Lewis Ecker
Church-based Missionary
-- London, England -- |
 In late September, Angie and I were given two free tickets to see 69 year old British icon, Sir Cliff Richard and The Shadows in concert at the O2 Arena. |
 In early October, for Zoey's birthday we redecorated her bedroom with a touch of colour. |
 October is Harvest time in Britain when churches take a collection for the less fortunate. |
Ashley and Zach participated in a 5 mile walk to Westminster Abby raising money for street children in South Africa. |
The kids spent time with their mummies at the British Museum. We'll introduce you if you come for a visit.
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Here I'm posing with Pastor Mark Shelton after the Islington Peace Walk. Mark is originally from Chicago and pastors Cross Street Baptist in Islington.
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I'm posing here with Mick, a homeless alcoholic that sleeps at the Angel Tube Station. Mick is a former IRA soldier and suffers from many health problems including PTSD.
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I gotta have one of these. It's a C1 electric scooter made by BMW. Cool or uncool?
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And Zoey would like one of these: a Nissan Micra, pink of course. One of these days I'll do a whole edition of all the coolest rides in London. :-)
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Busy-Busy
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the Autumn months looked very busy for our ministry in London and that prophecy has turned out to be true. Preaching, youth club, drop in, and street pastors are all going well. I haven't been able to do much singing as I had a sore throat for a couple of weeks but that has now gone away.
In the youth club we thank the Lord for two new sets of sisters joining us; one from the summer holiday club and the other found us on the internet. Our only setback has been a broken leg by one of the young men playing football in the park (please pray for Nico's speedy recovery). Of course, we couldn't do it without our great volunteers, Viviene and Wesley. We also have a new name for our youth club: Teens4Truth or T4T.
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 T4T Bowling Night
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The Monday Drop-In at
Upper Holloway Baptist continues to accommodate 80+ each week for food
and clothing and the Wednesday morning cafe has begun although the
numbers are small. The Thursday cafe at Camden Road Baptist is picking
up some momentum and the food continues to be "really good!" We were
recently visited by a team from a Baptist church in Huntsville,
Alabama, that is praying about adopting our borough for partnership
missions.
Islington Street Pastors
are now officially commissioned to be on the streets "caring, listening
and helping." We've had two nights out since the last newsletter and
we've seen some improvements because the club that was giving us the
most issues has lost its late night license and must close at midnight.
There's also no more live DJ so it's not attracting the crowds of young
people like it once was.
In late September I attended two days
of training to become an Ascension Trust Representative. Ascension
Trust is the umbrella charity over Street Pastors so that means I can
now represent Street Pastors at events like a launch or commissioning or speak to groups that want to begin street pastors in their community.
Any takers?
We were
also privileged to have our former Islington mayor and current Council
member, Barbara Smith, with us for a few hours on our latest patrol.
(see photo below). She can now say she's been hugged by a homeless
alcoholic. :-)
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 Islington Street Pastors with Cllr Barbara Smith in foreground
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Prayer Requests and Updates
- Please keep praying for AJ studying and working in Panama City, FL.
- Please remember Angie, Ashley, Zach, and Zoey as they continue to adjust to life in London. I'm very proud of them.
- Please remember Islington Street Pastors' next "patrol" on Friday, November 27th. Two of my street pastors are job hunting and would appreciate your prayers as well.
- Please pray for Pastor Brian's sister that just moved with her husband to Bulgaria to work in an orphanage.
- Please keep praying for our work with the marginalised, unemployed, homeless, and hungry.
- Please keep praying for Becky and Papy who need a new flat for their growing family; his two boys have now joined them from the Congo and baby Rebecca was born last week.
- Please keep praying for Stephen M. and an upcoming trial date that keeps getting postponed.
- Please
remember to pray for my friend Alex struggling with alcoholism and isolation. I recently made contact with his sister in Florida and he was reunited with his mother he hadn't seen in 10 years.
- Please keep praying for our Monday night youth club: Teens4Truth (T4T).
- Please keep praying for Angie's Ladies' Bible study on Wednesday afternoons.
- Please remember the Baptist pastors in Islington: Brian, Andrew, Rudy, Mark, and Nigel. Also pray for the leadership team at the London Baptist Association: Pat, Paul, David, and Kumar.
Thank you again for supporting us prayerfully and financially during hard times. We are so blessed by you and love to hear from you by email or on Facebook. I'm also on Twitter now. May the peace of God dwell in you richly.
Warm regards,
><> Lewis <><
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I found this engraved on a pulpit where I spoke about street pastors recently from the Book of Common Prayer, 1662:
GO FORTH INTO THE WORLD IN PEACE;
BE OF GOOD COURAGE;
HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD;
RENDER TO NO MAN EVIL FOR EVIL;
STRENGHTEN THE FAINT HEARTED;
SUPPORT THE WEAK;
HELP THE AFFLICTED;
HONOUR ALL MEN;
LOVE AND SERVE THE LORD,
REJOICING IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
AND THE BLESSING OF GOD ALMIGHTY,
FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST,
BE UPON YOU AND REMAIN WITH YOU FOR EVER.
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