This is an old picture of a past outreach in "The Mac" (McDougald Terrace Projects). This was the site of the latest homicide in Durham. I spent several hours in there yesterday ministering and talking with the residents. Two of the grandmothers that I have known for a long time told me that things were getting real bad out there to the point that they are not even letting the kids go outside to play in fear that they will be shot. They say that there is a great deal of gunfire! They asked me to please come back. They said it was better when we were going in on a regular basis. The police had told us the same thing when we were holding Friday night church services a couple summers ago. Several of the kids also were asking if we could start spending more time out there. That is real hard to resist when the kids get involved. The fact is that I knew from the time that I was at the crime scene that the Lord was telling me to get the ministry back out there! The reason I posted the prior picture was to show that huge crowds come out and we are going to need some help with what we have planned.

The pic shows the smile and happiness that represents so many young kids that live in The Mac. This is from an outreach several years ago. The kids acted like it was Christmas on this hot summer day. This is our plan for this Saturday from 12 - 2. We will go out there so that they can come out and play! We will go out there with pizza, watermelons and most of all....JESUS! We are getting watermelons for $3.99 each from Food Lion.

If we do not reach little guys like this the devil is sure to! I have witnessed it happening as kids below 10 years old were enticed by gang members with money and tennis shoes. A couple years ago a mother begged me to get her 8 year old son away from the gang members! This boy had a terrible attitude and could not be controlled by his mother!


IF WE DON'T REACH THESE LITTLE ONES, FOR JESUS, THE DEVIL WILL SURELY REACH THEM!!!

These kids are so awesome! The problem lies with they have "males" or a more popular word "baby-daddies" who do little or nothing in raising them. I tell the "males" to man up! I tell them that just about any male can get a woman pregnant but it takes a man to marry the woman and raise them up in the Lord!

Look into the eyes of these little ones and you fall in love! I absolutely love when they come up and hug me! The rest of the team feels the same way! Many times it chokes you up when you start hearing the stories of the way they have to live!

IF WE DON'T REACH THESE LITTLE ONES FOR JESUS, THE DEVIL WILL SURELY REACH THEM!!!

I have mentioned it many times but it is amazing how a bottle of water or a soda will open the door to be able to minister into someone's life! We will need many cases of water this Saturday!

We will give them the "living water"....JESUS!!!

Yesterday I went through six or seven case of sodas just at the homicide scene then another pass through last night. We will need a bunch this Saturday!

I had a great conversation with Troy, the manager of Pizza Inn on Duke Street. I told him what I was looking for as far as a pizza place that I could work with on a regular basis. I do not want just some $5 junk pizza to bless these folks with! I want them to be truly blessed with a pizza with some substance to it! I am also going to be meeting with Troy so that he can tell me some other things they can do to help in the community.

Troy has given us a deal of $8 for one topping and $10 for up to five toppings, this is for large pizzas. I want this also for when I am dealing with the families of the murder victims. It says a lot when I walk in the door of someone that does not even know me with 10 pizzas in my hands! It opens the door wide to be able to begin ministering into their lives!

Angie and I figure we are going to need somewhere at least 50 pizzas to go into The Mac with! We need your help with this! $10 will help us reach lives for JESUS! If you are interested in coming out to help that would be great! If you are interested in helping financially you can send your tax deductible check made out to BCOM or Bull City Outreach to 5114 Huxey Glen Ct. Durham, NC. 27703 or you can go to our website www.bullcityoutreach.org then click on the donate button to use PayPal.

Before the homicide yesterday I did not feel that I had any time to go back into "The Mac". I thought that with everything going on, on Holloway Street how do I have any time for anywhere else? As I said before, I knew while I was out there looking into the faces of the little kids, seeing the teenagers already living for and talking like the devil, and the grandmothers crying out for help that it was a must to help with what is going on. My heart was so grieved for these people! I was there again today working on building relationships with the many residents that I do not know that have moved in since we quit going there.

This outreach will be expensive for us but it is so much needed! Please help us in reaching out to the lost, less fortunate and those struggling for JESUS!

EVEN JUST $10 WILL HELP TOUCH A LIFE FOR JESUS!!!

This young man's life is over at just 18 years old. He was gunned down just before 11:00 a.m. this morning while we were in church. I was told of what happened and I could not focus on anything but wanting to get to "my church" and start ministering. Angie knew and quickly asked me if I wanted her to take me to get the vanHe was shot along with two others who are going to live. He had just turned 18 and had just got out of the Durham County Jail. Dean Padgett and I had ministered to him when he was 16 (just prior to turning 17) and he was locked up with the grown men.

There is another 18 year old that is expected to pass anytime from another shooting which sounds to be related to this one from last night. There  are  so many in Durham that die before reaching 20 years old. One of our walls in our headquarters has the names of over 150 that have been murdered since we began ministering in Durham in 2009. There are no signs whatsoever of it getting any better!

When I arrived on the scene the area was loaded with police cares and loaded with people. Tension was very high and people were cussing each other out from both sides of this street. I immediately started talking to people trying to get them settled down. It is something how the Lord's name is taken in vain when the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy! I must have heard "G.D." a hundred times out there today! I asked many of them why they would take the one's name that died on the cross for them in vain because of something the devil did? I went to the middle of the street after talking to some folks that I knew and started praying. I looked around to see that many of the trouble makers had departed and the tension had eased. The same thing happened later with another group. That darkness can not stand the light!

The young man's body laid behind the curtain. This is always a difficult time when you know that you are ministering while a dead body lies close by. It is a very effective time to minister into people's lives!

Alyssa Tatum and I had ministered and talked with many of these young people who were very grieved after losing their friend. This young man was very well liked by many in The Mac.

From an 18 year old young man to a pile of stuffed animals....so sad! One of the young men that I ministered to today got offended when I told him that The Mac was controlled by the devil and that it needed JESUS! He told me that it was "equal with the devil and Jesus and that he was saved". I listened to his foul mouth as some of his buddies came up. He then turned back to me and said that he was offended by me saying that JESUS was not out there. I told him that I knew there were few that actually lifted the name of JESUS out there. I could tell that he was angry with me but I called him out concerning what he said about being a Christian and his foul mouth. He said "I love the Lord", I said "John 14:15 says that if you love Him then you will keep his commands....how about that foul mouth"? He smiled and said "the Lord and I have an understanding". I asked "what he meant by that". He said "He understands that I am the way I am and he's cool with that". I said "that kind of thinking will send you straight to hell"! I said "He does not have any kind of special arrangements with anybody"! We went back and forth, every time he said something I came back with a scripture destroying his foolish talk. We had many people around and there was no way that I was not going to teach these people and minister to them. The young man and I ended up shaking hands and he has my ministry card.

I ministered to many others that took the Lord's name in vain! I had many people come to me asking for prayer and pleading with me to please come back on a regular basis and help with this huge gang violence problem out there!

We will be doing an outreach in The Mac this coming Saturday from 11:00 - 2:00 p.m. There are so many young kids along with a mass of teenagers out there. There are grandmothers with their grand-kids that are petrified living out there but are stuck because of their financial situation. We must get back in there and win these people over to JESUS! The devil is hard at work destroying lives! A very sad time came today when I seemed to be the only ministry person out there. There is a church at the top of the hill about a 90 second walk from the scene and the congregation stood looking from beside their church! This is the same church that would not allow us to use their building. It is so disgusting to have a "wimpified so called church" that can not even come out to minister in a situation like this! This disgusted me and I am sure that it disgusted the Lord!

Call Pastor Terry at 919.900.0220 if you are interested in joining us in reaching this community for JESUS!

We just returned on Saturday from a week with Angie's family at Nag's Head on the Outer Banks. This was a much needed break for both of us. We are so thankful to Angie's parents for doing this every year! What a blessing it is!  It was also a huge learning experience for me. The lesson was to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit with guarding against the attacks of the enemy. For me, much of the attack that comes my way deals with my physical health. I know that Satan can not stand me or this ministry.

Last Wednesday I had a situation that could have well left me paralyzed if I had not listened to that still small voice that came to me. We rented a pontoon boat with Pastor Lance & Leigh Prathaftakis for a half day. We set out on what was a beautiful day and we decided to stop and drop the anchor just to hang out and swim. I was the first one to start toward getting into the water. My first thought was to do a cannon ball to get the others wet. Pastor Lance had said we were in five feet of water according to the depth finder on the boat. I joked with Leigh then was hesitant on getting in. I bypassed the thought to do the cannon ball but did not bypass the thought coming to me that was not to jump at all. I jumped bending my knees and turning my feet to the sides so that I could break the fall and land the best I could in the "5 foot of water". What happened was I slammed to my knees in "2 foot of water". I was in immediate excruciating pain! I grabbed the side of the boat to keep my head out of the water. Because we clown so much I do not think that anyone was taking me serious at first. "My buddy" even took the time to inquire from me as to how  the water temperature was??? That jump affected the rest of a great vacation we were having but we continued to have fun.

According to what I would find out from my chiropractor later was that I had jammed my lower back, my hips and my neck. I felt like I had been run over by a truck! I felt so strong in my spirit the need to take care of my body because the enemy would do anything to try to take me out. Immediately after I had jumped Pastor Lance had seen the depth waver between one and took feet. I felt so strong that if I would have done the cannon ball that I would not be walking today. I remember looking at my feet the next morning before getting out of bed and I was so thankful that I could move them.

I praise the Lord for a spirit filled chiropractor (Dr. Craig French). He met me at the office on Sunday to start working on me to get me back into the game! What a blessing he is! He has me feeling so much better already along with those that knew of this happening that went into immediate prayer. I will be much more aware now of the things that I need to do to guard my physical health. NEVER again will I jump off a boat or anything else into the water.

I even stayed away from headquarters until today so that my body could have some extra time to rest. I walked into a hot headquarters today and thought that something must have tripped the circuit breaker. All the power was off to the whole building! I opened the refrigerators to find everything warm! Everything except for the drinks had to be thrown away including the hotdogs and sausage for tomorrow's National Night Out event. I had huge pork roasts for pulled pork we were going to do for another event. We lost around $200 and several hours cleaning up the mess! Duke Energy told Angie that there had not been any power at our address for over a year. Much confusion! Now they are saying that the power will be turned on sometime between 8a and 9p tomorrow??? Now we have to go shopping tonight to replace the items for tomorrow. Please pray that they get the power back on soon! We will get everything straightened out with Duke Energy later. This is wacky but we are warned a number of times in the Word that "in this life we will have trials and tribulation".

James 1:2  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 

I remember the day when something like this would have had my all bent out of shape. Thank you Lord! Please also pray that my body will hold up and that we will be able to get everything together for tomorrow night. Pray for helpers to come out tomorrow also.