Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

The next morning, we ministered at a Nationally Registered Church in Padang. Even though Padang was not near the earthquake ’ s epicenter, great damage could be seen throughout the city.

Many buildings were destroyed and collapsed. There were signs of earthquake damage across the city.

After the church service, the Pastor and his wife took us to a restaurant to feed us some local food dishes and fellowship together. Near the end of lunch, Rudy posed a question to the Pastors that definitely caught all of our attention. Rudy asked the local Pastors, “Do you know where we could get some wood?” The Pastor’s wife answered back, “Why do you need wood?” Rudy explained, “We want to take wood and build an 8-foot cross and carry it down the streets in town.” I will never forget her answer. After a brief moment of awkward silence, we chuckled a little bit. Surely, she was being over dramatic. We quickly realized she was being “dead” serious. We went back to the little hotel and had prayer and fellowship before we went to sleep that night. We had a long day ahead of us gathering food, water and supplies in Padang to take up to Padang Pariaman to begin the earthquake disaster relief effort. After breakfast the next morning, we went into town and bought food supplies and medical supplies to take with us up into the jungle area of Pariaman. We also With a shocked look on her face, the Pastor’s wife replied, “If you do that, they will kill you.”

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