Calhoun Christian School Chicago Mission 2024

‭2 Corinthians 2:14 NLT‬

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

I will be updating this post throughout the week to tell the story of this trip.  Check back every day to follow along as we minister to the people of Chicago!

Day 1:
We started the day before the team arrived worshiping with one of our ministry hosts, North Side Tabernacle of Praise, or NSTOP. They are a Pentecostal congregation full of energy and The Spirit. Then the team arrived around 2pm and we got started. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other, discussing rules and expectations, and training.

This is Amanda’s first trip as a leader, and she is doing great.  Stepping out of her comfort zone and embracing the ministry and role to which God has called her!

We had a wonderful evening together of worship, teaching, and engaging the Lord in listening prayer. We’re geared up and ready to hit the ground running tomorrow!

Day 2:

We did some prayer walks this morning with our Holy Spirit Scavenger Hunt sheets in hand.  The Lord was truly at work in this group.  The team that I walked with, had a couple of positive interactions.  But then the Lord led them in a very specific direction, and we ended up at a nursing home.  A bunch of residents were out front having a smoke break, so we stopped and chatted with them.  They asked if we were there to “do church” and we said YES!  We read scripture, sang songs, and prayed with them.  Our own little mini church service on the sidewalk.

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Another group had “3 flags” as an item on their Scavenger Hunt list.  As they passed a school, they saw 3 flags as mosaics over the school entrance.  So they stopped and prayed for the school.  As they were praying a school administrator came out to ask what they were doing.  When they told her they were praying for the school she said, “Oh, thank you.  We really need it, one of our sixth graders was shot and killed last week protecting his mother from domestic violence”.  Obviously, a very sad situation.  But the Lord clearly led them to that place to pray over the students of the school, and to encourage that administrator.

This afternoon we visited our primary ministry partner, The North Side Tabernacle of Praise, or NSTOP.  We got to hear from their leadership team what their vision for their ministry is, and spend some time in Spirit filled prayer over their building and ministry.  We’re looking forward to spending more time getting to know their congregation and ministering to their community in the coming days.  

Tonight we had an amazing hour long worship session followed by sharing our testimonies.  It was an amazing time and the Spirit was really moving in this team.  They worshiped, they prayed over each other, they shared their stories.  It was beautiful.

 

 

 

Day 3:

I started today with low expectations, and no idea what I was going to write about tonight.  But God had a plan that was bigger than mine.  The plan was for us to do work projects at NSTOP church.  Church work projects are a great thing, and they enable the church and ministry here to better reach the people of Chicago.  But they can sometimes be lacking in how they minister to the hearts of the team.  And they’re not often very fun to write about.  But God is bigger than my plans.  We did the work projects.  We got a room painted, and got two storage rooms cleared out so that they can be better utilized for ministry. 

But we did so much more than that.  In our listening prayer exercise on Sunday night, one of the young men believed he heard the words “Victorias Secret” from the Lord.  But his leader didn’t put it on the list, because with teenagers, there is a big risk there to go in the wrong direction with something like that on a scavenger hunt.  But when we arrived at NSTOP today there was a woman wearing a Victorias Secret sweatsuit.  It fit another vision that one of the participants had of a royal purple sheet covering the church, because the sweatsuit was royal purple.  So we took about 30 minutes and prayed for her.  She is leaving soon on a mission trip to Jamaica, and as the kids prayed over her they had all sorts of visions of her battling the devil in Jamacia, and saving souls for the Lord.  As they prayed over her she started crying as she received their prayers of encouragement and protection.  It was a beautiful time, that spoke not only to her soul, but also to the spirits of everyone involved.  

Then, we walked to a local school to pray over it.  We did what some call a “thunder prayer” and others call “Flooding the Gates”.  Everyone prays, out loud, at the same time.  It can be overwhelming, but it is an awesome experience. After the prayer time we did a “Jericho Walk” around the perimeter of the school, praying for the students, administrators, and teachers of the school.  When the Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho they did so to bring the walls down.  We were bringing walls down too, but not physical walls.  We were knocking down the spiritual walls of fear, false gods, division, oppression, sin, and anything else the devil is using to keep that school and it’s inhabitants in bondage.  As we completed the walk at the place where we started, we circled up and it immediately started to rain.  Not a drenching rain, or a light sprinkle, but a few large drops, as if being poured out of a watering can.  One of the things we’ve been praying for all week is that we would be planting seeds, and we felt this short outpouring of rain was God watering the seeds that were planted.  We’re looking forward to seeing the revival that happens in that community!  You can watch the livestream of the prayer walk below.

 

https://www.facebook.com/oswald.nelson/videos/973161477270128/

Day 4:

Halfway through the trip and these kids are exhausted.  But Wednesday was a good day.  We started the day doing laundromat ministry, Starbucks ministry, and a little more work at NSTOP church.  It was an amazing morning.  Kids had the opportunity to pray WITH Muslims, that they would seek and find the truth of Jesus.  They had the opportunity to pray healing and restoration over drunks and addicts.  They had the opportunity to bless families in the laundromat.  It was a beautiful morning of ministry.

Then in the afternoon the teams were dropped of at three different locations, each about 2 miles from the church, and walked back towards the church praying and ministering to the community.  

Then in the evening we joined NSTOP church for there midweek service and it was a powerful night of worship, testimony, and prayer.  Multiple students had life changing experiences at the altar.  Everything from a release of fear and anxiety, to physical healing, to receiving the Holy Spirit.  It was an amazing service and I’m looking forward to the Praise Night they are hosting on Thursday!

Day 5:

The kids are absolutely wiped out this morning.  thankfully it is a less busy schedule today and they get some extra time to spend in communion with the Lord before we head out so that their strength may be renewed!