Transform Nation

[Reimagine Curator]

January 30, 2023 Dear Phil, How about this spring weather we had been having! We’ve been able to do street ministry every week this month, which is not normal for bitter cold Januarys. A handful of people have made decisions to follow Jesus and many, many others have received prayer and help for various needs. I’m also excited to reveal some of the annual data from last year. For years we’ve tracked decisions for Christ and reconnected with these new believers for discipleship, but we realized that didn’t tell the whole story of our ministry. In addition to evangelism, we serve as a “bridge” in the communities we serve. Many people we talk to are living in crisis and some need prayer and help before they can clearly hear the Gospel without distraction. Every outreach we do we are constantly referring people to community resources and counseling them through different trials.

In 2022, we prayed for and helped hundreds of people, each in individual conversations. We assisted 172 people impacted by crime, 39 with housing needs, 45 with relationship problems including 17 experiencing domestic abuse, 19 with food insecurity, 45 with physical health needs, 55 with mental health challenges, 41 with addictions, 56 with income & employment issues, 112 who came to us with spiritual questions, and 160 referrals to churches! In addition, 155 people came to us for Bibles and 687 tracts and community resource brochures were picked up. I’m so glad we recorded all this last year because now we can see that we’re having an even wider impact apart from the dozens of new believers that decided to follow Jesus. And it’s very likely that these numbers are actually even higher. It’s hard to keep track of everything while having conversations with everyone and other volunteers that are doing the same! Thanks to all of you who helped us make an impact in 2022! This just feels like the beginning. I believe this year we can greatly increase our impact on the streets, especially with the addition of more volunteers and our Street Chaplains: Crisis Response Outreach. We launched this outreach initiative with the Highland Park Parade Shooting back in July and have started doing it consistently in the Zion area in December. Our goal is to respond to the neighborhood of a shooting or other significant tragedy within 12-48 hours by going door to door. When someone answers we offer support through on-site counseling, prayer, connections to resources (especially mental health), and offer the Good News when we can. Please pray that doors of opportunity would open for us (literally) and that God would continue to grow our ministry. If you’d like to learn more about how to support us, please go to streetchaplains.com/give. Taking Jesus to the Streets, Matt & Shavonne Kearney

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