Amazing Blessings

MY FLATMATE CLAUDIA GAVE HER LIFE TO JESUS!!!! Please be praying for her as she begins this new journey with Christ and for me in how best I can come alongside her.

This has been a crazy busy season but also one in which I’ve been so overwhelmingly blessed by God’s faithfulness to provide and His abundant love. One such crazy blessing is that someone anonymously paid for me to go on the Israel trip that Pastor Tonye is leading in Jan. So beyond excited to go on this journey with this precious group of saints. Majority of the women that are going are ones too that I really have a heart for. Liz is also one of the women going. 

Filming Natasha’s Project

I’ve had the privilege of coming alongside a girl in our fellowship, Erena, as she has sought to develop and expand her own dance company to raise awareness on human trafficking. Erena is also one of the girls I do Red Room ministry with. It has been so beautiful to watch as she has gotten so much more bold for the Gospel not only on the streets but also in her dance piece. This last month I got to film their piece as they performed it at a fashion show called Fashion for Freedom.

Red Room Ministry Update

In the last month we really have begun to see glimpses of fruit. We’ve been getting more and more opportunities to really connect with some of the girls and share the Gospel more. One night one of the girls that we’ve gotten to know more took a break and went and got coffee with us. It was so different to get to sit down and have good conversation when we were a bit removed from their work place.
We’ve been having more girls telling us their real names, which is huge that they are that comfortable with us and trust us. We’ve even gotten phone numbers of a few of the girls and they have been excited about getting together for dinner outside of work. Pray for actual follow through with this because so far they haven’t responded to us actually texting them to setup a time to get together.

Really be praying too for more opportunities for the Lord to supernaturally speak through us, as He knows their hearts and what will reach them. There have been a few times where the Lord has put a scripture or specific word on one of our hearts to share with a specific girl. Each time we have stepped out in that they have been significantly moved by it.

We have also begun walking and praying over more the heart of the sex district in Soho. It is so gut wrenching to walk past the brothels, strip clubs and drug dealers. There is such a need for Jesus. One night I got to talk to one of the girls working the front desk at one of the brothels that has the cover of a ‘message parlor.’ Praying for the Lord’s leading on how else He may have us reaching out in this area. Also, for more people to come alongside of us as right now there are only 3 of us girls.

Women’s Film Night

This last month we had a women’s film and prayer night to watch Gospel for Asia’s documentary Veil of Tears. It is such a blessing to have so many women in our fellowship that really are passionate about wanting to make a difference in world. One of our hearts is to encourage those that are passionate about social justice issues to not only try to do good deeds but to do it in the name of Jesus and to share the Gospel. Watching this film was an amazing example of a ministry that is not only tackling a huge social injustice but are also bringing the hope of Jesus Christ and seeing lives and whole communities transformed by the power of Christ. Watch the film if you get a chance.

Discipleship

It has been such a gift to be discipling Lauren. As we have begun going through Phil. together I love watching her really start to learn how to break down the scripture for herself. One of the huge aspects of discipleship though is merely inviting someone into your life to follow you as you follow Christ. I’ve been able to really form a sweet relationship with Lauren and been getting to live life with her. Some of the biggest ministry moments aren’t when we are just sitting down in the Word together.

It has been so sweet to watch Lauren and her fiance Kristian grow in the Lord together as a couple as well. The other week I was blessed to get to do an engagement shoot for them. Then got such a cool ministry opportunity afterwards as we were headed back to the house. We came across a girl who was on a major drug overdose and in a very bad state. We not only got to get her help but also I was able to have a crazy supernatural ministry moment with her sharing the Gospel. It’s moments like this along with the ones where I’m sharing with Lauren about things in life one of us are going through that are some of the sweetest discipleship moments. I really encourage you to walk with someone who is younger than you in the faith and let them in your life to follow you as you follow Christ. So worth it!

Jesus Nights & UTurn Guys

One of the blessings of doing Jesus Nights is all the guys from the rehab, that we do a Bible study at, come to it. These guys love coming and say it is a huge highlight. The exciting part is at the last few we have had the privilege of seeing some of these guys give their lives to Christ. At the last one two of the new guys there surrendered their lives. One of them in particular I’ve really seen a huge change in him over the last few weeks.

Please continue to keep the UTurn guys in your prayers. Most of the group in their right now are pretty early on still in their steps at the program but we are really seeing God transforming some of these guys lives. Please be praying too as one of the guys who was getting pretty close to finishing actually left this past week and relapsed some. It just so breaks my heart to see that happen but esp with this guy as he was doing so good and was really growing in the Lord.

Being strengthened by the Lord & available for ministry

This last month I have really had some ups and downs with health, both with my muscle disorder being really bad at times and with getting pretty sick. The Lord has been giving me times of good rest as well as giving me His strength for ministry when I’ve needed it.

It has been a cool season of just seeking the Lord and being available, whether that be for pouring into people or getting off the bus randomly when the Holy Spirit prompts to share the Gospel with someone on the street. I encourage you to be available for the Lord to use you in unexpected ways this week.

Dance Prayer Night

God has really been putting on my heart the need to be spending more time in prayer, just seeking His face and interceding for individuals and the ministry. Another girl, who is a dancer, and I had it on our hearts to open up a time and space for those that best express their hearts through dance to be able to spend time in prayer through dance. A time to be able to just individually and personally lay our hearts before the Lord and listen to hear His heart, whether that be through being still, on our faces before Him or through movement. About 5 of us ladies ended up having a much needed evening of
sweet prayer.

Red Room Ministry Update

As we have continued faithfully to go each week to minister to the girls and bouncers at Red Room, we are beginning to see hints of what the Lord is doing there. God keeps opening up doors for us to continue to share the Gospel over and over especially with the bouncers. At times I know we drive them crazy because somehow we bring everything back to Jesus, yet they still actually kinda like having us around. I love that one day part of their testimonies will be about these crazy girls that just kept coming back and wouldn’t stop talking about Jesus.

Hakan, the Muslim bouncer, has really seemed to be searching recently in regards to his faith. He has actually been rejecting a lot of the things within the Muslim faith and culture because of how messed up they seem. Though he is still convinced that Allah is the truth, the aspects he is being drawn to of

Discipleship

This month I have had the privilege of beginning to disciple a younger woman in our fellowship named Lauren. She is American but lived in Ireland for many years with her family. She is a dancer and performer. Her fiance and her have recently moved back to London. They lived in London for a handful of months at the beginning of the year and started coming to our church. They are a fun couple and it is so sweet to have them back. God has been doing a lot in their lives and it’s awesome to see them really maturing in the Lord. It has been a gift to start discipling Lauren and going through the book of Philippians.

I’ve also been continuing to come alongside and kinda disciple Liz. God has been doing a lot of molding and shaping in her life recently. Though she has struggled at times God is doing such a beautiful work in her. Please be praying for her as she will be away in Bath for a couple of months for a show she is performing in. Slowly the Lord has been giving her a greater peace and even some joy about remaining an actress.

I really encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to read the post on my blog with her testimony. http://naomielissa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/lizs-photoshoot-testimony.html You will be encouraged and blessed to hear what the Lord has done in her life.

Pray...

• The Lord’s leading and wisdom as I seek to be used by Him to disciple Lauren and Liz.

Visit From Dear Friends

At the beginning of September we had the blessing of the Pottengers visiting us in London. They are missionaries in Kenya, however, years ago Matt used to be one of our pastors at Shoreline Morro Bay. I’ve had the privilege of taking multiple missions trips with them to Kenya as well as be in women’s bible study for years and dance ministry with Peg. It was so encouraging and such a gift to get to spend some time with them here in London.

It was so special to get to have Pastor Matt lead worship and teach for our Wed night service. It was like having a flash back to the old days at Shoreline in Morro Bay. It made me just in awe with what all the Lord has done in so many of our lives since then and where all the Lord has brought us. There are many brothers and sisters from those days back in Morro Bay that are now missionaries all over the world. Several amazing Godly men and women have been raised up in that church and are serving the Lord full on in the various different places life has brought them. Reflecting on all the Lord has done made me so stoked for our current fellowship at Shoreline North London. I can’t wait to see where we all will be in ten years, who will be raised up in ministry, sent out as missionaries and what all the Lord will do in and through each precious brother and sister.

On the Tues Night Peggy abundantly blessed the ladies in our fellowship by sharing at a women’s night. It was such a privilege to get to her Peg teaching again and sharing about the struggles and the joys of life and ministry in Kenya. Many of the ladies were deeply touch and impacted by what the Lord shared through Peg.

Liz's Photoshoot & Testimony

I had the privilege of doing a photoshoot for Liz. She’s one of the West End performers that started coming to our Tues Bible study towards the end of last year. Since then she has given her life to Jesus and He has made her into such a beautiful new creation. She asked me if I would be willing to do a photoshoot for her because she wanted new headshots to have as an actress now that she is a Christian. She explained how before there was such an emptiness in her eyes where as now there is life.

I asked her if she would be willing to write out her testimony for me to share on my blog along with her photos from her shoot (see a few at the bottom). Bellow you will find her story of what God has done in her life. She is such a gift. I know God is going to continue to use her to touch lives. Please feel free to share her story with others.

Liz's Testimony:

My coming to receiving the gift of faith is something I am still surprised by........

Got to see Lion King!

I finally got the opportunity to go see The Lion King on the West End. What a spectacular show. What made it infinitely more special, however, was knowing so many of the people in the cast and crew that we have had the privilege of ministering to and some that are dear friends. It was also the last weekend that Melina was in it before she switched to be in the touring show with her boyfriend. So it was special to get to support her.


An extra blessing in it all is that I was able to take my flatmate Claudia with me. This was the first time that we actually just got to hangout together and get to know each other a little better. She also got to join a few of us afterwards for a small good bye dinner with Melina. During which time we all went around and shared words of encouragement for Melina and was in which we had seen Christ work in and through her. All the while Claudia got to hear all these testimonies of Christ through Melina.

Claudia, Melina (Plays Nala), Me & Sarah (plays a lead hyena)

This really opened up the door the next day to get to talk more with Claudia and invite her to church. She has been coming to church with me every Sunday since and I have been able to give here a Bible and talk more with her about the Bible and Christ.

Baptisms August 2014

We had another fantastic day of baptisms in Brighton. These are always such joyous occasions.

I also thought it might be fun to add a few pics of what I do during and after baptisms. It is such a blessing to get to use my photography for ministry. Afterwards I make certificates for each person that got baptized with their pictures on them and burn a disc for them of the pics from the whole day. It is a cool way for them to remember such a significant day.

Red Room Ministries Update

It has been amazing to watch as the Lord has continued to give us favor at the Red Room to reach out to the strippers and bouncers that work there. They all come to expect and even look forward to us coming every Thurs night. One of the girls even said that is why she likes working those nights. We have really been able to build relationships with them and get to know them. These girls and guys have become very dear to our hearts.

Most importantly we have had many opportunities to share the Gospel with several of the girls and with all of the bouncers. Since we spend most of the time with the bouncers outside we’ve gotten to have several long conversations with them about Jesus. Pray that they would each have personal encounters with Jesus Christ and get it. That the eyes of their understanding would be opened and they would be able to grasp their need and Christ’s amazing gift of salvation. The main guys we’ve been able to share with are Ha (Muslim but not devoutly practicing, can’t grasp idea of Christ’s sacrifice on cross, grace and forgiveness) and S (sees Christianity as being weak, doesn’t like idea of not being in control). Some of the other guys we’ve shared the Gospel with are T, V and P. (Note for sensitivity reasons I don't want to share their full names since this is a public blog)

A few of the girls that are heavy on my heart are Sc, In, Tr and Ol. There are so many more but these I have had more personal conversations with. Especially with In and Ol I have been able to clearly share the Gospel with. So many of them have such distorted views of what love and Christianity are. So thankful for all the conversation with these girls and for the times we get to just laugh and have fun with them as well. We are praying that the Lord would open up opportunities to get together with the girls outside of their work. We have talked with some of them about the possibility of doing a hip hop dance class for any of the girls working there that want to. A few of them have showed a lot of interest. So, if that is the Lord’s will for us to use that as a platform to share Jesus with them, that it would all come together to happen.

Prayer requests:

• For the salvation of the bouncers and girls that work at Red Room. That the Lord would continue to open doors to share Jesus. 
• One of our big hearts right now is to try to meet up with them outside of their work environment. Possibly doing a hip hop dance class with them.
• For a couple of solid Godly men to join us for outreach to the bouncers and the other promoters (for clubs and brothels) and pimps on the streets around the club. Currently just 4 of us girls going out right now regularly.
• For protection for our lungs as the only time we get to chat with the girls is while they are on a cigaret break. 

Red Room Ministry

While I was in the states in May a few people from our church started going to share Jesus with the strippers and bouncers outside of a club in Central London called the Red Room. Liz, one of the performers on the West End, noticed each night these girls standing outside the club on their  cigarettes breaks and was compelled to go share with them. This then launched a small group of others to consistently go every Thurs. night to continue to reach out to them. It took awhile to start to build the trust with them but it is amazing what consistency and home baked goodies can do to tear down barriers.

At the beginning of July I started to join them for these Thurs. night outreaches. It has been amazing to see how the Lord continues to break down the walls with them as we continue to come week after week. We have really begun to build some good relationships with the bouncers, and though they won’t all admit it, they actually look forward to us coming each week now. One of the bouncers is Islamic and the others all have some issue with religion, however, we are getting to continue to show a true representation of who Christ is and what real Christians look like. 

We only get to have brief conversations at a time with the girls as they are only allowed out front while they smoke a cigarette. But over the weeks we have begun to build relationships with some of them and share the love of Christ with them. Some nights though they can be pretty drunk, as some of them say the only way they can get through their jobs is to drink. Most of the girls are from Romania, so not all their English is all that great. Most of them have some idea of ‘religion’ of some sort but not of the Gospel of Christ. It is so heartbreaking though as multiple of them have made comments about how they have so many ‘religious’ clients which has left them so jaded. But bit by bit we are being able to share with them something so different than anything they have ever heard of or seem before...the true love of Christ. The Gospel!

So many of these girls do want to get out of this line of work but it is really difficult to. One of the girls, who’s only 19, told Errena the other week about how she supports her family back in Romania and this is the only way she can make this much money without selling herself for sex. Other girls have told us that this particular strip club is actually one of the best to work for because you don’t have to have sex, whereas a lot of other strip clubs that isn’t the case.

It is so unbelievably heart breaking as we learn more and more about what goes on there and around us on the streets. As you see young women, that are clearly prostitutes get into taxis and leave with men. Hear some of the promoters for other clubs and brothels, that are the street around us, tell us that some of them are actually pastors. Or have the girls at the club tell us that it is the slow season this month because kids are on holiday from school so more guys actually stay home with their families. They so desperately are in need of Jesus!!!! Pray for more open doors for us to be able to share the Gospel and shine light in the midst of such darkness.

Each morning as I make my way home after a night of outreach, as the day begins to dawn and the sun shines forth, I'm reminded of the amazing hope that we have in Christ. His light is greater than any darkness. I rejoice in His salvation. Christ redeemed me from the darkness and now I stand in His glorious light. I rejoice that we have the privilege to be tools in His hands to bring the light of His salvation to these dark streets.

Project Dance London 2014

Every summer there’s another organization that puts on Project Dance with live performances by Christian dancers outside down near Tower Bridge. They also hold dance classes during the weekend. Unfortunately, as an organization they are more just about ‘inspiring’ people versus sharing the Gospel. However, I’m so stoked for the different individuals and dance companies, such as Rebirth, that did pieces that were so bold for Jesus.

Please keep Rebirth Dance Network in your prayers as the Lord is really doing some amazing things with them and opening up some cool doors. The leaders are really standing strongly that no matter where they perform Jesus will be the center and they’ll share the Gospel. I believe God is really honoring them for that.

Bellow are a couple videos of different dances that Rebirth performed and one that another Christian dance program called Elevate. Elevate is a Christian dance company that does year long training for dance interns from all over UK and abroad. They then tour around the UK performing at different churches and events. This is one of their pieces from their tour. Several of these girls come to our church.
Rebirth Dance Network



Elevate
>

Jesus Night (July)

The first Sunday of every month we have what we call Jesus Night. It is a night of praise and worship that we try to have in a more public place to invite people in off the streets. We call is Jesus Night cause we want to make it very clear who it is that we are worshiping. The last couple of times we have had it down in Central London at Cafe Eterno. I love getting to stand out on the street and invite passersby in. One of the highlights for our July one was a couple came in that was French and didn’t speak English much. Afterwards a couple people from our fellowship who speak French got to share Jesus with them and pray for them. Afterwards Hugo and Melina were so stoked because that was the first time since they have come to know Jesus that they have had the privilege of sharing Jesus and pray with others in their own native language.

June 2014 Baptisms

What a blessed day with beautiful sunshine getting to watch out brothers and sisters testify of what Christ has done in their lives!

I love getting to do photography for baptisms.

A Look at life and ministry in London

Rebirth Dance Network

We have some amazing dancers of all different styles in our fellowship. It is so exciting to see some of them really using their talents share Christ. D7 (Daniel) is an incredible hip hop dancer and has started his own dance company called Rebirth Dance Network. They are truly being bold about Jesus and are the leading urban Christian dance theatre company in London.

D7 choreographed such a powerful piece for a secular dance venue called Icon. Each dance company was supposed to pick a female icon, current or past, and do a piece about them. Well Rebirth did an incredibly powerful piece on Corrie Ten Boom who was put in a concentration camp for harboring jews and saw family die. Latter on in life when speaking at a church she meets one of the soldiers who killed her sister and is faced with forgiving this man because of what Christ has done for us.

Their piece is called 'the F word'

Easter 2014

What a glorious time celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with our amazing church family. I love seeing those that serve coming together using all their different gifts and talents to worship the Lord. From amazing singers worshipping through song, to musicians through instruments, to dancers through movement, to servants serving tea and coffee…

God really is doing an amazing work in our incredibly diverse and beautiful fellowship. Lives are being transformed and set on fire for Jesus!

Bellow is a video of the dance that D7 shared on Easter Sunday as well. I love the diversity of gifts that can be used to glorify God and minister to people.

Easter Outreach Dance

On Good Friday a group of us took to the streets with a dance to share the Gospel and invite people to Easter Service. We have so many amazing dancers in our fellowship and it has really been on my heart to bring some together for outreach in the city. Outreach for Easter was the perfect opportunity to start this. This time around it was kind of a last minute thing that we pulled together but it really sparked an excitement in some of the dancers for more to come. I’m so stoked to see what all the Lord is going to continue to do through dance as a tool for outreach here.

It was such a blessing for me to get to be apart of dancing again, even if in a small way. I'm really praying that at some point the Lord would heal my muscles enough so that I can dance again or at least give me the strength to endure the pain if I am supposed to start dancing again some anyways.





Here is a video of when we did the dance at church the following Sunday. Sorry the sound quality in the video isn't that great.

Baptisms

The day before Easter we all headed down to the beach in Brighton for baptisms. Four young women in our fellowship, who have more recently given their lives to Christ, chose to make this public declaration of what Christ has done in their lives. Declaring how they’re old self was burried with Christ in His death and now they have a new life through His resurrection.

We had about 40 people from our church family that all made the trip down to support them and celebrate with them. We had such a sweet time of praise and worship on the beach, a short teaching on what baptism is all about and then in the water they went. I love too how other people around on the beach get to over hear the Gospel.

Passover!

The Sunday before Easter we transformed the back room at Cafe Eterno and put on a 1st Century Passover experience. It is so beautiful as we look at the symbolism in this celebration that God ordained as remembrance of the bondage we set free from and beautiful covenant He has made with us. Every aspect of it points us to sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our Passover lamb. The Lamb without spot or blemish that takes away the sins of the world. Then He offers us the cup of the covenant and says “Will you be mine?”

It was such a joy to serve alongside my brothers and sisters to put this on. Everyone had a lot of fun and lives were impacted. God is so good!

Pray for the guys at Uturn

Please be praying for our guys at UTurn as there is a lot of hard stuff going on there right now. Conflicts with staff, guys leaving and then the death of a guy that was sort of part of the house. It is always so heartbreaking when you see a guy give up and walk away, especially when you had seen them really start to grow in the Lord. What these guys go through in recovery is really hard especially when some of the staff really doesn’t handle things well either. Then you add on top of that this guys death. Tensions and drama are really high right now. Please pray for peace there, for everyone to draw near to the Lord and for the enemy not to get footholds in there!

York Bible College Outreach Team

We had another team come down from theCalvary Chapel Bible College up in York. This time it was only a team of 3, which made my job of organizing and overseeing it a lot easier. They really were a delight to have and it was such a blessing to have them out in the streets sharing Jesus. 

One of the highlights for me was getting to go with a few of the performers on the West End to several of the theatres and pray over the theatre companies individually. They were able to give us some unique insights into what goes on back stages and how to be praying for some of the specific companies. 
The team was also out on the streets in Camden a lot doing evangelism. And they came with us to make breakfast and hangout with the guys at UTurn Rehab.

Breakfast with the Ladies

A couple other ladies from the Tues West End Bible study and I have really had a heart to see the women brought into deeper fellowship. So we decided to have a women’s breakfast. It ended up being such a blessed morning!

I shared at it a devo about the Word of God and how much we need it daily and need to be reading it for ourselves. The same Word that spoke and created the universe is the same Word that speaks every time we open this precious book. The Word that was spoken so we can have a deep and intimate relationship with our Saviour. It is how we know Him. So why do we always go to what everyone else says about the supposed Lover of our souls versus the Word of our Beloved Himself? It really is the power to transform our lives and we can’t live without it.

It ended up being a mix of women from our Tues study as well as a number of other women that the ladies knew needed some good fellowship. It was cool to see it really met a need for so many of these women that have been craving solid fellowship. Several of them are performers of various nature, since they work at such odd times it’s hard to get plugged in at a church. However, it also kinda broke my heart to see that though some of these women attend other churches they aren’t getting really any solid fellowship. Also, many of them were so refreshed and challenged to be reminded about our need for the pure milk of God’s Word. Please be praying for how we can continue to reach out to these ladies as well as for the other churches that they would teach to pure Word of God and have true fellowship centered around Christ.

Our Fellowship

Church Feb 2014, a set on Flickr.

One thing that really makes this fellowship so special is the love that they have for one another. After church on Sundays and Wednesdays everyone stays for a couple of hours just to fellowship and then several even go out together after that to spend more time together. It is beautiful to see new comers responses as they are overwhelmed with how they are instantly family here. Please continue to pray though for continued deep growth spiritually, in the Word and for strong leaders to rise up.

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

The Holyde Family (pastor’s family) and I got the amazing blessing of getting to go watch Charlie & the Chocolate Factory on the West End the other week. It was such a spectacular show! What made it amazing though was the fact that we were there because four of the members of the cast and crew are now our dear brothers and sisters in Christ that come to Bible study with us. Also, the fact that us just going to see them in the show meant so much and was such a blessing to them. 

These four are a few of the ones really eager to grow in the Lord that come. Liz (second to the left above) is Mike Teavee’s mother in the play, David (front center) is an Oompa-Loompa, Jack (back right) and Alice (not pictured) work back stage. Be praying for these guys as they are lights for Jesus in this theatre.

We got the extra blessing of getting a whole backstage tour with them afterwards, which was pretty amazing.

Covent Garden Study

We are seeing bright sparks being lit up for Jesus in Lion King, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Book of Mormon, Lost Boys and Body Guard. We have even started a class before the study on an overview of the Bible, how to really study it and then how to share it because so many of the people really are so eager and hungry to know the Word of God and grow deeper. 

A couple of the other girls and myself really have a heart for building deeper fellowship amongst the women outside of the study. So many of them are such brand new believers and really struggle with looking to the all the empty things of this world for fulfillment in ways only God can. Especially in the area of guys. They really need Godly women walking alongside them to see and be encouraged in what it looks like to live with Christ as our everything.