Nehemiah Initiative is a concerted effort made up of various members of the body of Christ who have joined forces to create a beachhead on the Westside. Some of the people are vocational ministers, others are prayer warriors, still others are marketplace ministers, and most are just people who love God. Posted here are some of the stories of what God is doing through this initiative:
SAPD has instituted 2 new task forces, due partly to the prayer for the community!We quote from MySA.com:“Stemming from a rising number of prostitution and robbery-related cases, the San Antonio Police Department recently instituted a pair of new task forces to bring those particular crime statistics down. The Calles Seguras (Safe Streets) project and the Robbery Apprehension Team (RAT) were both formulated by San Antonio Police Chief William McManus to target specific types of crimes while creating better communication between police substations throughout the city. “Combating crime and improving our quality of life are my primary goals,” McManus said in a statement. “This multi-prong approach combined with community support will help eliminate this kind of illegal activity in San Antonio,”
Calles Seguras, a program being tested first on the West Side, aims to specifically reduce the number of individual robberies set up by prostitutes…
Robbery Apprehension Team (RAT) also formed last month. RAT is comprised of 40 officers that focus on mainly armed robbery cases, especially on the northwest and downtown sectors where the number of cases have risen. This collaborative effort has resulted in 51 arrests and 61 felony warrants cleared.”
Also, the District Attorney’s office filed an injunction to prohibit 25 suspected gang members from gathering publicly. Again, we quote from MySA.com:
More than half of 25 suspected gang members agreed this week not to publicly gather in a West Sideneighborhood, making it a “safety zone” free of the drugs, violence and other troubles they’re accused of causing.
State District Judge Andy Mireles also ordered six others to abide by injunctions he signed Thursday prohibiting them from associating with each other in the 1.5-square-mile safety zone, among a litany of other restrictions.
As we continue to pray, we are finding that the City Council District 1 and 5 offices are very eager to work with us to create solutions for the safety issues and concerns of the people living within the boundaries of the target area. As more takes place, we will report it here. Keep up the prayer!
Ethnos Ministries has begun Kids Clubs, engaging the children in the Lincoln Heights Courts with activities, Bible teachings, sports and games, movie nights (about 100 people showed up for the first one!) and evangelism. In one afternoon 33 children accepted Christ! Ethnos is now discipling them and teaching them about the nature and character of God.
We had our noon-time prayer at Last Chance Ministries Church Sept. 21-25. Pastor Jimmy Robles reported that their church was packed with standing room only for their mid-week service, and that 2 whole families gave their lives to Christ that night and received freedom from addictions! Annette, Jimmy’s wife, reported that there were 40 children attending the children’s ministry that night!
And last but not least, ALL of the 162 streets and alleys have officially been adopted! We will now begin to double the support for each street, and begin to focus on the realms of influence in the area. If you have not signed up for a street, please contact us.
