Tag: homeless

40 Years & Remembering Priscilla

by crossroadsministriesmass, posted in Christian, homeless

Wow! Crossroads is entering its 40th year of ministry. To God be the glory! Great things he has done. 

Priscilla Stratton

As we prepare to celebrate 40 years of ministry through Crossroads, we must pause to remember those that were so instrumental in nurturing this God ordained ministry to the homeless, the marginalized and those battling life controlling addictions while in its formative years One of those people was Priscilla Stratton. We met Priscilla and her family mid January 1984 when we (my late husband, Joe Harris and myself) first visited Massachusetts. We arrived there on January 11, 1984, to spend prayerful time with Rev. Sam Perry, our dear friend and my spiritual father. While visiting with Sam, he introduced us to several of his Christian friends, including Priscilla and her family. Upon meeting Priscilla, there was an undeniable bond in the Spirit noted and the Lord’s Spirit knit our hearts together in His love. 

Even though Priscilla had been abandoned by her husband years before and had been struggling to raise their five children alone, she loved the Lord with everything in her, clung to him, trusted him wholeheartedly to care for her family and faithfully served Him. While she had very little money, she had a heart of gold. As a little Greek momma, struggling financially to put food on the table for her own family, she was generous and hospitable, sometimes possibly to a fault. Priscilla discerned the call of God upon our lives to launch Crossroads in Massachusetts, so she invited our family (Joe, Michael and I) to move in with her and her family until we were able to get Crossroads established. Who does that? Who as a financially overburdened single mother invites a young Black family she had just met to come and live in her home with her family? Even though she only knew us by the witness of the Spirit of the Living God, Priscilla trusted the God she loved and served, and to our surprise and amazement, she opened her heart to us and freely opened her home to us, as well. 

And without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists,
and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6

We cannot thank God enough for Priscilla Stratton. She was an amazing mother, oozing out her mother’s love in everything she did and everything she said. She raised her children to serve the Lord, encouraging, exhorting and supporting them as they blessed the local body of Christ through their anointed music ministry. She mothered Joe, Michael and I, as well, welcoming us as a part of her dearly loved family. I remain so very grateful to have been a beneficiary of her love.  God used his love flowing though her mightily to heal the many torn down and broken places inside of me that desperately needed the love of a godly mother. 

Priscilla left us in 2009 to be with our Lord, and is now lovingly serving him in Glory. While we miss her dearly, her legacy remains through her children, grandchildren and all that were the benefactors of her momma’s love. Crossroads Ministries, Inc. shares in being a part of her godly legacy, as it was at Priscilla’s home in 1984, 40 years ago, that this ministry was birthed. Even though God had given Joe and I the vision for Crossroads prior to our stepping out in faith, leaving our home state of Maryland, moving to unfamiliar Massachusetts to live with virtual strangers, it wasn’t until we did those things that God breathed on that vision and gave it life. 

Remembering Jack & Jane

by crossroadsministriesmass, posted in Christian, homeless
Rev. John (Jack) Stonefield and precious wife, Jane.

Yesterday, I joined with one of our local homeless shelters for a prayer walk through their properties. The challenges they face providing for the physical needs of the many homeless in our community seems overwhelming. As a Christ-centered ministry, seeking not only to provide for physical needs of the homeless but to also minister to their holistic need in a way that honors God, by loving and serving the homeless and hurting while seeking to snatch their souls out of the hands of the evil one, they face a whole new level of challenges. Thankfully, when the leadership of this shelter realized that what they were facing is spiritual interference, they recognized the need to call out to God, our Heavenly Father, for the help that only He can provide. As I prayerfully walked alongside their leadership and other prayer supporters, it brought back memories of the years of intense spiritual warfare we, at Crossroads, went through while serving God among the homeless and marginalized in Worcester, MA. We would take regular prayer walks throughout our community, standing against the darkness and seeking God for the manifestation of His kingdom and glory. Over time, we were blessed to see God change that once drug infested, crime laden and violent neighborhood into one recognized even in the secular media for its positive transformation. Having experienced firsthand what God can do when his people stand against the darkness and walk in his light, I rejoiced in the Lord as we walked and prayed at this shelter, yesterday. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) I have no doubt that God is going to do what only He can and He is going to help that ministry overcome the darkness that is trying to hinder it, and His light will shine brightly through.

When I got home and reflected on the afternoon prayer walk, my heart was drawn to remember two faithful friends of this ministry, Jack and Jane Stonefield. I do not know where Crossroads would have been without the faithful prayer ministry of Jack and Jane Stonefield interceding to God on our behalf. When my husband, Joe, and I arrived in Massachusetts in February 1984, we had little more than our God-given vision to unite and mobilize the local body of Christ to minister to the unique spiritual needs of the homeless and marginalized and clear direction from God for us to be there. We knew only one person. That person introduced us to a few people and one of those people introduced us to their church family. That Pastor and his congregation received us warmly as God bore witness to his call upon our lives, and from there the Lord touched many hearts to support us in furthering the mission of Crossroads.

Jack Stonefield and his precious wife, Jane, were members of that first church and among the first people in it to answer God’s call to help us. They met with us, sharing the Lord’s call upon their hearts to help us by committing to faithfully pray for us. They were not talking about casually praying for us, but that they earnestly believed that the Lord had given them the responsibility of being our Intercessors, to stand in the gap before God, praying faithfully and fervently for us and the ministry of Crossroads. What a blessing! Even though we had no clue what we were up against, God knew all hell would be against us doing what He called us to do and that we were going to need lots of prayer to accomplish the task He had given us. Praise God, He knew we could not do it alone so He called Jack and Jane and so many others to come along side us and help. While I thank God for each and every person he called to walk alongside of us in ministry through the years, I am particularly grateful today that Jack and Jane answered that call. They were an especially precious gift to us in our early ministry years.

While Crossroads had been birthed out of prayer and the Lord had called me to a life of prayer even before meeting Jack and Jane, I know now that there is no way that I could have never carried the weight of this ministry in prayer by myself. The work of God is done primarily in prayer and then performed out of that place of prayer. At least, that is the way it has been for me. I love this quote from Charles Bridges (1794-1869), “Prayer is one half of our ministry, and it gives to the other half all its power and success.” As we walked the grounds of that homeless ministry yesterday, praying to tare down strongholds and for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done there, my heart was willed with gratitude and praise to our loving, merciful and gracious God for hearing and answering prayers. I thank Him for giving us spiritual weapons to use as we fight against those things that manifest as difficulties and challenges here on earth. I thank God for people who are willing to take Him at His Word when he says “call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”(Psalms 50:15 NIV)

As for Jack and Jane, their faithfulness to serve God in praying for Joe, I and this ministry has reaped eternal benefits. Jack Stonefield went home to be with the Lord on September 2020, after living a fruitful life of ministry born out of his faithfulness to answer God’s call to prayer, interceding for others. He was always supported and most always accompanied by his wife, Jane, an intercessor in her own right. In addition to being an Intercessor, Jack was a business executive and served with Crossroads many years as Chairman of its Financial Advisory Board, and as a member of its Board of Directors. As he grew in ministry, he became ordained by the Christian Church of North America (CCNA), and served as a pastor at Redeeming Love Assembly until Crossroads moved its ministry focus from Massachusetts to Maryland. Jack , accompanied by Jane, went on to pastor CCNA churches throughout New England, and eventually grew in its leadership to become the New England District Overseer of the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (IFCA), CCNA’s new name, in 2016. where he served faithfully until his homegoing on September 5, 2020.

As I reflect about Jack and Jane, and the love and companionship we shared in ministry for so many years, as they faithfully held us up in prayer and provided us with such godly counsel through the years, I’m reminded that prayer is where everything in Christ begins. God is calling again for Crossroads to move forward in ministry. What I hear him saying that He wants to do is so much greater than anything that I can do and it won’t happen without praying people. I’m wondering who he is calling to pray. He definitely has me praying. Is he also calling you? If so, please say yes. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this time.