MERRY CHRISTMAS from NORTH CAROLINA...

David and I have arrived safely in North Carolina after a crazy day of flying and barely catching our flight out of San Francisco. If you've ever seen the movie 'Home Alone' where the family is running through the airport to catch their flight... we'll that was us almost a week ago! Thankfully, we got to our plane with 5 minutes to spare!

Since arriving, we have had lots of time with my (Kim's) family. We enjoyed the Christmas Cantata at church Sunday morning and seeing many wonderful friends! Now, we are gearing up for the holiday festivities this week!

Please keep us in your prayers as we will be speaking next week at Youth Tremors, a Youth Conference held by the North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends. There will be approximately 130 young people, ages 12-18, that we get to impart to and impact with the life changing message of Jesus and the life He desires for them!

We will be sure to update you, as soon as we can, but until then we will be busy eating, visiting, and celebrating our Lord's birth.

Merry Christmas with all our love!
David and Kim

IMPACTING LIVES AND SOULS GETTING SAVED...

Jesus had a strategy while on Earth. He had to figure out what was the best and most effective way to get His message to the world and have it continue to be spread after He left. If we look at Jesus’ life, He focused the majority of His time with the Twelve Disciples. He knew that training up and inspiring twelve ‘on fire’ witnesses would have a longer lasting effect as they multiplied themselves than would 5,000 ‘lukewarm’ people. So, He trained, discipled, and sent them out.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking to 14 students at the YWAM- San Francisco’s Discipleship Training School to inspire and equip them to do Evangelism. Their ages ranged from 18- 34. At the beginning of the week, most of the students definitely had their barriers to overcome when it came to sharing their faith. The barriers ranged from fear to lack of knowledge or even approach to methods. In all, I taught for 14 hours, equipping and inspiring these students to have a heart for the lost. It was a very fruitful week. We went on an outreach to Berkeley University Thursday afternoon and shared the gospel with the college students there. We definitely planted seeds that day, but on the Friday night, as the DTS went out to evangelize in their neighborhood, they saw two people give their lives to Christ! One man even commented, “ You guys saved my life tonight!” It was encouraging because throughout the whole school the students would go out and do evangelism in their neighborhood, but after this week of teaching, they went out with a renewed PASSION and saw two souls find their Saviour in Christ Jesus! In a city of 1 million people, two people is not that much, but in God’s eyes two of His children were reconciled to Him.

We also had one student in the DTS express interest in joining us in ministry here in our neighborhood next year- which is what we have been praying for!

David Speaking on DTS...

SMALL BLESSINGS LEAD TO GREAT FAITH...

As some of you may know, when we moved to San Francisco we were both very excited to be setting out on a new journey. Over the past 5 months, we have seen our share of challenges and battles, but in the midst of the storm we have seen God provide for us in incredible ways!

One of my concerns with the winter season coming up around the corner is the fact that we have lived in TROPICAL Australia for the past 4 years, leaving us with very few winter clothes. I have been asking God to provide for us the necessities for the colder weather. Well, just this past week, we were each given a winter coat! They were exactly what we liked and had been looking at in the local shops. They are SO nice and such a blessing to us! David even got a great coat that he will be able to wear even if it’s raining outside in the winter time- so there is no stopping him from getting out on the streets to share the gospel!

One other desire of ours, as many of you already know, is that we want to turn our garage into a youth room. Well, part of that vision entails us setting up an X-Box in there for teenagers to come hangout and play. David was given an X-Box for his birthday this year and we have two controllers, but were wanting to get two more so that more people could play. Well, this week we randomly got TWO X-BOX CONTROLLERS in the mail! We were so stoked and can’t wait for God to provide us with a TV so that we can set it all up downstairs! Although, our Hispanic neighbors (two boys ages 11 and 9) are already enjoying the gift!

(So, THANK YOU to the people that God used this week to bless us and remind us of His faithfulness! We are SO grateful!!!)

We pray that God may take these stories and encourage your spirit with the fact that He IS good and He IS a provider. No matter how dark the clouds may look, it doesn’t change WHO He IS.... He promises to never leave us or forsake us. Even when the road gets bumpy, He still sees us and longs to lavish His great love on us! Be blessed this week in knowing that no matter what breakthrough you are needing to see in your life, God IS big enough to handle it!

PRAISE REPORT...

This week we had a praise report as we received a phone call from a Youth Pastor in Oregon...

In the past, the Oakdale Youth House has served the Bayview Hunters Point community with a 6 week Summer Day Camp. We have been eager to plan a camp for the Summer of 2010, but with little help, resources, and support, have found it difficult to look that far ahead.

The Youth Pastor who phoned us has been involved with the ministry in our neighborhood for several years now in bringing teams down to help out and is keen to bring a team of 5-6 college students down for the summer to run the Summer Day Camp! We were floored when we heard the news because it will provide more ‘workers’ and added hands in the labor. They are keen to help plan and carry out lessons, games, etc... Now, all we need to do is meet with the pastor’s of our community to locate a venue and begin networking with the churches to see this happen! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness even has we can’t fully see the big picture!

Possibilities for 2010...

This week we had a praise report as we received a phone call from a Youth Pastor in Oregon...

In the past, the Oakdale Youth House has served the Bayview Hunters Point community with a 6 week Summer Day Camp. We have been eager to plan a camp for the Summer of 2010, but with little help, resources, and support, have found it difficult to look that far ahead.

The Youth Pastor who phoned us has been involved with the ministry in our neighborhood for several years now in bringing teams down to help out and is keen to bring a team of 5-6 college students down for the summer to run the Summer Day Camp! We were floored when we heard the news because it will provide more ‘workers’ and added hands in the labor. They are keen to help plan and carry out lessons, games, etc... Now, all we need to do is meet with the pastor’s of our community to locate a venue and begin networking with the churches to see this happen! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness even has we can’t fully see the big picture!

Basketball breaking barriers!

When we first moved to the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, I would walk around the streets trying to get to know my way around and meet people. Being one of the few white people out and around, I quickly realized that people thought I was an under-cover police officer. I mean, why else would would a young, white guy be walking through the projects or down by the liquor stores?

One day, I was walking down to one of the many liquor stores we have in our community to buy a drink (a coke of course). As I was walking back home, one of the guys on the streets starts yelling at me. He’s yelling, “Stop following me! I ain’t selling nothing. I’m like, “I’m not following you!” “What are you parked up there and following me?” he said. I quickly realized that he thought I was a cop and responded that, “I’m not a cop. I live up that street.” He then apologized, “Sorry, we ain’t used to you people around here.”

I quickly realized that there is huge lack of trust when gang members or drug dealers see me on the street. I needed to find a way to break the barriers and break through to our neighbors. Luckily, I always dreamed of playing basketball professionally, which led me to practice for hours and hours on the courts as a teenager. It has been a huge blessing here with the young men in our community.

I started off going down to the local recreation center some evenings to check things out. At first, nobody would even let me in the games. Finally, I got into one game, dominated, and then became respected and known among the guys down there. This has led me to build relationships and connect with a handful of young people around the streets of my house.

We have two gangs on either side of our street who run the drug deals on their blocks. Through basketball, I have been able to make friends and build trust with both groups. I have also been asked to form a basketball team for a Men’s Church League starting in January. Hopefully, I will be able to invite the guys I’ve met who run the streets to join the team. As apart of them joining the team, I’ll ask them to become apart of “our church” by inviting them over to our house, telling them about Jesus, and discipling them.

Another young man to keep in your prayers is a boy named Chaz. He’s 17 years old and doesn’t go to school. He is usually roaming the streets all day with his friends and most likely up to no good. God has given me a word for this young man that he is going to be a leader in this community. I want to focus on spending as much time as I can with him in the next few weeks. I want to see him come to know Christ! I know if he finds Christ then he will lead the rest of his friends to Christ, as well. We will keep you updated on Chaz in the weeks to come.

We have also included a video of our ministry house here in Hunters Point. Hope you enjoy!

We've become BLOGGERS!!!

Well, friends and family, the day has finally arrived! The Lehmanns have created a BLOG SPOT! In case you miss us on Facebook, G-mail, or our tri-monthly updates, here is another way for you to stay in touch with us. We want to make sure you are apart of our lives. While we may be miles (and even oceans) apart, we still love and care for you very much and want to include you in what God is doing in our lives.

On here, you will be able to read weekly posts on how we are doing, what we are working on, and the daily walk we share with each other and the people around us. Feel free to let us know what you think! We love hearing from you, so drop us a line any time!

And with that- welcome to our BLOG SPOT!