It was a humbling question to ask.  I started to think about specific people that I've developed a relationship with over this past year and wonder if I've done my part in effectively showing them the love of Christ.  It was then I realized I needed to be recharged.

        Therefore I am humbly asking for your support.  Many of you have come by my side financially and kept my bank account stable and for that I thank you (and please don't stop as I am getting married in December)!  But if you can, please pray that God continues to spiritually sustain me in my ministry here at the Relief Bus.  God is working in the lives of some amazing people and I do not want to miss it because of fatigue!  Here are a few examples of people God has put in my life.  Please partner with me in praying that God continue to reveal his love to each of these individuals and neighborhoods! 

Manhattan

• "S": A friend of mine who is currently looking for a job.  He also struggles with loneliness.
  
•  "S2": An older gentleman who is very intellectual, but hates Christians.  Despite his disdain, every week we go back and forth on multiple issues.  Through this friendly banter we've developed a genuine friendship.  Pray that he sees Christ through our interactions.
• "J": A homeless man who has completely given up on everything and embraced his identity as an outcast.

The South Bronx

• John Owens:  Many of you that follow my posts will remember John. I pulled John out of the South Bronx and connected him with a discipleship program in Newark.  He is doing excellent, but please pray that God continue to open doors for the future-schooling, job, housing, ect. 
  
• Alice:  Continued healing from back surgery.  Also peace and direction for her children.
• "J": A retired FDNY fireman who struggles with alcoholism.

Newark's South Ward

• The Seth Boyden Projects:  A month ago we received the official word that the city will be closing the projects in the fall.  Pray that we continue to see God moving in the hearts of the families we have had the pleasure of ministering to throughout the years.
• "JR":  A very good friend of mine who despite being homeless continues to hold onto hope for the future. 

Newark's North Ward

• Praise for a recent addition to our volunteer team.  Tara, a teacher in Newark, has agreed to develop a children's discipleship program at our site in north Newark.
• Broadway Town Houses:  This is our first summer at this spot and we are already starting to see the "animation" that comes with the summer months!  Pray for peace and protection in this neighborhood where we minister.  Pray that God would continue bringing the homeless, the addicted, the prostitute, and the lonely to our newest site in Newark's North Ward.

Home (my most important ministry)

• Please continue to pray for April and I are we plan our wedding!  I am beyond excited to see what God has in store for my future wife and I!
• My brother Samuel is leaving this week on an extended missions trip to Africa.  Please pray for safety and guidance for him!
• My brother-in-law Josiah recently graduated from law school.  As he prepares for the bar pray that God would open the right doors for him and my sister as they continue to move forward!  

Thank you for your continued support!  Grace and Peace to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ...

~Lance 

    

 

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

      It has been quite a bit of time since my last post, and for that I apologize.  But let me assure you this past month has been anything but uneventful!  As most of you know, all of my posts have been about my happenings on the streets of NYC and Newark.  This time however I'm going to bring it home.  I'm happy to announce to all of you that as of two weeks ago I am engaged to be married!!
      For quite a bit of time I have been developing and pursuing a relationship with April Sobocinski, a regular volunteer with us here at the Relief Bus.  She is a person that has come by my side and supported me through my time as a missionary.  She has inspired me to be a better man.  She encourages me to continually take the next step in whatever I'm pursuing.  I can honestly say that I have found the woman that God has intended for me!  She has exceeded my expectations for a wife! And she truly has received the short end of the stick with me! 
      About two months ago while having coffee with her father, asking for his blessing, he started to reminisce about his marriage.  He told me that when you know, you know.  I know!  This is the woman I love and will do everything I need to do to have her by my side!
      Even as I write this it is difficult to convey my passion for the future with my fiance!  I am beyond excited to see what the Master has in store for us!  Please pray for April and I as we take the next step in starting our lives together!  Grace & peace to you all...

 

A Journey Through the Streets of Newark...

       Prior to coming on as a full-time staff member with the Relief Bus I had the privilege of volunteering with the outreach in Newark's South Ward.  When I began volunteering, another missionary, Jim Berry was running the Newark operation.  Much has changed in that neighborhood over the past three years, but there was one gentlemen that I vividly remembered even then. His name is Fred. 

       Fred was chronically homeless, addicted to heroin, in and out of jail, sold drugs, and was known around that particular neighborhood as a "bum".  Despite all of this, Fred regularly continued visiting us at the Bus.  Always thankful to see us.  For the past year, each week that Fred came, I would do the same as Jim had done each week three years ago -- offer hope.  For four years Fred's response was always the same, "one day I'll give you guys a call.". 

        About a month ago, as I was leading the outreach in Manhattan, I got call from our base.  Yaz, a fellow missionary, told me that a homeless gentleman had knocked on the door and was looking to get into a detox.  Because we are based out of Elizabeth this is not an uncommon occurrence.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get him into detox until Monday and it was Wednesday.  Yaz asked me if I knew of a shelter we could put him in until then.  I gave him some advice then hung up the phone, not thinking anything of it.  Following the outreach, we returned to the base. To my utter shock and disbelief I saw Fred sitting in our conference room!  After four years of seed sowing by Jim, myself, and countless other volunteers, Fred woke up that morning and decided enough was enough.  

      Having worked this job for over a year, there is only one other time have I seen someone as dedicated and excited about turning his life around.  For the next three days Fred spent his time at the base with me in order to keep himself off the streets and away from the dealers. I'm happy to announce that after successfully completing detox we were able to connect Fred with a rehab to continue getting his life together!

       Please continue to pray for our friend as God continues to unravel the years of addiction and hopelessness that has plagued Fred for years! Below the picture is an article that Jim Berry wrote three years ago about Fred, I hope you all enjoy!! Grace and Peace...

Myself, Fred, and Jim about a month ago

Freddie—was laid off from his job like many others at his job. He began to collect unemployment, but once his check ran out, unable to find more work, he became homeless. He’s been homeless at least 3 months now, struggling with feelings of shame and fear, he said, “I don’t smell, I stink! I can’t even get a shower, and no one will hire me because I stink. I’m embarrassed!” He’s tried going to shelters, but many of them have been unsafe because of the rising problems of theft, thus its been weeks since his last shower. His situation sounds hopeless, but I began to encourage Freddie that there is hope and to not give up. I prayed with Freddie and gave him some info on where he could go for help, a shower, and work opportunity. He doesn’t know God yet, but he is seeking after Him, please pray that Freddie would find a true relationship with God and that he would find employment and housing in these difficult times.

Fred and Jim three years ago

The Harvest...

"A farmer went out to plant some seeds."

~ Jesus

(Matthew 13:3)

        The interesting thing about the parable of the sower is that he has no control of the seed once it leaves his hand.  Despite knowing a large portion of his labor will prove to be unfruitful, faithfully he goes.  Over the past year this parable has come alive, it has taken a tangible form, and put on flesh.  Day in and day out we go into some of the worst neighborhoods of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Newark sowing seeds of hope, love, and grace.  Some listen, some don't.  In the midst of prostitution, drugs, alcohol, HIV, violence, homelessness, and systemic injustices it often feels as if the ground we sow in is rather barren.  In the midst of this craziness however, only by the grace of the Master, we see miracles.  Sometimes we have to be on the lookout, but they do happen, everyday.  All I can do is hold on and see what God does with the seeds I have the privilege of scattering.

       That being said it is nice to sometimes sit back and see all that God has done through us over the past year.  A few days ago the staff had the opportunity to see our numbers for 2011.  I would love to share these numbers with those of you that support us here so that we may celebrate together!

Units of Food and Drink Served: 339,778

Prayers Offered on the Street:  7,665

People Who Received Clothing:  12, 469

Bibles Distributed:  717

Info Sheets Handed Out (food pantries, clothing pantries, shelters, housing agencies):  2,724

Office Visits (one on one encounters with a staff person to discuss life change):  874

Referrals: 620

This next one excites me the most!

Decisions for Christ: 208

        As we move forward into 2012 I can only hope and pray to see numbers that exceed what we saw in 2011!  If you and your family haven't done so already, please consider partnering with me on my team for 2012.  If you have any questions please don't hesitate contacting me.  And as always please keep us in prayer as we continue walking the journey God has set before us.  Grace and Peace...

 

.