Mighty Prayer Warriors,Please be in prayer for the Daytona Beach Power of Love Team that Beauty From Ashes trained in March of this year. We returned in May to lead them on their first outreach & this will be their first on their own. They are doing an outreach tonite. See below for details. It's worth noting that Jennifer Colella, the founder, is an over-comer of commercialized sexual exploitation.
Thanks for your prayers. Together we are better & are making a difference!
Pastor Julie Shematz
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Hello Team,
Tonight the outreach team will be going down into Daytona to deliver 100 bags to the women in 6 strip clubs. We need your prayers, please ask God to grant us favor and that we would be welcomed into every club to pass out bags to the women. Please pray for God's will to be done tonight. Pray for protection for the team members, for God's wisdom and discernment, and for a smooth outreach. Pray for these lost souls to open their hearts to Jesus.
The outreach hours will be from 5pm to 10pm tonight. Please be praying for us during these hours, we expect that God will do great and mighty things, but we need your prayers team! Thank you so much.
In His Service,
Jennifer Colella
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeletePraise God for another wonderful outreach. The team began the evening with a powerful time of prayer, and praised our way to the first club Diamond Dolls. This was the first club we went to on the last outreach and received great favor and met Phoenix who was 5 months pregnant. This time the manager would not allow us to come in, he said the owner found out he let us in and he got in trouble. He said: "The owner doesn't want them getting that stuff and having it in their lockers." He was firm in his words and not wanting to put his job at risk, we politely thanked him and left.
The next club we went to was Lollipops. The owner met us at the door, he was very friendly and invited us in with an unusual comment:"Go in and save one. You can have one, but only one, okay?" One of the girls would not accept a bag from us, but rest of the ladies were very friendly and after we passed out the bags the owner invited us to come back later when there were more girls working. When we left, a young girl we had met inside was out in front of the club, she looked troubled and I asked her if she was okay. Her mom was in the hospital for an epileptic seizure and she was waiting on a phone call to see how she was doing. I asked her if she wanted us to pray with her and she accepted. We ended up going back later. The girls were excited to see us and greeted us saying "hey it's the God girls!" On the way out we stopped to thank the owner and he ended up engaging us in quite a conversation. Reminding me how much the men employed by these clubs need our prayers as well. They are caught up in a world of sin and bondage and are just as lost, trapped and hurting as the women.
We tried delivering bags to the club that canceled our cooking outreach, Biggins, the manager from the first outreach was there. He and the bartender saw us at the front door. She was excited to see us and then we saw the manager go over to speak to her, it didn't look promising. The bartender looked disappointed and then he came over to say that the owners' brother thinks we have alterior motives and so he wasn't able to let us in because he would have to answer to them. He did however let us leave 5 bags at the front door for the bartender, waitress and 2 dancers that were there and would be leaving the day shift soon. He said they could take a bag with them when they leave. He sincerely apologized for not being allowed to let us in. I had a gift for him that I talked him into accepting, gave him a hug, and we praised God on the way to the car!
ReplyDeleteWe entered Molly Browns to deliver bags, but the 2 men at the front desk said they wouldn't allow any merchandise or gifts to be distributed in the establishment. They were polite but firm, so we promptly left.
Club Topic has reopened and the same manager was working and allowed us to give out bags to the bartender and 2 dancers that were working. The atmosphere was very dark and depressing. Please keep this club and the employees in prayer.
The owner of the Shark Lounge happened to be outside when we approached the door. He was very friendly and welcomed us in. Some of the ladies remembered us from the last outreach. One woman whom we met for the first time, told us she goes to church every Wednesday and Sunday. She said she was just telling a friend about church and how weird it was that we showed up when we did. She explained that she was embarrassed to be stripping and knew in her heart that it was wrong, but had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was working to pay for her medications. If that weren't enough, her daughter was just killed by a drunk driver. She said she doesn't drink and hated being around the type of people that killed her daughter, but feels she has no other choice. She said she quit dancing 8 years ago but at 42 years old, had to go back because of her current situation. She was crying tears of desperation. We need to keep her in our prayers team.
We thank our Heavenly Father for His favor and timing on this outreach. We thank God for taking us out to share His love and His word. The need for His mercy and grace is so great, we will press on toward the goal. Our next outreach will be planned for the end of October with December to follow. Thank you to all of the intercessors that were in prayer for us during the outreach. Thank you for your sacrifice, we could feel your prayers carry us through the evening. Each of you are important to this ministry, we can't do it without you! To every team member: you are loved and appreciated.
In His Service,
Jennifer Colella