Facing Death Threats on Santa Barbara 'Party' Campus - 25 Feb 2005
We are in the middle of organizing our first week of prayer here in Isla Vista, a square mile coastal community bordering the University of California campus at Santa Barbara. Our reputation at UCSB is that of “The Party School.”
 Del Playa Revellers |
Students and young adults come from all over the state to party on our streets. Besides being a place of alcohol and blaring music, it also suffers STDs, robbery, rape and even death. Each weekend Del Playa, the main party street (left), fills with people walking from one party to the next. A couple years ago REALITY Church was able to snag a house on Del Playa (DP for short). |
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Partiers on Saturday night gave us Jesus Freaks threats of arson and even death. |
Partiers on Saturday night gave us Jesus Freaks threats of arson and even death. Our Sunday service was held on the front lawn or in someone’s living room. We prayed some and soon we got the house next door.... |
We prayed some more and God has blessed us with a Fraternity house where we have plans to build a sanctuary. Today we have church in the auditorium of the local elementary school.
On Saturday nights we meet for a couple hours of prayer and worship before we mobilize for outreach, handing out free burgers. It isn’t uncommon to have partiers stumble up the driveway yelling, “Jesus burgers!” with hungry stomachs and empty souls.
Best of all, we converted a garage behind the houses into a Prayer Shed, with the vision that one day this place would be a house of prayer and a training base for those called to missions. So what if we just keep praying?
We want more!
The atmosphere on DP has changed in the last couple years, but we want more! We persevere with faith that God will continue to answer our prayers. I’ve heard some people have been praying 17 years for our area!
We know that the Lord has great plans for our small, lost community and we are still patiently waiting for him to move radically. For our week of 24-7 we desire to unite both English and Spanish speaking fellowships and churches in our community, hoping that in the future we can pass the 24-7 baton from one fellowship to the next.
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We began contacting leaders this week and many are just now hearing the words “24-7 Prayer” for the first time. However, we are confident of God’s calling and know that now is the time to PUMP UP THE PRAYER.
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-M- on 24-7talkback