What an awesome day we had at the Park! We were not even supposed to be there.

Two weeks earlier we had a Park Ministry meeting at the Vineyard to find out about the future of the Ministry and who might be the next leader. We had a good turnout of over a dozen people, including Pastor Hector and someone who might be a future Pastor from the Park. He gave a testimony that was very encouraging to the value of this ministry . When you see people’s lives being turned around and living for Jesus it is remarkable. That in itself shows us that what we do there does make a difference in the Kingdom and in our world.

On this particular trip to MacArthur Park, we decided that we would go to the Park just to go; in other words we would not bring anything. Quite often we are like the busy "Martha's" instead of the paying attention to Jesus "Mary's". 

The Friday prior, Pastor Mark Avery called me to see if the Vineyard was going to the Park, I told him we were but only a few of us. He said that he was going to do the sermon. So on Sunday we had a leadership meeting prior to going. At the end of the meeting I announced that Debbie Johnson, Cindy Lynch, a few people from our youth group and myself were going to the Park, and we were not bringing anything! To us that is very weird because we always bring food, clothing, seasonal items etc.  After the meeting,  when we were on our way, I got a message from Mark that God had put in his heart to bring FOOD. Woo Hoo!

One of Mark's congregants gave his testimony, and as sad as it was, he was very entertaining. (He looked like captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean.)  People in the audience were asking questions and getting involved in the details of his life. Then Pastor Hector had all the people from Ventura County come up front, he told the audience who we were and what we do for them. He also had a special blessing for us and our home churches. There are a lot of people that help but don't go or cannot go.

Mark and his asst. Chris gave the sermon with no sound equipment , I guess Jesus did it the same way :).  And many heard the Good News. There were over a dozen people that came forward to accept Jesus.  I was amazed, but it wasn't over. Pastor Hector knew there were people holding back. He came up front and gave one of the best exhortations I had ever heard and about another dozen people came up front. I was blown away! It still brings tears to my eyes.

After that everybody was served food and, out of nowhere, a truck showed up with Mexican sweet bread. So we even had dessert. God did provide. We just had to show up and watch Him work. I would like to think of this day as "The Sunday that wasn't meant to be, but was!”

I would also like to thank all who help with this Ministry -- Past, Present and Future.

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MacArthur Park is an ongoing ministry, if you would be interested in participating in some way, please feel free to contact us for more details.

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