Pastor Jimmie Rivera

Pastor Jimmie Rivera

610-972-8887

pastorjim@rcn.com

301 Ridge Ave.

Allentown, PA

18103

• David Wilkerson saved in North Philly
• Fell into drugs at 9, became addicted
• Used to rob/steal for his next fix
• Was tortuned by drug dealers for 11 hours then got away
• Pastor at City Limits AG in Allentown, PA
• Outreach-oriented church
• How do you keep church outside focused?
• 3 parts:
• Salvation
• Equip
• Deploy
• Every 3 month the church does something to send people out
• Rescue the lost, equip the found, and deploy the troops
• You have to minster to the poor and share love with them
• Help people until they can help themselves regarding welfare
• Hannah/Timothy Houses?
• Timothy House used to be a crackhouse, but is now converted to a halfway house
• Second phase houses
• Take people in who were just out of programs…(like a halfway house)
• Christmas outreach
• 75 Christmas tree for free every year
• 19 years
• Each tree has a tag attached that says "this tree, like Christ, is free; all you have to do is accept it"
• Ask WalMart/local community stores if they have anything that they are going to throw out/want to donate
• Last year gave away 2,500 trees in Allentown, Brooklyn, and Greensboro, NC
• Involve the local community
• "If everyone does a little, then no one has to do a lot."
• Has a gym in his church
• Farmer's Market
• Women gave an acre of land to Pastor Jim for a farmer's market
• Make connections with local food bank and they will give free food
• Evangelism outreach in teams of 4…divide city by wards
• 1000 water bottles with ice in the heat of the day mid-summer for a week at a time, then he baptizes people in street af the end of the week
• 132 water baptisms last year
• mobile tank that he buys
• people want to SEE
• Food bank open every thursday…free food, don't force them to come to church
• Works with police to turn in guns
• Hope In The Valley
• Help
• Our
• People
• Evangelize
• When he got saved he got talking and never stopped
• What about money?
• faith has to kick in when it comes to money
• find people who believe in you and you'll get money
• Coffee House is called "Halle-BREW-ya"
• Gave his new shoes to a man who was in a funeral home, was going to be cremated, and was about to go into the fire without shoes
• He told the mayor of Allentown that he wanted to be the Pastor of Allentown.
• Started an Arabic church
• "Make God big, stop making Him so small."
• He strives to be relational and intentional with people.
• Urban Ministry
• Urban Lift: when you get someone off of the streets, then they move away/leave your church in pursuit of a better life
• If you don't heal from this and take it personally, it can potentially ruin your ministry
• Love everyone, but look for those who will reproduce.
• Suburban churches become feeder units for Urban Churches. If the suburban church do things correctly, they will in return sew into the Urban churches/urban ministries.
• Jihari Window
• 1. Arena Me
• The you that people see
• How you want to be seen
• 2. Never See
• The me I never want you to see
• 3. Blind Spot Me
• When everyone else can see something, but you can't
• You won't see it until you deal with the Never See Me
• 4. Soul Print
• What God intended you to be
• "Relationships are your greatest commodity."
• "If you want to be a minister, you have to love people."