On Saturdays, Sauze street becomes the home to the local “swap meet.” Hundreds of pop-up tents fill the street where locals sell an array of merchandise. It’s on these days that Pastor Carlos and his team of twelve enter the church, their war room, and commit to an hour of audible praise. They praise God’s goodness, his glory and his grace. Then, bending their knees, they spend the next hour seeking God’s favor and direction for their time of one-on-one street evangelism.

One Saturday, not too long ago, God guided Pastor Carlos to approach a man named William. Confined to a wheelchair, William is often ignored by passersby as they avoid his attempts to sell them a pack of Chiclets gum. Pastor Carlos scraped together enough change to buy the whole box of Chiclets. Rather than take the gum back to his house or church, he asked William to give it out free to the next twenty people he encountered on the streets and say it was a gift from God. While William felt a brief sense of pride and dignity in being able to give something away instead of asking for help from his neighbors, he struggled internally to say that it was a gift from God. Although he had heard of God, he wasn’t sure if he was real. If he was real, he knew he was angry at him for allowing the construction accident that put him in a wheelchair which resulted in the loss of his job and family.

In an act of faith, Pastor Carlos built a wheelchair ramp on the Sauze street side entrance of the church. Over time, Pastor Carlos and other church members visited William and ultimately convinced him that not only was he seen, accepted and unconditionally loved by the church members but by God as well. William surrendered his life to Christ and today lives in victory over the fear, anger and self-defeated spirit that formerly defined him. Today, William joins the prayer warriors in the Sauze street war room every Saturday before “Taking it to the Streets” – the gospel that is – along with his gum. William now extends his hand with the offer of his gum while genuinely stating that it is a gift from God. With a twinkle in his eye, he then asks, “Would you like to know more about God’s goodness, glory and grace?”