CSI Crime Scene Intercessors - Ten years ago, Pastor Kevin White from Crosstown Community Church was driving past a recent homicide site. In his daily Bible reading, he had read that the ground is cursed by the shedding of innocent blood. He thought “Wow! Stockton is a cursed place!” While praying about it, he also read in the Bible that the Blood of Jesus breaks the curse over us. He contacted Pastor Damon Bridges from Restoration For Life Ministries, and asked if he would partner with him to go weekly to the most recent homicide sites and pray over them.
On September 18th, 2014, a small group of people gathered near the corner of Princess Drive and Duke Lane, confessing & repenting on behalf of the men & women of Stockton. They asked God to break the curse and cleanse the land of hate, violence & bloodshed. They broke bread, poured grape juice and shared communion on site, knowing that “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.”
Since that first day, we have prayed almost every week, gathering at noon, asking the Lord to transform the tragic places into sacred places. On those blessed weeks when there have been no homicides, we go to a church (without their knowing) and pray God’s Blessings on them.
We never know what to expect when we go. We don’t know if we will be alone or if other people will be there. We are not protesting or trying to call attention to ourselves. But when there are other people at that site, we offer to pray for them and we share the love and hope of Jesus with them.
Over the last ten years, we have prayed at 422 Homicide sites, 64 ministries, 11 government buildings, one hospital and one internment camp. We have gathered in groups of two and groups of twenty.
We have had the opportunity to pray with grieving mothers & siblings, neighbors, gunshot victims, drug dealers, prostitutes, police officers, news reporters, gang members, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and witches.
People have given us food, introduced us to family members, interviewed us for news reports and invited us on prayer marches through the neighborhood. We have stood by memorial shrines, candles, balloons, crime scene tape and pools of blood. We have been thanked and threatened, cursed and blessed.
This prayer ministry has brought us to all parts of Stockton and to streets and places we never knew existed. Wherever we go, we pray ahead of time that Jesus will meet us there, and we ask Him that His Kingdom would come and His will be done, right there at the homicide site, just like it is in heaven, and that He would transform the tragic places into sacred places. We don’t know where we will be next week, but we know that Jesus will meet us there, and He never wastes a moment that is offered up to Him.
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