Agape On The Streets Newsletter
2020 Years End Report/2021 Vision

Dear Brothers and Sisters, friends and foes,

I hope you're all having or have enjoyed a Merry Christmas and are prepared for an adventurous New Year!
Since Josie and I arrived in Arizona, God has done much. The first thing I wrote after God directed us to begin Agape about 3-months ago is “and a young man had a vision of unconditional love”. That young adult is Josie, someone who came to my rescue after I went through cancer then had to walk away from a very toxic situation in the Northwest, leaving me with very little motivation to continue living. His story broke my heart as did what he showed me was going on with his young adult friends on the streets, many who were sex trafficking in order to survive. Josie and I will be releasing our full, detailed story early in 2021 but for now, I'm going to try to stay focused on the ministry moving forward. I hope you've had an opportunity to read the “What-Why-How” page on the Agape website and have a basic understanding of the Agape On The Streets vision.

We began 3-months ago with a vision requiring over $50,000.00 to make it a reality. In the first month we were blown away to have already acquired most of the material resources enabling us to bring our fundraising need all the way down to $15,000.00! With truck and trailer on hand, God quickly closed doors at our home where we were comfortable on Catalina Island, and we hit the road hoping to raise the $15,000.00 before the end of 2020. All of a sudden, $5000.00 of cash donations hit our MightyCause site before months end!
That was perfect timing and hoping for another $5000 in November, then again in December, we'd be able to have nearly completed the trailer by now and that would have our living expenses down below our target of $1000-month. Sadly however, with all the craziness including the COVID shutdowns, we saw zero donations in November leaving us to cover trailer storage and apartment rent as we wait to gain the needed funding to complete the trailer build out. Rather than building the trailer, Josie and I have had to take jobs to cover our added living expenses as we try to bring this budget back on track. God has been very busy with us during this time however. As I mention on our web-page, God had revealed that He would be doing a lot of work on both Josie and I to prepare us for what's ahead, and WOW has He! As I've become the administrator, God has turned Josie into a very on fire and focused missionary and Josie insisted to take part in this newsletter so here, put on your seat-belts, as I turn it over to him.

Hello Everyone,
As I've come to know the Lord, I have gone through many challenges and changes. He has healed me in the way that John the baptist mentions in Matthew 3:11; by means of the Holy Spirit and Fire! Now when I first seriously read that verse, I had the realization... fire hurts! My goodness, does it ever hurt! Only by the miracles that God has worked in my life, have I managed to survive. That fire is still burning deep in my soul and in a sense, all around me, as I feel led to spread God's love to all the hurting people I see. As the events of 2020 have unfolded, things have been rough. But by God's grace and mercy, this fire has been used to refine the gifts that He has given me. I thank God for putting these gifts front and center in my daily life:

  *The gift of love: A heart for others. To spread God's perfect and unfailing love to everyone, whether they are those I deeply care for, or those that get under my skin.

  *Spiritual Discernment: What was previously a judgmental spirit, has now become a desire to understand other people. To look past what first offends me, and to find the root cause of their pain, and love them even more for it. A gift not only to discern the spiritual but also the physical need.

  *And a stubbornness for the truth: No matter how hard things get, I choose to continue in accordance with the promises that God has made to me. In this, I choose to love even when it hurts. I choose to move forward even when everything seems hopeless. I know that God will always carry me through, strengthening me every time. And I know that He will be glorified now and forever!
Without these gifts, 2020 would have destroyed me. Glory to God and only to Him, because I cannot accomplish anything truly good on my own!

In leaving my Christian family and friends back on Catalina Island, I left behind fellowship, resource, support, and a sense of belonging. As we hit the road to begin this ministry, my dad and I were entering a world of unknowns with very little information. All we knew was that the Lord had told us that it's time to begin Agape On The Streets, that we must leave Catalina and that the first stop was Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Now living in Lake Havasu City for almost 4-months, my dad and I have been through a huge growing season. We came to realize that we had become accustomed to our comfortable life in Avalon; being surrounded by support. We quickly became overwhelmed with the challenges of “making things work”, with no one but each other to lean on for emotional support. At first we had a tough time trusting the Lord for His provisions, and we began to panic. Just as the Lord allowed in Mark 4:35-40, we quickly realized that it is only by the means of Jehovah-Jireh that Agape On The Streets will be funded, and established. Here in Havasu we continue to face financial struggle, but in a very short time, God has used the situation to work on our trust in Him. He has put us in connection with loving Christian fellowship, amazing friends, and taught us about our own insecurities and shortcomings. Through these events, we have been humbled, encouraged and made stronger in Jesus. We have come to acknowledge different perspectives and ways of thinking. We have found things in our life that we must give to God, so that He may continue to change our hearts and bring us closer to Him.
Moving off Catalina Island has not been easy. We have certainly had our ups and downs. Besides the huge physical/financial impact, our entire spiritual life has been impacted. We have had moments of incredible joy and clarity, and then there has been times of serious attack. My dad and I have both gone through seasons where we've experienced depression, and the lie of hopelessness. Of beating ourselves for our mistakes, and have even in frustration, attacked each other. But through the grace and mercy of the Lord, we are learning to better support each other and to rely on Jesus instead of our own understanding.
As I am sure dad has mentioned in his opening of this letter, we are needing your help in supporting Agape On The Streets. I have a very hard time asking for help, but as the Bible has made clear, the apostles have never made hidden when they were in need. My biggest need is prayer. There are still many mysteries as to where God is going to take this ministry. One of the latest things the Lord has revealed to me is to start a fishing ministry for the young adults here in Lake Havasu City. I am praying that God continues to lead my hand in this and reveals where He wants this to go. It makes sense however... fishing is a great opportunity as a “safe/effective” form of outreach. While many in my generation are scared to go out and enjoy life in fear of dying from covid-19 amongst other things, fishing would be a great opportunity to get them away from social media for a short while and into a situation productive to share the love of Jesus and get these young adults excited about life again. Please pray for revelation and guidance as I pursue this vision in an effort to offer these young adults a good time and an unconditionally loving, listening ear.
Fear has been a huge tool of the enemy this past year. It has been a gloomy demon that has been allowed to entangle believers and unbelievers alike. It is important to call it out as the lie that it is. It is from the pit of hell, and our Father is so much greater than anything Satan or this world throws at us. Jesus has the victory, AMEN! It might be easy for the believer to read God's Word and be encouraged by the promises made by Jesus, but for those that do not know our Lord, there is no true comfort. As I talk to many young adults online, my heart is broken. So many are losing all hope, and many have taken their own lives.
One, in particular, is in desperate need of a miracle. I have known this young adult for 4 years, by the name Jade. Jade struggles with Gender dysphoria; something that I am all too familiar with. Living in an impoverished Oklahoma town where Jade feels the need to lie and hide, Jade believes that there is no hope. I believe that fear is running Jade's imagination astray, I know from past experience that in such small towns, there is a low tolerance for what isn't easily understood and it's easy to get overwhelmed by that feeling, “everyone's looking at me”. Jade has fight that I haven't seen in the majority of my generation. A stubbornness and refusal to give up. I have often thought to myself; “wow... if only Jade loved the Lord. What a powerful child of God Jade might become”. But however hard Jade has tried to get ahead, they stick out. Jade has been trying to find work for 4 years, and not a single company has given Jade a job. Jade has put aside gender, agenda, everything, but Jade still sticks out. Jade's dream is to rescue mom away from the abusive, alcoholic father. To move out of poverty and to get a new start where better opportunities exist. But sadly, Jade's family doesn't even have the money to leave the small decaying town where they now live. Jade and mom oftentimes go hungry while dad drinks and abuses them. I've spent much time online sharing God's love with Jade but Jade feels hated by God and I know that to truly model God's love for Jade, it will take some one on one time.
The vision of Agape On The Streets that God has given Dad and I is to personally reach young adults like Jade, share the true love of Jesus with them as we share their story with the Church body. Most of these young adults are in touch with many in the LGBTQ community online and our prayer is that through loving them, God's love will spread like wildfire to these hurting young adults as they tell others.
The completion of our Mobile Outreach Trailer is essential in helping young adults like Jade all over the US. Please pray for its completion and send whatever support you can afford as we are so very close to launching this one on one outreach. I am going to hand this letter over to my dad who will provide you with the specifics of what is needed to move forward.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about what God is doing through this ministry.
May His will be done in the hearts of young adults all across our country; as it is in heaven.
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God bless you all for your prayers,
Josie Clanton

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It's me again, Bill/Dad, the get it done administrator guy.
​I know this has been a long read and if you're still with us, I'm praying that God has truly opened your heart to the Vision He has given Josie and I and that you might consider partnering with us. With the condition of our country right now, getting Agape out and onto the streets couldn't be more urgent! Our freedom to worship and evangelize as Christians is at stake here. We need to reach this next generation and we need to do it quickly. American Christians continue to send missionaries around the world, let's not forget our own backyard, even our own children! I'm praying that you will take the time to go to our website and spend some time reading through it, link to our MightyCause site to see our funding overview then join our Facebook page, where we'd like to hear from you as you take part by commenting on our posts. All these can be reached through our main website, it's easy to remember: www.AgapeOnTheStreets.com

There are a few urgent “before 2021” needs that we are hoping you might consider, listed on our web-page. We are also working very hard to start our video page, both funds and time are needed but we're pretty close to launching it, most likely in January 2021.

Let me end by saying that we miss so many of you who have been such great encouragement to both Josie and me. I know some of you have faced some very trying times through 2020 and you are all in our prayers. I believe we have great adventure ahead in 2021!

​God has the victory, LOVE WINS!

In Christ,
Bill Agresta
www.AgapeOnTheStreets.com
www.MightyCause.com/story/AgapeOnTheStreets
www.youtube.com/channel/AgapeOnTheStreets

PLEASE VISIT OUR MIGHTYCAUSE PAGE and YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR RECENT UPDATES AND REPORTS