Isla Vista, CA: Jesus burgers, anyone? - 27 Jul 2006
Picture this: It’s midnight on a Saturday night, and after
some prayer and worship, a group of Jesus-loving friends in Isla Vista, CA,
fire up the grill to cook some hamburgers – 120 or more each week,
actually. The multitudes of young
partiers on Del Playa Dr.
–
most of them university students – know that if they’re hungry when the sound
curfew gets enforced at midnight, they can come wait in line at the “DP Houses”
for what they’ve dubbed “Jesus burgers”.
From midnight to 2 or 3 or 4 am, you can expect to find a line at least
100 people long of guys and girls looking for some food – and often for some
Living Water as well. They find hope and
the love of God through these followers of Jesus as they wait for their
stomachs to be filled.
most of them university students – know that if they’re hungry when the sound
curfew gets enforced at midnight, they can come wait in line at the “DP Houses”
for what they’ve dubbed “Jesus burgers”.
From midnight to 2 or 3 or 4 am, you can expect to find a line at least
100 people long of guys and girls looking for some food – and often for some
Living Water as well. They find hope and
the love of God through these followers of Jesus as they wait for their
stomachs to be filled.
A week ago, Wendy Andrews & Juli Catto
from 24-7 USA visited these
very like-hearted friends from REALITY
Isla Vista Church. Isla
Vista, CA is an
ocean-front city one square mile in size which is home to 20,000 people –
mostly university students from UC-Santa Barbara & a city college, as well
as a strong Latino population. Emily
Morrison, a REALITY girl who encountered the 24-7 Prayer movement in Spain
during a year studying abroad, has mobilized 3 weeks of 24-7 prayer in a shed
behind the DP Houses (discipleship houses owned and inhabited by REALITY
family) over the past year. This shed is
great - so unassuming, such a powerful place to house the presence of God. Their last run of 24-7 prayer was in October
2005, during the week before and the week after the Halloween holiday, where
thousands of partiers hit Del Playa for days on end.
Morrison, a REALITY girl who encountered the 24-7 Prayer movement in Spain
during a year studying abroad, has mobilized 3 weeks of 24-7 prayer in a shed
behind the DP Houses (discipleship houses owned and inhabited by REALITY
family) over the past year. This shed is
great - so unassuming, such a powerful place to house the presence of God. Their last run of 24-7 prayer was in October
2005, during the week before and the week after the Halloween holiday, where
thousands of partiers hit Del Playa for days on end.
Wendy and Juli sat for a few hours with
REALITY’s head pastor – 30-year old Jacob – and his friend named Joseph, who
manages much of what happens at REALITY’s discipleship houses. We
heard story after story of a powerful
journey of faith and prayer that these young people have been on for nearly 5
years, now – they’re fully committed to this crowd in Isla
Vista, and they’re seeing the Lord meet them and provide for them
in ways that would blow your socks off.
Or, at least, these stories are sure to provoke you to believe in God and to trust that He hears our cries and loves to
bring the answer. They’ve faithfully
served “Jesus burgers” once a week for 4 years now, they’re getting possession
of land and houses, and most significantly, God is bringing back to Himself
many sons and daughters.
heard story after story of a powerful
journey of faith and prayer that these young people have been on for nearly 5
years, now – they’re fully committed to this crowd in Isla
Vista, and they’re seeing the Lord meet them and provide for them
in ways that would blow your socks off.
Or, at least, these stories are sure to provoke you to believe in God and to trust that He hears our cries and loves to
bring the answer. They’ve faithfully
served “Jesus burgers” once a week for 4 years now, they’re getting possession
of land and houses, and most significantly, God is bringing back to Himself
many sons and daughters. We – at the
Kansas City Boiler Room – are praying for this kind of faith, that God would
write a story with us in it like He has with our brothers and sisters at
REALITY Isla Vista, one that has all the
character and quality of Jesus.