30 saved in Atlanta

For nearly 10 years we have been going to Atlanta to minister to the homeless with Eagle's Nest Community Church. Every outreach up there is special. Yesterday was no exception as we experienced another amazing day showing the love of Jesus Christ to the homeless.

Over the summer we were given 3,300 pairs of boots and shoes from Kaufman's Army Surplus in Dothan, Ala. Since then we have given away boots to the homeless in Dothan, and shipped and delivered boots to Brooklyn, NY, northern Virginia, Paducah, KY, and now Atlanta. We loaded our cargo trailer with more than 250 pairs of boots and hauled them to Atlanta.

When Martha, my mom and I arrived at Eagle's Nest on Saturday morning, Bro. Harold Smith was there to meet us. Justin and Jeremy Swasey drove from Enterprise, Ala., to help. Along with some volunteers from Eagle's Nest, we unloaded the trailer and organized the boots. Then we started grilling hamburgers and hotdogs to serve for lunch.

The homeless started lining up more than two hours before the outreach began. In 10 years of ministering in Atlanta, there has never been a line so long. When Bro. Harold opened the doors to the church, a steady stream of people filed into the sanctuary. As they did, Eagle's Nest's praise and worship leader Calvin Smith was singing.

Calvin is a special friend to Love In Action. He has an awesome testimony. He was once homeless, strung out on drugs, in and out of prison and living a life of destruction. Every time we went to Atlanta we would find him and love on him. Pastor Larry Arnold and Harold never gave up on Calvin. They kept loving on him and working with him. Today, he is married to a woman who had the same kind of background, they have their own business and they have bought their own house. He's the praise and worship leader, and they are both very faithful to the church. It's amazing what God has done in their lives the past five years. So seeing and hearing him lead worship was wonderful.

I then shared a message titled "Our God is amazing." It was a message God placed in my heart as we drove to Atlanta Friday night. The sanctuary was packed with more than 200 homeless people. It's the largest crowd we had ever seen at Eagle's Nest. God's presence was so awesome during the service. When the time came for the invitation to give their lives to Jesus, about 30 people came forward. I never get tired of praying with people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, so that altar call was awesome! I just praise Jesus and thank Him for allowing me to see something that amazing happen.

I talked with Bro. Harold today and he said a lot of the homeless men who attended Saturday's outreach were in church today. That's awesome. They need to be in church to learn God's Word, and they will receive physical help as well.

Following the service on Saturday, we served more than 200 lunches and then gave out the boots. After the outreach at Eagle's Nest, we delivered about 100 pairs of boots to Common Ground, a Christian ministry that reaches out to the homeless. Justin found them and set it up for us to deliver boots to them. We look forward to working with them more in the future.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us. Prayer is so important and powerful. A lot of people told us they were praying. We could tell they were. We also thank those who give financially to Love In Action. It takes money to do what we do, and we couldn't do it without your generous giving.

Most of all, I thank Jesus for His love and for working through Love In Action like He does. It's very humbling to be part of what God is doing.