wow its cold!!

I'm back in NYC for another SLM New Years Eve Outreach. The teams (total of 46 people I think) arrived yesterday and stay until Friday afternoon. We'll be continuing street evangelism most of the day tomorrow, which will conclude with Christmas caroling at the tree in Rockefeller Center and prayer walking Times Square. Thursday will also be a busy day around Times Square with Prayer Stations and handing out free hot chocolate. Thanks for your prayers.

And yeah, its crazy cold.

Snow storm

I know this doesn't look like NYC but it is. It's the SLM ministry house in Queens. I didn't take the picture because I managed to escape to PA, for Christmas break, just in time. I'll be in Lancaster for a week then returning for SLM's New Years Eve Outreach.

TSP pics and Christmas cookies

We're still going to Tompkins Square Park every week (usually Tuesdays), so here are a couple new pics. Also, the past couple years, SLM has been doing a Christmas Cookie Outreach. Well, kinda we just make a lot of cookies and give them to people. Hope you're proud mom. :)

Sorry

Wow. Sorry I've been a little lazy with this recently. I'll try to update you properly soon.

I had a good thanksgiving in Lancaster, got some good family time, played some football with some old friends, and (sadly) picked up a cold. I've been sick for almost a week, so please pray. It feels like I might be coming out of it, so that's good.

Love ya

New guy at SLM

The new guy at SLM is Hudson Wells, he happens to be the brother of another staff, Weslea. I've found that he's a good guy. Please pray for him during this transition time in his life. I'm sure its difficult sometimes, hopefully not all the time. :)

God is faithful

"... for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down (relax my hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]"

Heb. 13:5 Amp

The NIV version of the Bible says "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you", and the KJV says "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee", but this amplified it a bit more. God thank you for being so faithful. Interesting that He repeats Himself three times, "I will not, I will not, I will not..."

Weekend team

SLM had a young adult team from Rochester, NY last weekend. They came Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning and were able to go to Tompkins Square Park on Friday and then a prayer station in Jamaica on Saturday. It was a good weekend of ministry on the streets.

It's our intention to get more teams like this throughout the year.

SLM camping

I love NYC but its essential to get out sometimes. The annual SLM camping trip was last weekend in the Poconos. It's kinda like it helps me think a little more clearly. God, thanks for the beauty and peace.

The weekend includes a mandatory football game. Sorry about the pic Hannah.

Yes, you can count this time, L.

Larry fom TSP

This is Larry. I've known him for many years from my time at Tompkins Square Park. I had a good talk with him the other day and he let me pray for him as well. He's a good guy but the enemy has stolen a lot from him through alcohol. Pray that he would be free.

A room at SLM got a new look

Well, I'm also kind of the maintenance/fix-things/remodel-things guy here at SLM. It's cool, work I like to do. These are a couple pics of a project I've been working on. One of the team rooms on the third floor of the main house got a fresh look, though I can't claim to like red carpet. But the price was right.

'09 Slideshow

Thanks for putting this together Mary Anna

Worship Warfare Week '09

This year Worship Warfare Week was August 17th to the 22nd. It was a blessed week and I was glad to be a part of it, but it was also a lot of work. Lots of long hours and set up and tear down stuff, but its worth it.

We set up the drums, sound equipment, prayer station, and kids face painting area and choose to worship the Lord, which includes loving people. Each day we go to a different park in the city. Tuesday we were in Manhattan, Wednesday in Brooklyn, and Thursday and Friday we were in Queens.

It's really good to see how worshiping God in a public place changes the atmosphere of a location and opens things up a bit. We also prayed for a lot of people, shared some testimonies, and did some drama. God's love went forth, people found salvation.

The Word

God's been stirring more love for the Word in me. I've been realizing that I need to be in it more. I need to know the Word - understand it, memorize it, also be able to teach and preach it. 2 Timothy 4:2 says "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction."

pics are from Brazil '09 - first is me, a translator, and "Jesus"; second is part of the audience

SLM staff pic

Not the best picture but here's the SLM staff, though some are just here for the summer.

left to right:
back - David Van Fleet, David Elisha Van Fleet, Jeryl Zimmerman, Riley Mullins, Andrea Pool
front - Robin Van Fleet, Jessica Hochreiter, Carol Werronen, Amy Wong, Weslea Wells, Ashley Abraham, Mary Anna Coulter

Riley and Andrea are just here for the summer and David Elisha isn't staff but part of the fam.

Summer outreach continues on

These are a few more team pictures.

Summer is definitely the busy season at Street Life. Teams come from all over the nation and generally stay for about a week. Most are youth ministries from churches but there are adult or college teams occasionally. The churches represented are generally from a variety of denominational backgrounds.

There is a time of worship and teaching in the morning and then we go out to different ministry sites and objectives during the day, some of which I already tried to explain and post pictures of. SLM is based in Queens but we do ministry throughout the city.

We have two more weeks of somewhat normal scheduled weeks followed by, the last week of summer outreach, Worship Warfare Week. More about that later. Thanks for your prayers.

Still about Brazil

"In simple terms, prophecy is 'hearing' from God and speaking what you hear in order to build, comfort, or encourage someone. To prophesy is to hear from God and speak to men." - from "You May All Prophesy" by Steve Thompson

So, this is a picture of me praying for a young man in the, previously mentioned, red light district of Belo Horizonte. I've been trying to grow in praying prophetically for people. Try not to be freaked out by the term. Like the quote says, its really just hearing from the Lord for a specific person or group and then communicating that properly to them. And, yes, it seems to take practice.

I can't claim to specifically remember what I prayed for this young man, however I do remember a young woman who was very encouraged by the Lord through my praying. I met her one day at a park and had a short conversation with her, but her English was very limited. I remember praying but there was no translator around at the time. I later found out that she was with YWAM, whom we were working with. Once we made it back to the church later that afternoon, we were able to talk using a translator.

I felt like maybe I should initiate the conversation but wasn't sure. It was my intention to explain to her some of the things that I prayed because it felt like there was something specifically from the Lord. I was encouraged when she found the translator and initiated the conversation with me. She told me a few things and when I told her what I felt the Lord had me pray, she was amazed and grateful because it helped to confirm her next steps in life. Praise God!

ps - my strange clothing was due to playing Jesus in a drama just before the pic

As I was saying

Brazil was a good trip. We flew in to Sao Paulo from JFK and then took a short flight to the third largest city in Brazil, Belo Horizonte (in English it translates to Beautiful Horizon). Mostly, we ministered in this city but a few times we took trips out to smaller towns. Since the national language is Portuguese, we needed to use translators often. We worked closely with some YWAMers that we have a good relationship with.

The trip was a busy two weeks with one day off in the middle. Much of what we did was simply minister to the Lord and to people. We were intentional about being in the streets a lot but one Sunday we did a church service as well. One of our favorite places to go was the red light district of the city. It's a blessing to take the light of who Jesus is to the dark places of this world, and to see people change and desire good things from the Lord.

Home from Brazil

So, I'm back in the states from another good trip to Brazil with Street Life. Once again, we encountered a people who were ready to receive the gospel. We did a lot of worship, prayer, and drama on the streets. God is certainly a good God and I'll try to post some more about the trip later, but here's a few pics.

The last pic is a team picture, I think all of us were from NY, NJ, NH, and OH. There are more pics on my Facebook page.

Off to Brazil

Sorry that I don't really have the time right now to give ya'll a real update, but I'm leaving today to go to Brazil for two weeks with Street Life. Please be praying and I'll try to get you a better update (with some pics) when I return.

God bless and thanks for your prayers. Love ya.

From what I know of the NYPD, this isn't normal

God clearly gave my team some favor today in Jamaica Queens. When we were leaving we needed to briefly illegally park the van at a bus stop to load the prayer station. As we were finishing, a police car pulled up behind us and three officers got out and approached me asking who the driver was (which I was not). I explained that the driver was in the driver's seat but that if anyone needed to be yelled at, I should be that person. I proceeded to explain who we were and what we were doing. Something shifted. They said “oh its with the church,” I replied “yes.” They gave each other a little shrug, said it was ok, and promptly walked back to their car. I said “God bless” and also didn't stick around.

Crazy stuff. Maybe I didn't explain this incident well enough, but we certainly received God's favor.

Drive-Up Prayer in Harlem

Just thought this was interesting and unique today.

We were doing a prayer station on a sidewalk in Harlem and this car pulled up right in front of us. Two guys got out and calmly walked over to me and asked for prayer (semi normal behavior for someone who's just walking by). They wanted to ask God for wisdom. So, I prayed for them. They seemed grateful and thanked me. Then they proceeded to get back in their car and drive away.

Summer outreach has begun

Teams come to Street Life Ministries almost every week during the summer. The day usually begins with a worship and teaching time and then we take them into the streets to help the poor, do prayer stations, or help at soup kitchens. This is a pic of our first team. They were a small team from Louisiana. This morning they left and already another team is here. The typical team size is 25-30.

Vacation

Sorry I haven't updated this for a while. I know the summer will be busy, but I'll try to post updates about every week.

Right now I'm vacationing in Florida at my cousins house. It's a good time, very relaxing. I'm here till Saturday and then back to NYC for the much more intense summer.

Beautiful Day at Tompkins Square Park

These are some pics of our time at Tompkins Square Park today. We go to this park nearly every Tuesday during the year and sometimes twice a week during the summer. David Van Fleet, the founder and director of Street Life Ministries, has been doing ministry in this park for many years.

We are intentional about loving people and being the church in a public place. This comes forth in different ways which includes giving; clothing, food, hot chocolate or lemonade, and care packs to help meet their immediate needs. Some people we encounter are homeless and some are not. Also, we believe in God's desire to meet with and change people, and the power of prayer.

By Popular Demand

Pics of the inside of my apartment.

Downtown Flushing

I live in an area of Queens called Flushing. Often on Saturdays, we go downtown to do a prayer station and hand out food and drink. It seems to be a good way to connect with people and try to show some love. It's a very Asian community, lots of Chinese and Korean. Historically, I'm told, that it's significant because it's the birthplace of religious freedom in America.

The first pic is me and my friend Bob, that I've known for a couple years. He often helps us hand out clothing when we go to Tompkins Square Park on Tuesdays.

Street Life Ministries

This is the front of the house where I live in Queens, NY (Street Life Ministries). We do a variety of different things, but we're very intentional about worship, prayer, discipleship, and caring for the poor and homeless.

I guess I've started a blog

Welcome to Jeryl's life.

I recently moved to NYC to work with Street Life Ministries. Its somewhat of a new beginning for me and I anticipate this to be a good time in my life and for growth to occur in my relationship with Jesus.

So, I thought it appropriate to start a blog. Its my intention to randomly update this in order to keep my friends and family updated on what's going on in my life. Let me know what ya think from time to time and definitely try to remember me in your prayers.