It's a Jesus Party Summer
Jesus Christ Block Parties
by Melanie Bower
2015 Continues Another Season of Ministry in Philadelphia
Jesus Christ Block Parties, the ministry with an evangelistic mission to take the Gospel to the streets in the form of neighborhood block parties, is going strong for yet another summer season.
The ministry kicked off its “official” block party season of Christian outreach on May 16, 2015, on Daly Street in South Philadelphia. In the months since, the ministry held additional block parties on Kensington Avenue and Cornwall Street in North Philadelphia on July 18; Marshall Street in South Philadelphia on August 15; and helped Word of Truth Ministries kick off its own block party at 22nd and Reed on August 22.
Jesus Christ Block Parties is a ministry that began on May 16, 2009 by South Philadelphia native Shawn Lawler. Lawler, a street evangelist, had a vision to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as God would place in his path, after being delivered himself from a once seemingly endless life of drugs, crime, and hopelessness. What began as an outdoor Bible study in front of his own house on Gladstone Street soon evolved into a greater outreach into other neighborhoods and communities. In an effort to proclaim the Gospel to lost and hurting souls, Lawler began setting up block parties throughout South Philadelphia – community events that would not only offer free food and drinks for local residents and a free water slide and face painting for neighborhood children, but would also feature live worship and Christian music, a prayer ministry, and resources for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. As the block party ministry grew over the following months, Lawler would begin to offer water baptisms, right in the middle of the street, for anyone who wanted to publicly declare their faith in Christ. Street baptisms would prove to become one of the greatest highlights of this “unique but simple” block party ministry.
“We are on a mission to seek and save the lost,” says Lawler. “We are taking our tambourines and going up and down the streets, praising and lifting up the name of Jesus. We’re on a mission to sow as many seeds as we can. We’re looking to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’”
Since 2009, key men and women who share the block party vision have come alongside Lawler to assist in the ministry, including Mark Russian of Street Disciples Ministry, Rick and Brenda Cartagena of Christian Life Prison & Recovery Ministry, and Chuck Miller of Shall Never Thirst Ministry. Together, along with other dedicated volunteers, the block party team continues to work tirelessly to proclaim Christ to the needy and oppressed throughout Philadelphia.
The block party season of 2015 has so far been particularly successful, with more than 40 men, women, and children being baptized at the July 18 event on Kensington Avenue, and dozens of New Testament Scriptures, as donated by the Pennsylvania Bible Society, being distributed to block party participants. Facedown, a Christian worship band, as well as two other singers, performed during the August 15 event on Marshall Street in South Philadelphia, and five individuals, including three children, were baptized that day. During a memorial for those lost to drug and alcohol addiction, a man named Chris Fiore took the stage to share the testimony of his own son, who was just 24 years old when he lost his bout with heroin addiction, and the movement of Anthony’s Act, a bill to modify the Affordable Care Act to extend inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation to a minimum of 90 days. Also during the August 15 event, more than 36 book bags filled with new school supplies were raffled off to neighborhood children.
The ministry will remain active even once the block parties are over for 2015, as it furthers plans to establish its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and to launch greater fundraising efforts. The ministry is also preparing a new book, Jesus Christ Block Parties: Step by Step, which will be released by Westbow Press in the spring of 2016.
Part of the ministry’s growth lies in the call to pastors and other ministry leaders throughout the United States to promote “street” evangelism, particularly through the block party model. “Proverbs 11:30 says that ‘he who wins souls is wise,’ and we believe that everyone should get a copy of Jesus Christ Block Parties: Step by Step to learn how to start their own block parties,” says Lawler. “The more we are all lifting up the name of Jesus, the more Christ will continue to draw men to Himself. We are the Lord’s hands and feet on this earth.”
For more information about Jesus Christ Block Parties and Shawn Lawler’s testimony, visit www.jesuschristblockparties.com. For information about Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation, contact Shall Never Thirst Ministries (men’s house) at 215-908-8152 or Iris Tyson House of Hope (women’s house) at 267-439-9352.
by Melanie Bower
2015 Continues Another Season of Ministry in Philadelphia
Jesus Christ Block Parties, the ministry with an evangelistic mission to take the Gospel to the streets in the form of neighborhood block parties, is going strong for yet another summer season.
The ministry kicked off its “official” block party season of Christian outreach on May 16, 2015, on Daly Street in South Philadelphia. In the months since, the ministry held additional block parties on Kensington Avenue and Cornwall Street in North Philadelphia on July 18; Marshall Street in South Philadelphia on August 15; and helped Word of Truth Ministries kick off its own block party at 22nd and Reed on August 22.
Jesus Christ Block Parties is a ministry that began on May 16, 2009 by South Philadelphia native Shawn Lawler. Lawler, a street evangelist, had a vision to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as God would place in his path, after being delivered himself from a once seemingly endless life of drugs, crime, and hopelessness. What began as an outdoor Bible study in front of his own house on Gladstone Street soon evolved into a greater outreach into other neighborhoods and communities. In an effort to proclaim the Gospel to lost and hurting souls, Lawler began setting up block parties throughout South Philadelphia – community events that would not only offer free food and drinks for local residents and a free water slide and face painting for neighborhood children, but would also feature live worship and Christian music, a prayer ministry, and resources for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. As the block party ministry grew over the following months, Lawler would begin to offer water baptisms, right in the middle of the street, for anyone who wanted to publicly declare their faith in Christ. Street baptisms would prove to become one of the greatest highlights of this “unique but simple” block party ministry.
“We are on a mission to seek and save the lost,” says Lawler. “We are taking our tambourines and going up and down the streets, praising and lifting up the name of Jesus. We’re on a mission to sow as many seeds as we can. We’re looking to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’”
Since 2009, key men and women who share the block party vision have come alongside Lawler to assist in the ministry, including Mark Russian of Street Disciples Ministry, Rick and Brenda Cartagena of Christian Life Prison & Recovery Ministry, and Chuck Miller of Shall Never Thirst Ministry. Together, along with other dedicated volunteers, the block party team continues to work tirelessly to proclaim Christ to the needy and oppressed throughout Philadelphia.
The block party season of 2015 has so far been particularly successful, with more than 40 men, women, and children being baptized at the July 18 event on Kensington Avenue, and dozens of New Testament Scriptures, as donated by the Pennsylvania Bible Society, being distributed to block party participants. Facedown, a Christian worship band, as well as two other singers, performed during the August 15 event on Marshall Street in South Philadelphia, and five individuals, including three children, were baptized that day. During a memorial for those lost to drug and alcohol addiction, a man named Chris Fiore took the stage to share the testimony of his own son, who was just 24 years old when he lost his bout with heroin addiction, and the movement of Anthony’s Act, a bill to modify the Affordable Care Act to extend inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation to a minimum of 90 days. Also during the August 15 event, more than 36 book bags filled with new school supplies were raffled off to neighborhood children.
The ministry will remain active even once the block parties are over for 2015, as it furthers plans to establish its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and to launch greater fundraising efforts. The ministry is also preparing a new book, Jesus Christ Block Parties: Step by Step, which will be released by Westbow Press in the spring of 2016.
Part of the ministry’s growth lies in the call to pastors and other ministry leaders throughout the United States to promote “street” evangelism, particularly through the block party model. “Proverbs 11:30 says that ‘he who wins souls is wise,’ and we believe that everyone should get a copy of Jesus Christ Block Parties: Step by Step to learn how to start their own block parties,” says Lawler. “The more we are all lifting up the name of Jesus, the more Christ will continue to draw men to Himself. We are the Lord’s hands and feet on this earth.”
For more information about Jesus Christ Block Parties and Shawn Lawler’s testimony, visit www.jesuschristblockparties.com. For information about Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation, contact Shall Never Thirst Ministries (men’s house) at 215-908-8152 or Iris Tyson House of Hope (women’s house) at 267-439-9352.