Shaun and Jonah

Shaun and Jonah met over a year ago. Shaun, a member of the Bellflower House Church, had been volunteering for several months with the Homeless Task Force and wanted to take the next step and commit to praying for one homeless neighbor in particular and establish a relationship with him. Jonah has been on the streets since his grandmother passed away three years ago. His kind spirit and outgoing personality was endearing to whomever he encountered. One Tuesday night when we hit the streets for our relational outreach, Shaun and I found Jonah lying on his back unconscious from an overdose of medication that wasn’t his. Shaun and I loaded him in our vehicle and took him to the nearest hospital, fearing that he wasn’t going to make it.
Shaun went back to visit him later that week and formed a friendship. A year later, after hundreds of encounters with Shaun, and much prayer on Shaun’s part, Jonah had hit bottom. He and some friends had been drinking behind the liquor store when they began to argue. Before Jonah knew it he was on the ground, pummeled by two of his “friends”. He woke up the next day at the local hospital. Upon discharge the social workers asked where he wanted to be dropped off and he indicated he wanted to come to the Community Center. Shaun was there and we were able to pray with him and he agreed that he needed long term help. That night we had a party celebrating his decision. Pizza, pasta, salad and soda flowed. Jonah had turned and wanted help! He stayed that night at Shaun’s home and the next day we brought him to a mission to get help with rehabilitation. He’s been there now over 30 days, beating his previous sobriety streak by 10 days. Shaun continues to go visit him on a weekly basis providing him with support and prayer. This is our ideal. Connect people with supportive relationships via the body of Christ.

We need a place to practice!!!

In the next two weeks both of the neighborhood teams that we've been working with will lose access to their practice field. We're in desperate need of some green space. The city of Bellflower only has 3 parks with fields and they're booked up all year with city leagues (mostly football & baseball). Our boys need a place to practice on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-8pm.

I write this blog for two reasons: 1) To put the need out there in case any of you have access to a school field, a large church property or something creative and 2) So that when we figure this out we can give God the glory.

Please respond with any input or connections you have. Thanks!

Progress with Neighborhood Soccer Teams

We were able to purchase the uniforms & practice balls/equipment for Team Barcelona (15-18) today. The boys have worked hard to raise money and are now able to look like an official team, thanks to the donation from Kiwanis last Friday. Here's what their uniforms will look like:




This week we will focus on helping the younger Barcelona team... I call them Barcelona Juniors because I get them mixed up.

If you are interested in coming out to support the boys on either team, please give me a call at our office number (562.804.2189) and I'll set you up with the upcoming schedule. Games are usually on Saturday mornings. Please come out and cheer on the teams. It means a lot to them.

Also, I just heard of a girls team that is starting up in our neighborhood.

We DEFINITELY need a park!!

Proud of our young men...

I am so proud of Sabino & Fernando. We just got back from a Kiwanis service club meeting where they did a presentation on their neighborhood soccer team, Barcelona. Their team has raised over $1,000 on their own, but they needed $1,444 more to finish buying uniforms and paying registration/insurance. They did such a good job that the group pledged $1,000 from thier children's foundation. In addition to that, individuals were so impressed by Sabino & Fernando's efforts and gave an additional $455 out of their own pockets to support the team.

Praise God for his faithfulness & provisions.

It is an honor to work with these talented neighbors. I am full of hope and excitement for our community.

This is the flyer that we passed out at the meeting today:

Good Neighbors with Creative Ideas

On Monday, 14 neighbors attended our first Eucalyptus/Cornuta neighborhood meeting of the year. Each person had so many thoughts and ideas to share. We ended up focusing on two ideas: 1)supporting the local soccer teams by fundraising, encouraging neighbors to help with rides & attend their games and 2) promoting the neighborhood clean-up day hosted by the city this weekend. The next day I received calls from a few of the neighbors who had already begun working on some of the projects discussed at the meeting. There is so much excitement! Neighbors are pooling together their resources and using creativity to help one another. What a glimpse of the Kingdom.

Today a few of us neighbors helped with rides for Barcelona (Soccer Team 16-18yrs). We stayed for the game to support our boys. They played well, but ended up losing to the oposing team (who is in 2nd place). When we got home we went out to the neighborhood clean-up day. The city blocked off a small portion of our street to set up BRIM (Bellflower Recreation in Motion) for the kids and had a spot for snacks, arts & crafts.

I'd love to see something like this happen again during the summer. The kids need space to play. The parks are too far. I did find out that construction, where the existing railroad tracks are, is going to start in the next two months for a walk/bike path. It's still not enough space to play, but I'm hoping it's a start.

Support Team Barcelona

The young men who are a part of EUCY (Eucalyptus Urban Council of Youth) play on a soccer team mostly made up of neighborhood kids from our street. The team was started a few months ago when a neighbor noticed a large group of talented boys playing pick-up games at the park. He found out that most of these boys were not on any official team and decided to help organize and join a league with thier team, Barcelona.

I met with the coach's wife and son this morning to hear more about their story. She shared about how she went to each of their homes to meet their families and check-out their situation before the season started. She found that many of the kids live in single-parent homes or with an aunt or a grandma, making it difficult for them to afford the equipment & uniforms and get rides to practices & games.

During the next week we will be going to several meetings with the parents and local service organizations to figure out a way to help raise money and find support for this team. We see Team Barcelona as an asset to our neighborhood as it provides a healthy alternative to gang and drug involvement and gives the boys something to take pride in.

Please pray for us as we work together to advance this cause.