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A R T I C L E A R C H I V E S (story from September 5, 1999) God is Transforming Car Thieves!
NOTE: After this story was written, the young man described, Marcos, fell away from the Lord. We thought of pulling the article, but decided to leave it as an example of the true ups and downs of ministry. Now Marcos has returned to the church seeking help and is being sent to a drug recuperation center about 35 miles from Porto Alegre, continue to pray for him. God has been working miracles in the Santa Fé Alliance Church in Porto Alegre. In a recent community survey we asked the residents of our church's neighborhood what they considered the number one need that they had; the overwhelming response: safety from crime. the neighborhood around our church has increasingly been the scene of muggings, drug dealing, and car theft. So we as a church began to pray that God would show his power in our neighborhood by meeting this need expressed by the community.On a recent Sunday night, as one of the ladies of our church walked to her car, parked on the street right next to the church building, three armed men took her car at gun point. The car was found the next day, crashed into a fence about 2 miles from the church. Would you believe that less than a week later, one of those men was praying to receive Christ with an evangelism team from our church! More recently, I was leaving my apartment to drive to church for our regular Tuesday night visitation program. As I pulled out from the well-secured parking lot beneath my building, I sensed the Lord saying to me, "Are you willing to lose your car for me?" I had been visiting in recent weeks a drug-infested neighborhood near our church where car-theft is a very real possibility! I placed my car, my life, and everything that I have in the Lord's hands as I drove to church that night  Before arriving at the church to meet the other visitation teams, I swung by the apartment of my new brother in the faith, Marcos. Marcos was a drug dealer accustomed to walking around with guns in his pockets up until about a month and a half ago. Transformed by the power of the gospel, he has become my evangelism partner. As we pulled up to the church, I got out of the car first and noticed two men walking toward me. I thought nothing of it. Marcos then got out of the car and the two men stopped, surprised, said something to him, then walked on. The next day, Marcos told me that the two men were former drug-dealing partners of his, and that when he returned home that night, he met them again. They told him that they had been planning on stealing my car, but when they saw him get out, they kept walking. Ten minutes later, they had already stolen another car. God is working miracles here in Porto Alegre, and we believe that He has much
more in store for us here. Keep praying....God is saving car thieves and
drug-dealers! |
