Greetings,
Thank you all so much for your support this year. From January - June of this year, we were able with your help, accomplish the following:
Personal ministry meetings with individuals - 201
Profession of Faith - 5
Bibles given out - 522
Bags of Groceries given out - 675
McDonald's and Quizno $5 gift Certificates given out - 699
We are trying to have our Ministry booth out every other Friday, weather permitting, but I am on the street now for an average of 32 hours a week.
We have just about 4 months left before cold weather hits, which will once again drive us indoors. Please pray that the rest of our summer will see a fruitful time of witnessing to folks on the street.
Again, thank you all for your continued support, we could not do all of this without your help.
Please pray for 3 individuals who prayed to receive Christ this month, Barry, Rico, and Cindi.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Summer Ministry to Begin
I love "divine encounters". This past Friday, I was checking out an alley
downtown that I was going to do a photo shoot in over the weekend, I needed to see how the lighting was at 3:30 in the afternoon.
Halfway down the alley, an obviously homeless man was just sitting down with all of his stuff. I was just going to walk on by, but felt compelled to at least say something to him, introduce myself, see if he needed anything. As I approached him, he said in an angry sarcastic voice, "are you here to tell me about Jesus"? I said to him, do you want me to tell you about Jesus? He said "hell no, I just want to be left alone". So I said to him, OK, but, if you ever do want to hear about Jesus, you can find me out on the street" and I turned to walk away. I took about a half dozen
steps, when he called out to me, and said" hey man, thanks for caring!"
I respected his wanting to be left alone, but I am praying that I will be able to talk to him again. This was just an encounter, a moment, possibly a seed planted, a future ministry opportunity this summer as we are out ministering on the street.
We begin our summer outreach on Friday Night May 29th at 4 PM. We will have our ministry table set up from 4 PM - 8 PM. We would like to make this a prayer event, and would like to invite anyone who could come and spend at least an hour praying on site, downtown, walking the street and the alleys here in Burlington, asking God to bless our efforts on the street, to send real revival to the people like this man in the alley who call the streets home.
Would you pray with us on May 29th? Come down and join our opening day of ministry to our streets.
downtown that I was going to do a photo shoot in over the weekend, I needed to see how the lighting was at 3:30 in the afternoon.
Halfway down the alley, an obviously homeless man was just sitting down with all of his stuff. I was just going to walk on by, but felt compelled to at least say something to him, introduce myself, see if he needed anything. As I approached him, he said in an angry sarcastic voice, "are you here to tell me about Jesus"? I said to him, do you want me to tell you about Jesus? He said "hell no, I just want to be left alone". So I said to him, OK, but, if you ever do want to hear about Jesus, you can find me out on the street" and I turned to walk away. I took about a half dozen
steps, when he called out to me, and said" hey man, thanks for caring!"
I respected his wanting to be left alone, but I am praying that I will be able to talk to him again. This was just an encounter, a moment, possibly a seed planted, a future ministry opportunity this summer as we are out ministering on the street.
We begin our summer outreach on Friday Night May 29th at 4 PM. We will have our ministry table set up from 4 PM - 8 PM. We would like to make this a prayer event, and would like to invite anyone who could come and spend at least an hour praying on site, downtown, walking the street and the alleys here in Burlington, asking God to bless our efforts on the street, to send real revival to the people like this man in the alley who call the streets home.
Would you pray with us on May 29th? Come down and join our opening day of ministry to our streets.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
2009 Outreach Strategy
This year marks 35 years for street ministry to Downtown, Burlington. We have seen ups and downs, times when we have had plenty of help and times when we were down to just a few folks.
Well this is one of those times. Right now, Burlington Street Ministries consist of
three of us, myself, Jim Fenimore, and Don Lyons. I am the youngest of the three of us at 56.
I have felt an urgency from God, that this year could be the turning point for ministry on our streets. We would like to wage a major evangelistic outreach this year,calling it "operation Friday Night".
I am looking for some good committed people who have a burden to share Christ on the
street. I need folks who can commit to every Friday Night from May 29 - September 25. I need people who can meet people, build a relationship with folks, and can share their faith with those on the street. I can offer some training, but need committed workers.
Burlington Street Ministries also needs some monthly support. Our support base has
dropped so much, We need at least 20 new monthly supporters of at least $25 a month. I am not a fundraiser, I absolutely hate asking for money, and in this economy, everyone is hurting. But we do need funding to operate, and it does hinder us quite a bit without support. So if you are on my mailing list, and have not been a monthly supporter, please prayerfully consider even $25 a month. If we don't have to worry about finances, then we can concentrate on our ministry.
Finally, we need prayer support. We need on site prayer support, a couple of people who can commit to coming down on the street on Friday Nights and prayer walk for at least 2 hours. We are also going to do a 24 hour prayer vigil for May 29 and 30 as this will be the official start of our summer Street Outreach.
Burlington Street Ministries is in survival mode right now. Can you dare to dream with us? Has God burdened your heart for this city? Please, if so, consider working with us this year. I am only asking for one night a week, Friday Night!
We are the only ministry that has had a continuous presence on Church Street for 35
years, during rain, sleet snow, cold weather, and hot and humid. "the harvest is
plentiful, but the workers are few"
Please think about us for 2009.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Well this is one of those times. Right now, Burlington Street Ministries consist of
three of us, myself, Jim Fenimore, and Don Lyons. I am the youngest of the three of us at 56.
I have felt an urgency from God, that this year could be the turning point for ministry on our streets. We would like to wage a major evangelistic outreach this year,calling it "operation Friday Night".
I am looking for some good committed people who have a burden to share Christ on the
street. I need folks who can commit to every Friday Night from May 29 - September 25. I need people who can meet people, build a relationship with folks, and can share their faith with those on the street. I can offer some training, but need committed workers.
Burlington Street Ministries also needs some monthly support. Our support base has
dropped so much, We need at least 20 new monthly supporters of at least $25 a month. I am not a fundraiser, I absolutely hate asking for money, and in this economy, everyone is hurting. But we do need funding to operate, and it does hinder us quite a bit without support. So if you are on my mailing list, and have not been a monthly supporter, please prayerfully consider even $25 a month. If we don't have to worry about finances, then we can concentrate on our ministry.
Finally, we need prayer support. We need on site prayer support, a couple of people who can commit to coming down on the street on Friday Nights and prayer walk for at least 2 hours. We are also going to do a 24 hour prayer vigil for May 29 and 30 as this will be the official start of our summer Street Outreach.
Burlington Street Ministries is in survival mode right now. Can you dare to dream with us? Has God burdened your heart for this city? Please, if so, consider working with us this year. I am only asking for one night a week, Friday Night!
We are the only ministry that has had a continuous presence on Church Street for 35
years, during rain, sleet snow, cold weather, and hot and humid. "the harvest is
plentiful, but the workers are few"
Please think about us for 2009.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Ministry Report from January to September 26, 2008
Greetings from the Streets of Burlington,
We have ended our summer outreach on the street for this year, and will now move indoors until next May. Weather wise, it has been a difficult summer, we had to cancel our booth quite a few Friday Nights because of rain.
It was difficult also in that this was the first time in over 30 years, we had to turn people away, because we could not help them. The need for food, and other things just overwhelmed us, and we are very concerned about the winter.
But we did what we could, and since January until September 26th, we managed to do the following:
Served 726 Hot meals
Gave out 857 - $5 McDonald's gift cards to needy people
Gave out 316 - $5 Quizno Gift Cards to needy people
Gave out 1,474 bags of groceries to needy families
Gave out 1108 bibles
Had 10 professions of faith
Personally met with 283 people for counseling and further sharing about faith in Christ
We led 3 bible study groups with an average weekly attendance of 42
We would like to thank everyone who supported us this year, it was with your love and kindness that we can be on the street as much as we are. We covet your prayers as we prepare for our winter ministry, and especially as we approach the Holiday Season, which is the hardest time of the year for the folks we minister to.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
We have ended our summer outreach on the street for this year, and will now move indoors until next May. Weather wise, it has been a difficult summer, we had to cancel our booth quite a few Friday Nights because of rain.
It was difficult also in that this was the first time in over 30 years, we had to turn people away, because we could not help them. The need for food, and other things just overwhelmed us, and we are very concerned about the winter.
But we did what we could, and since January until September 26th, we managed to do the following:
Served 726 Hot meals
Gave out 857 - $5 McDonald's gift cards to needy people
Gave out 316 - $5 Quizno Gift Cards to needy people
Gave out 1,474 bags of groceries to needy families
Gave out 1108 bibles
Had 10 professions of faith
Personally met with 283 people for counseling and further sharing about faith in Christ
We led 3 bible study groups with an average weekly attendance of 42
We would like to thank everyone who supported us this year, it was with your love and kindness that we can be on the street as much as we are. We covet your prayers as we prepare for our winter ministry, and especially as we approach the Holiday Season, which is the hardest time of the year for the folks we minister to.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Monday, June 09, 2008
Ministry Report - March - June, 2008
After a very slow winter, we have started our summer street outreach, and are out now until Mid October.
From March - June 9, we have:
Served 269 hot meals;
Served 320 lunches;
Given out 544 bags of groceries;
Given out 234 $5 McDonald's gift Certificates;
Given out 136 $10 Quizno Gift Certificates;
Given out 317 Bibles;
Had 130 personal meetings with people to share Christ with.
Our summer outreach has just begun, we are looking for a good year of ministry to our streets. We are seeing incredible needs, with gas prices at an all time high, and price of food and just about everything else rising, people are suffering.
We are turning away more people than we are helping, this is a first for us.
Right now, we are totally out of both McDonald's Gift Certificates and Quizno's Gift Cards, and our hunger fund budget is at Zero.
But we have a good supply of Bibles, and we will do our best to spend as much time as we can on the streets, sharing Christ with all who will listen.
I want to thank everyone for prayers concerning my wife's mother, she is still in the nursing home, but she will not survive very much longer. It was a very hard to pre-plan a funeral, but she has lived a very long life, just turning 97 on May 1.
So keep us in prayer as we cope with a death coming soon. Keep the Burlington Street Ministry Team in prayer as we try to minister to a tough mission field.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
From March - June 9, we have:
Served 269 hot meals;
Served 320 lunches;
Given out 544 bags of groceries;
Given out 234 $5 McDonald's gift Certificates;
Given out 136 $10 Quizno Gift Certificates;
Given out 317 Bibles;
Had 130 personal meetings with people to share Christ with.
Our summer outreach has just begun, we are looking for a good year of ministry to our streets. We are seeing incredible needs, with gas prices at an all time high, and price of food and just about everything else rising, people are suffering.
We are turning away more people than we are helping, this is a first for us.
Right now, we are totally out of both McDonald's Gift Certificates and Quizno's Gift Cards, and our hunger fund budget is at Zero.
But we have a good supply of Bibles, and we will do our best to spend as much time as we can on the streets, sharing Christ with all who will listen.
I want to thank everyone for prayers concerning my wife's mother, she is still in the nursing home, but she will not survive very much longer. It was a very hard to pre-plan a funeral, but she has lived a very long life, just turning 97 on May 1.
So keep us in prayer as we cope with a death coming soon. Keep the Burlington Street Ministry Team in prayer as we try to minister to a tough mission field.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Ministry Report for January - March, 2008
This has been the slowest, non eventful winter we have ever seen! Our big question this winter is, where is every one?
The streets have been quite, not much to report, most Friday nights, it is just staff at our Bible Study, which has never happened before.
But the bulk of our ministry this winter has taken place at the Nothgate Housing Project, we have been ministering to quite a few people there over the winter, provided food, and other items to some very needy folks. We have a Tuesday Evening Bible Study, and Sunday Worship there in Northgate.
So far this year, From January - March 14th, we:
Gave out 515 Bags of Groceries
Gave out 315 $5 McDonald's Gift Cards
Gave out 121 $5 Quizno Gift Cards
Gave out 68 Bibles
Met with 41 people to share Christ with them, and to encourage them.
We begin our outdoor ministry to the streets on Friday, May 23rd, and would like to invite anyone who would be willing to come down that Friday Evening and spend two hours in prayer for the summer ministry on the streets.
We praise God that we have already raised all of the $5000 we need for this summer!!! This too is a miracle, as we are usually scrambling to raise money to buy bibles! Thanks to a generous gift by Community Bible Church is January, we were able to get most of what we needed!
Our only real need we will have is Quizno gift Certificates. We need Quite a few loaded with $10. Since McDonald's has moved out of downtown, the Quizno's has
taken it's place as the best place for us to give out certificates for food.
So if you could help us with these, this would be a very big help to us. We also still need McDonald's Gift Certificates, as we use these also.
A special thanks to Patricia Worley and her "Tiny Tots" Sunday School Class from
the Crestview Baptist Church in North Carolina, this class of little children has been sending us an average of $200 worth of McDonald's gift Certificates each month for well over a year, possible even two years. They have done so much for us, and blessed so many of the struggling hurting folks we minister to so much, and has allowed us to be able to touch some families we would not been able to if not for these certificates.
My health has improved, I have fully recovered from the heart issue I had in November, and back to full schedule, but am taking care of myself better than I had, and taking more time for rest and enjoyment.
We are looking forward to a great year of Ministry to the Streets!
Thank you all for your love and support.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
The streets have been quite, not much to report, most Friday nights, it is just staff at our Bible Study, which has never happened before.
But the bulk of our ministry this winter has taken place at the Nothgate Housing Project, we have been ministering to quite a few people there over the winter, provided food, and other items to some very needy folks. We have a Tuesday Evening Bible Study, and Sunday Worship there in Northgate.
So far this year, From January - March 14th, we:
Gave out 515 Bags of Groceries
Gave out 315 $5 McDonald's Gift Cards
Gave out 121 $5 Quizno Gift Cards
Gave out 68 Bibles
Met with 41 people to share Christ with them, and to encourage them.
We begin our outdoor ministry to the streets on Friday, May 23rd, and would like to invite anyone who would be willing to come down that Friday Evening and spend two hours in prayer for the summer ministry on the streets.
We praise God that we have already raised all of the $5000 we need for this summer!!! This too is a miracle, as we are usually scrambling to raise money to buy bibles! Thanks to a generous gift by Community Bible Church is January, we were able to get most of what we needed!
Our only real need we will have is Quizno gift Certificates. We need Quite a few loaded with $10. Since McDonald's has moved out of downtown, the Quizno's has
taken it's place as the best place for us to give out certificates for food.
So if you could help us with these, this would be a very big help to us. We also still need McDonald's Gift Certificates, as we use these also.
A special thanks to Patricia Worley and her "Tiny Tots" Sunday School Class from
the Crestview Baptist Church in North Carolina, this class of little children has been sending us an average of $200 worth of McDonald's gift Certificates each month for well over a year, possible even two years. They have done so much for us, and blessed so many of the struggling hurting folks we minister to so much, and has allowed us to be able to touch some families we would not been able to if not for these certificates.
My health has improved, I have fully recovered from the heart issue I had in November, and back to full schedule, but am taking care of myself better than I had, and taking more time for rest and enjoyment.
We are looking forward to a great year of Ministry to the Streets!
Thank you all for your love and support.
Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Winter Ministry and the Holiday Seasons
We are now in winter mode, meeting each Friday Evening at the food court in the Town
Center Mall right Downtown. We had a great summer, but most of the folks we have
ministered to have left, so we are down to a few individuals who are brave enough to stay over the winter!
We are gearing up for a couple of major outreaches for the Thanksgiving and Christmas
season. We will help provide food for 34 families for Thanksgiving, and we will help 56 families for Christmas as well as our annual Christmas on the Street outreach for the homeless.
We will again be reaching out to needy families at the Northgate Apartments, a 336
apartment complex, the largest in Vermont, half of these are extremely low income and in great need, among them are 400 children.
Now for some of our needs:
McDonald's Downtown has closed down, so the homeless cannot use the McDonald's gift
Certificates unless they can get out to one of the others. However there is a Quizno's right downtown, and gift cards are available. We could use about 300 gift cards from Quizno's in $5.00 per card. These will be given to the homeless downtown.
We do still need McDonald's gift Certificates for our needy families, so we are still
giving these out and are very important to our ministry.
We do need Postage Stamps, books of 20 to be given out to the homeless. We do not need any batteries this year, someone has provided all we need for this year.
Our biggest need this year will be cash. We are desperately low, and do not have enough to get us by the winter, and we are very concerned about the needs of so many people this winter. We will need to raise about $4000 in the next two months.
We do not do fundraisers, none of us are skilled in that area, so we rely on those who believe in what we do. A one time gift to help us for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season will be a blessing to many needy folk.
Pray for us as we come to the end of 2007, and end another year of ministry to the
streets. 2008 will mark 33 years of continuous ministry to the streets of Burlington.
Thank you all for your support over these many years.
We look forward to 2008.
In His Love,
Dave
Center Mall right Downtown. We had a great summer, but most of the folks we have
ministered to have left, so we are down to a few individuals who are brave enough to stay over the winter!
We are gearing up for a couple of major outreaches for the Thanksgiving and Christmas
season. We will help provide food for 34 families for Thanksgiving, and we will help 56 families for Christmas as well as our annual Christmas on the Street outreach for the homeless.
We will again be reaching out to needy families at the Northgate Apartments, a 336
apartment complex, the largest in Vermont, half of these are extremely low income and in great need, among them are 400 children.
Now for some of our needs:
McDonald's Downtown has closed down, so the homeless cannot use the McDonald's gift
Certificates unless they can get out to one of the others. However there is a Quizno's right downtown, and gift cards are available. We could use about 300 gift cards from Quizno's in $5.00 per card. These will be given to the homeless downtown.
We do still need McDonald's gift Certificates for our needy families, so we are still
giving these out and are very important to our ministry.
We do need Postage Stamps, books of 20 to be given out to the homeless. We do not need any batteries this year, someone has provided all we need for this year.
Our biggest need this year will be cash. We are desperately low, and do not have enough to get us by the winter, and we are very concerned about the needs of so many people this winter. We will need to raise about $4000 in the next two months.
We do not do fundraisers, none of us are skilled in that area, so we rely on those who believe in what we do. A one time gift to help us for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season will be a blessing to many needy folk.
Pray for us as we come to the end of 2007, and end another year of ministry to the
streets. 2008 will mark 33 years of continuous ministry to the streets of Burlington.
Thank you all for your support over these many years.
We look forward to 2008.
In His Love,
Dave
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