A story from Adam Trambley, who has begun some work in the recovery community:
“One of the interesting places I stumbled across while prayerwalking around my church during some lunch hours was a drop in center for folks with mental illness. A couple months later, I was talking with Bob about ways to get out into networks in the community that would be receptive to the Gospel. He shared with me some of his success at working within the recovery community, and his materials for ‘Living Life as God Intended.’ This is the story of how I’ve begun using an adaptation of those materials.
“After a little investigation I found that the executive director of the agency sponsoring the drop-in center was part of our church’s extended family, so I made some contacts and set up three one-hour sessions during December. They were great sessions. I came after lunch and had between 12 and 20 people gathered at tables to hear a bit of good news, learn some contemplation and prayer techniques, discuss life a bit in small groups and ask some questions. When we had silence to pray or do visualization exercises, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room was palpable. One woman said she started using one of the prayer exercises before bed and was able to fall asleep without sleeping pills and sleep through the night for the first time in quite a while. Some folks asked to talk afterwards for pastoral conversations they needed, and two folks came to church and wanted their picture taken in front of the altar. The people I met were a lot of fun to work with as well.
“Evaluating this initial series in January, the staff said they heard great comments from people who asked that I be present regularly. More people came to the drop-in center the days we did this discipleship work than other days. I’m scheduled to go back a couple of times in the next month, and I have two goals. The first is to set up some sort of regular large group sessions to continue to work broadly with all the staff and clients of the center, who are our church’s neighbors in many senses. I see a number of them walking around downtown, and being able to talk with and encourage them is a blessing. Second, I hope to find 3 to 6 people who are hungry and able to go deeper to do some discipleship and training so that they are equipped to spread the gospel in their communities.”