Sending out a heartfelt thanks to each person who Desire Fellowship has had the privilege of walking alongside in our journey through 2011. We are looking forward with great faith and hope for all God will do in 2012!

-Oscar

To see how the holy spirit come into that place with so much power really revealed to me just how much God desires for those kids to be shown love. We did not do anything fancy, just spend time with them and share God’s truth with them in love. The kids realize that something different is coming into their lives. They recognize real love when they see it. We need more people willing to invest into kids like that, who want to see the holy spirit doing miraculous things in lives and families.

These boys are generally known as troublemakers in the neighborhood, stereotypical inner city kids riding around on their bikes looking for something to get into. People always want to write these kids off and talk about their bad attitudes and bad behavior, but nobody wants to talk about their situation – why this one is angry, why that one is always upset.

All this made me think about how Hurricane Katrina brought so much publicity to our city, but not even the hurricane was ever our biggest problem – a lot of the more serious problems here is much more deep rooted than that, they’re generational strongholds. I believe what God has been doing since the hurricane is using it as an opportunity to bring people in from the outside to see first hand the need for the Gospel to be spread here.

Even though I’m immersed in the community every day, sometime satan can have me blind to the actual reality of it — I need reminders of how deep the sin is and the results of the sin. I hope that people that read this blog remember how great the need here in New Orleans is. My point for telling this story too is to encourage people to come get a firsthand experience in ministry outside of your own box/neighborhood. Come visit us here, or go visit a church or volunteer in a ministry closer to home but where you have never been before, a place that is outside of your comfort zone.  Come and look at things from another point of view.

I believe these boys are generational curse breakers. My hope is to introduce them to the way Christians live. We want to keep on getting them into situations where they can hear the holy spirit speaking and seek what great things God has for their lives. They need to get out of their usual routine also, to taste and see that the Lord is Good! They need to see examples of people who are living Godly lives and living in Godly families. As Desire Fellowship continues to grow, I know that they will be able to do this. These kids are the ones who have the real opportunity, with God’s help, to set a totally different course for their families and for this city.

I hope you take this as reminder to expect the miraculous. Expect big things from God in your life and the lives of others. Pray for big things. Keep on praying for small things too, but also for life-changing, neighborhood changing, city-changing, world-changing things.

-Richard

Even though Judas wasn’t very honest with money (John 12:4-6), despite Jesus calling him the devil (John 6:70-71), Satan entering him (John 13:27), and even though Jesus knew Judas would later betray him for the price of a slave (Matthew 26:15), every day Jesus loved Judas. Calling him out on his “stuff’ every day hoping Judas would confess his need to know him even more personally. If that’s not amazing enough for you, this will be – Matthew 10:1-4 tells us that despite all these issues, Judas had Jesus chose Judas as one of his 12. Just think. Jesus was setting the perfect example how he wants us to love those around us. UNCONDITIONALLY! He was setting the perfect example of ministry and discipleship! He set the bar high! But we are called to do the same.      

-Oscar

A Desire for Change Summer Day Camp was a blast!! Although it was hot (no A/C!), the kids truly enjoyed themselves. It was a six-week camp of 25-30 kids with the ages ranging from 5-13. They had all types of recreations and trips including swimming, computer training, Aquarium, Insectarium, a Zephyrs baseball game, Hornets basketball camp, etc. The kids also had Peacemakers once a week and had devotions every day.  This was a great way for the kids to get exposed or introduced to the word of God. They were all interested in learning more and that was a blessing to see.  This was a great experience for me and also the kids. It was a blessing for me to have surrounded myself with positivity this summer.    -Stacy

For this initial post, I’ll just give y’all a few highlights of the past couple months, from the Spring Break crews up to the present, and then I’ll post a few pics.

-Kids Across America Kamp : 1st week of June, Ozark Mountains of MO, brought almost 50 campers ages 9-19, good times of worship and fellowship together, good teaching of the Word, GREAT week!!!

-Easter marked one full year of us meeting together as Desire Fellowship! Praise God!

-launched Men’s Bible Study/Basketball Fellowship

-Sunday worship, Children’s Church and Youth Groups are all growing!

-partnered with a Desire For Change Summer Day Camp in morning devotions, swimming lessons & Biblical Conflict Resolution

-traveled to Panama City Beach to visit with students on Campus Outreach‘s Summer Leadership Project

-blessed through a growing relationship with Crossroads Missions, based across the street from our site

-traveled to Atlanta with a Desire For Change “Young Ladies of Desire” mentoring group

-road tripped through Alabama and Georgia connecting with friends and ministry partners

Stay tuned for more frequent updates and reflections from various members of the Desire Fellowship family.  We’re aiming for at LEAST once a week.  :-)  Enjoy the photos!

This morning the last of the group from North Georgia and UGA headed back home, leaving us full to the brim with renewed excitement for the ways in which God is at work in his Church.  We are so grateful to our brothers and sisters, almost 100 of whom chose to serve us here in New Orleans during their spring break by playing with kids, tutoring in schools, gardening, doing home repairs and renovations, clean-up and yard work, and spreading the word about our new youth group.  We had a wonderful week of fellowship and mutual encouragement, and as always are now standing in awe at the work the group was able to accomplish — work that would have taken us weeks or even months to complete has been finished in hours.  THANK YOU!!!!

Come back in a few days for more stories and pictures!

^{Ephesians 3: 20} Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Last weekend we enjoyed worshipping with Vintage Church over in Uptown, and look forward to continued fellowship with them as we reach towards unity with the larger Church body both here in New Orleans and beyond.  Appropriately, Richard was asked to preach on the topic of unity.  You can listen to his message here.

Lunch groups at Clark and Carver High Schools continue to grow.  We are blessed to partner with Next Generation Ministries who have been holding a lunch club at Carver for a couple years now, and have also generously supported our work at Clark by offering to supply us with Cici’s Pizza each week!  God continues to answer our prayers for co-laborers and friends in this journey.

It is almost SPRING BREAK season, and we are so excited to partner with 3 different Campus Outreach groups from colleges in Georgia who have come to serve the Church and this city for what will be 4 years in a row this Spring!  We always look forward to this time and can hardly wait to see both old friends and new faces.

Our very first YOUTH GROUP was held last night, Feb. 23rd, and was a lot of fun.  Between Madden (thanks to our friend Kennon who donated an old PS3 we were able to get fixed!!!), our new Kinect, Jenga and nachos & cheese, we had a good time hanging out with kids in a more laid-back setting than we usually have the opportunity to be in. Oscar also shared a message about discerning God’s will in your life.  Today at Carver, there were more kids at lunch club than ever, and everyone was talking about when the next Youth Group would be!  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to draw these students to the Lord!

Time flies and it is already time for another newsletter, which we are busy writing now.  Look for it in your email and mailbox in early March… and if you aren’t on our communications list and would like to be, just click here to send us your contact info.  Blessings!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our very own OSCAR BROWN a.k.a. BIG O….

we love you!!!