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This fall Danny Starts classes at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL.  We plan on being there for three years and coming back to Newark to plant more churches.  We will still be working for Safe Haven…. read on to learn more about this new season in our lives.

What is going on? The Iversons are leaving Newark?

For a season…  Let me explain… A year and a half or so ago, at my sister’s wedding, my grandfather, dad, and uncles challenged us to start praying about going to seminary, leaving Safe Haven in good hands, and finishing my Master’s of Divinity.  It seemed a bit crazy at the time but as we prayed God gave us a vision of the future He has for us in Newark. It involves seeing what He has done at Trinity Church being duplicated around the city.  I started praying hard and looking into church planting movements and realized how little church planting was happening in Newark. I realized (and continue to realize) that I have a passion and gifting for starting things, whether businesses or ministries, and that God wants to use that for bringing forth His Kingdom here.  I see the wisdom of the many mentors in my life who are encouraging me to withdraw from this place that is so dear to us, become better equipped for long term strategic ministry, and return to Newark with a team, a plan, and a deeper passion to see the city redeemed.  July 16th we pack up and move, with great sorrow in leaving a community full of people we have come to deeply love,  but with great joy and expectation already in what is going to happen when we return in three years.

So Why Orlando? Trust me, it is not to see Mickey Mouse. Three main reasons helped us make this choice.

1. Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is considered one of the best seminaries in our country teaching scripture from the Reformed perspective. My father graduated from an RTS campus in Jackson, Mississippi, and my brother, Jon, graduated from the Orlando campus, where my brother-in-law and other friends are currently attending as well.  RTS gave us an awesome scholarship, has wonderful professors, some who are also family friends, and will challenge me academically like I have never been challenged before.
2. Family!  This is a huge reason for choosing Orlando.  My sister Sara-Beth, her husband, Eric, and their three beautiful girls are there.  They are hoping to do overseas missions after Eric finishes at RTS. This may be our last time to spend some time with them before we go our separate ways to do Kingdom work.  That is very important to us.
3. There will be many opportunities to recruit churches, students and businesses to be involved in Safe Haven.  As many of you know, I like to network, and I love spreading the passion God has given me for His glory displayed through the redemption happening in Newark. I love inviting people to participate with God and us in this mission, whether it be supporting us from afar, coming on a short term team, interning or becoming long term ministry partners. There are over 40,000 college students 3 miles from the seminary, lots of great churches, and I have hundreds of students at RTS to get to know and dream with about future ministry.  It seems like the best place to grow a team for the vision God has given us.

DJ (4), Katy-Grace (1), Trinity (2)

How will your family be supported?

Well, that is where the faith comes in for us.  I will continue to be the executive director for Safe Haven, but my focus will switch to more fundraising and networking as well as strategic planning and leadership development of the amazing staff God has raised up.  That being said, if you are currently financially supporting our ministry, we ask you to kindly continue. If you would like to join our support team please visit www.safehaven911.com.

Other News

NEW IVERSON BOY

Our 4th child is due Sept. 18th, our 6th year anniversary.   We usually like surprises, but since we were leaving and wanted our community to know what was cooking in the oven…we found out ahead of time.  We are naming him Benjamin Zion.  This has been the hardest pregnancy yet for us, (more for Kimberly) but God has been so faithful in getting us through.  People from our community and surrounding partner churches have really stepped up to bless us.  Last month Kimberly had a three week spell where she was on bed rest.  My sister Hannah (19) came up to nanny and help us.  It was a blessing.  Please continue to pray for us as we say our goodbyes, move to Orlando, and begin a very different type of life than what we are accustomed to.

Danny’s Book

Last November  I (Danny) started writing a book entitled “Spend Yourself.” It is primarily stories as well as some deep thoughts about how the Gospel is actualized in our lives as we radically seek to enter into, engage, and “spend ourselves” on redeeming the brokenness of this world. Most of it is coming from the perspective of serving the poor, broken and marginalized of this community, but there are many applications and challenges to all to live Christ-centered, Gospel powered, radical and faith-filled lives for God’s Glory and the joy of others.  I have a good chunk of the manuscript done and am hoping to begin submitting proposals to publishers this summer.  Please pray for focus as I finish it, and God’s leading and purpose for it as we seek to distribute it to encourage God’s people.

New Websites

Safe Haven has launched three new websites  to help people connect with the redemption happening in Newark.  Please check them out, sign up for the Safe Haven News Letter and join the missions network if you like.

Safe Haven Homepage: www.safenewark.org

Donation Page www.safehaven911.com

A missions blog/social network where I will be posting my blog. writings and resources for missions. www.spendyourself.org.

How will the ministry Transition?

By God’s Grace, of course, and with the amazing team he has raised up to carry on the work in the community…

Meet the Team.  Each of them have huge hearts for the people here in our community and are doing amazing work.

Please go to our website and visit our staff page to meet all the Safe Haven Staff

Final Thoughts…

As we prepare to transition out of Newark, we can not help but feel sorrow.  This has been our home for so long and we love our community more than we ever imagined possible…  Leaving is going to be hard.  We have many nights of weeping; praying and asking God if He is sure this is a good idea to leave this ministry into which we have poured ourselves.  He continues to lead and show us that this is the season for us to step away to prepare and become better equipped for the future ministry in Newark to which He is calling us.  We feel a strong burden to church plant in Newark after seminary and will be using this time away to effectively plan, raise up a team and become better trained in taking a city for the Glory of God and the joy of all people.  We thank you all for your prayers and support and we ask that you continue to step up and support this ministry, especially in this season of transition. We couldn’t have come this far without God leading each of you to partner with us in His mission to redeem Newark by redeeming the next generation.  Thank you and we love you.

For the King and the Kingdom,

The Iversons

What a glorious day this was.  Anthony Metrocavage, one of our youth just made a music video of the service.  Next to my wedding, I would say this was one of the most spirit filled worship services I’ve ever been a part of. I really sensed the power of God as I baptized these kids.   Trinity Church recently decided to both splash and dunk and I think that was  good decision.  While Reformed Churches as a whole usually only splash, in the city most people think of baptism as dunking.  Our leadership figured it would be a good idea to let our people choose how they wanted to do it and to also use this as a chance to help show what really matters; that baptism is indeed an outward sign of an inner faith.  That the mode through which you are baptize isn’t what makes it work, but rather is merely a sign of the seal of the Holy Spirt and the power of Jesus to cleanse us and make us new.

God is good!  Oh how he loves us…

As I walked around the table talking to kids during summer camp I was amazed at the feeling of family I felt. There was so much joy in the room, such unity and order.  Our kids are changing for the better.  I am witnessing the amazing fruit of the Gospel seeds that have been planted in their hearts. What a joy, what a privilege to be a part of redeeming a city by reaching this next generation.    I asked Zakaylah how camp was going and she told me how much she loved it and then said something that both breaks my heart and also reaffirms this ministry. She said, “I love Asa (our assistant camp director) he’s my dad.”  She didn’t say, “he is like my dad”, or “he reminds me of my dad”, she said: “He is my dad.”  About 5 other kids piped in at this point and agreed that Asa, who is only 22 by the way, was their dad as well.  I had to chuckle remembering all the times I heard that too and what a great feeling it is to be so dear to a kid’s heart; but my chuckling quickly turned to weeping as I thought about the tragedy of this.  Of the 60 kids or so enrolled in our summer camp we would be lucky if 10 of them could say they had their real dad involved in their lives.  Only 4 that I know of have a dad that is really being a dad, and working hard to support his family, love his wife and lead his kids to Christ.

I am overwhelmed by the cry of their hearts for their father and how unanswered that cry is.  Two 14 year old girls Kimberly has been ministering to just had babies… Why?…  what would compel them at such a young age to give themselves away to the countless young men (also fatherless) seeking to “be a man” and find love and pleasure?  The cry for the father resounds through the hearts of each of the kids, teenagers, and adults we work with, a cry that is louder than any other cry and is the root of so much of the disfunction, chaos and bad choices that these kids make.  Why do these young men run so quickly to gangs, desiring to affirm their manhood through violence, crime, pimping off girls, stomping on the weak and destroying community?  Why do the girls fall into prostitution so easily, so mindlessly, as if it were normal, and the only way life could work?…  I heard of one girl under the age of 15 getting pimped out to over 10 guys a night… why?… doesn’t that make you want to weep?… my heart is breaking…. I think of my daughters… I look at them as they sleep in my arms, praying for them, praying for God to protect them, to be their everything, to satisfy their deepest longings. I pray I will be the father I need to be…. the father that points them with my love to the LOVE of THE FATHER.

A Pastor’s Ponderings- An Addict’s Agony

My heart breaks all the more for this community that God has placed us in. This morning I feel renewed in mission, ready to answer this call that my selfish heart  so quickly desires to abandon.  I have to confess I had a hard week. My heart was full of bitterness. A homeless man I have been helping for the last 6 years called me every day, nearly every hour, cursing me to a pulp, leaving the most ruthless messages imaginable, cutting my heart with his words and threats.  I couldn’t understand why he would do that. I thought we were friends, I thought he was thankful…. But in his moments of backsliding he lashed out for someone to blame, he lashed out at his father who abandoned him.  His words were a cry for the Father, a bitter outpouring of emotions that daddy was never there to comfort, a behavior that daddy was never there to discipline, a brokenness that daddy was never their to mend. His words weren’t really toward me. I just happen to be the closest person in his life and one of the only people that wanted to help him.  In my heart I know this now, but last week I wanted to leave this place.

Last week my heart got bitter, resentful, self absorbed, and complacent.  I did not love this man as I should. Instead of loving him and pointing him towards Christ, I condemned him in my heart and wrote him off as a casualty of the war and a worthless investment of my time, talents and treasures.  In my arrogance I justified myself all week, with revenge in my heart and slander on my tongue toward him.  I boasted to others of all the ways in the past he had hurt me though I had helped him.  I tried my best to make myself out to be the trodden down hero who did as much as he could and deserves to retire and lick his wounds…  I continued to ignore him all week, never called him back, pretended like he didn’t exist and that it wasn’t my problem anymore to try and help him.  After all, I had already done so much for him and he is the one that dropped the ball and couldn’t control his temper and got kicked out of the place he was staying. It was his own fault he was homeless…  there was nothing more I could do and I didn’t want to be bothered with him anymore. I had ministry to do and a church to grow and funds to raise, and sermons to prepare and a few of my favorite TV shows to catch up on.

Saturday night I checked my voicemail and their were 5 messages from him.  I knew they were probably all the same, him complaining about being homeless again and asking me to help him, on his terms, to have a place to stay…(He refuses to go to any of the homeless shelters in our network.) “He needs tough love” I said self-righteously to myself as  I heartlessly erased all the messages without listening to them, not wanting to be told how bad I am at being a Christian and loving my neighbor.  I felt so tired of being cursed out after trying so hard for so long to love him and be patient with him and truly be his friend….  Something in the back of my mind told me to listen to the last message, and so I did.  I expected to hear screaming and cursing as usual, but instead I heard a calm voice.  He said “I have been thinking a lot about everything and I know you are right about a lot of things in terms of my failures. But the way you treated me this week just proved that you are no different than anyone else. You just care about your #$%^&*!@ self and no one else.  I never want to speak to you again.”   He wasn’t in worship this sunday. He hasn’t called me since.

I have some repenting to do to my brother. I don’t need to repent for not catering to his desires and enabling him to continue in the lifestyle he has chosen that is destroying him. No I do not need to repent for that.  That is the right approach when seeking to bring people out of their addictions, immaturity, and lack of responsibility.  I need to repent for not being a friend, for not loving him the way I would want to be loved if I was in his situation, had been through the things he had been through and was left on the street by everyone around me.  I have repenting to do for my self-absorption, my obsession with ministry success and the way his failures and backsliding has tainted that image I hope in far too much.  I have repenting to do for my laziness, and the way I justify it with all the “good things” I do.  I have to most of all repent for my unbelief in the Gospel and its power to change the most wretched of hearts, not meaning his, but my own.

My heart is crying out for THE FATHER too, just in different ways than my brother on the street.  I am seeing that I  need the same amount of love to the same extent as my addicted, uneducated, handicap friend on the street.  My heart is crying out just as much for THE FATHER.   I go to so many things other than him to justify my existence and so quickly  fall in love with things my Father gives me instead of HIM. So much of my religious behavior and moral integrity isn’t because I love Him so much more than others do, but because I want him to bless me.  Somehow in my twisted mind I think that the better I obey, the better it will be for me, and the more God will owe me blessing, success, my agendas, and my personal happiness in life. So I obey for me instead of for Him and because of Him.  What I think is obedience becomes my most selfish sin.  I am not obeying out of love for My Father and in response to what He has done for me in Christ, but rather, I obey out  of my own self-absorption covered in the shining shell of religion.  When I obey in this way my heart can not have compassion on those like my homeless friend who haven’t undergone the moral conditioning that I have been privileged to be raised in.  Instead I think myself better and more elite and worthy of the Kingdom of God and its benefits.  I can easily look down my nose at him and not give him the time of day.  I even can convince others that it is ok to treat people like dogs and promote elitism and even racism.  I have set a horrible example as a leader in this and I want to do better…

The Call

So why am I sharing this with you? Well, their are two reasons.

First, I pray that this will move your heart to cry out all the more to THE FATHER and hear his voice and respond to His love in your life through repentance and faith.  Secondly, I pray that this will move you out of yourself and more into a life that exists for others.  I just preached a sermon entitled “Spend Yourself” at a partnering church here in Newark that is seeking to reach its community.  I feel like such a hypocrite, for I am so far from what I preach, but that doesn’t make it any less true.  It is in spending ourselves that we announce to this world the Love of the Father for broken people and the sweet redemption that is found in Christ who “Spent Himself” on us.   As the Church steps up and becomes the Church through selflessly and radically serving the world we get to actualize the Gospel all the more.  My brother on the street preached to me all week. How? He was showing me my attitude toward God.  He was teaching my heart things I wouldn’t have ever known if I didn’t know him.  I am hoping to repent to my brother as soon as I see him, and ask his forgiveness for my pathetic friendship and for viewing him and using him as an object of ministry instead of a person, crying out for friendship.  I am looking forward to praying with him and seeking to guide him toward Jesus from a heart of humble love and concern instead of duty and self promotion.

I am also inviting you to join us in this mission of taking this city for the Glory of God and announcing the love of the Father to the countless orphans longing to meet Him.  There is much to be done, yet it doesn’t depend on us doing it, but rather on us being it.  I invite you to “be it” with our team here in newark through prayer and support, and maybe even coming here. We have short term mission trips, internships, and I welcome anyone who wants to move here and work and just live out their faith by being a neighbor.

We have 40 kids in summer camp still needing sponsors, a staff team committed to reaching this community in need of monthly supporters, and new needs of the poor are coming up every day.   Through our website and thanks to the many people God has brought us to help us use technology for Kingdom advances, no matter where you are you can connect and really become a part of this Kingdom Work.   One of my friends from Japan just sponsored a kid and can read her blog and keep up with her life all summer. He can know how to pray for her and watch videos of her rejoicing in the Love of The Father as she grows closer to Him and hears His assuring voice. It is amazing how connected we can be to those in need, not just in our community but around the world.  Our summer camp is raising money for an orphanage in Haiti that we are going to build as soon as God provides the funds.  Broken but redeemed people from Newark are going to fly to Haiti and build and orphanage that will house 50 street girls.  Who would have thought that 6 years ago. Our summer camp kids just reached $220 that they have raised our of their own pockets for the girls in Haiti.  They all just wrote letters to the orphans and are praying for them every day. I am so excited about what is happening, this is what we were made for: God’s glory and the joy of others.

My heart is indeed broken for the lack of earthly fathers, and the fathers like me that continue to fail, but my heart rejoices in the ministry of reconciliation- that we, as the family of God, can announce THE FATHER’S love to all and experience it all the more ourselves in the process…

Thank you for your prayers and support.

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny Iverson

fromscarlet.com

Praises

-by the end of summer camp all 60 of our campers (grades K-5) will have memorized: ~all 66 books of the Bible, ~ the Lord’s Prayer, ~Pledge to the Bible, ~Over 30 Bible Verses, ~ All 10 Commandments, ~ the first 40 questions of the Westminster Catechism for Children, and ~countless Bible stories

-by the end of the summer, 15 teen/young adult staff from the community will have learned how to keep a job, act professionally and will have had the chance to learn about God’s love.

-Several teens (coming from more stable families) have come forth to VOLUNTEER to help.  They are hearing the Gospel preached every weekday of their summer, and are having a great time with the kids.

-10 Adults from our community have been provided with jobs through summer camp and other summer ministries of Safe Haven.  These jobs are essential to their livelihood and providing for their families.

-Teen counselors have sought guidance and prayer for their futures as a result of the studying of God’s commandments and wisdom from the Proverbs (taught on Wacky Wisdom Wednesdays).  They are taking to heart what the kids are learning.

-An outside volunteer has started a new believer’s Bible Study for five weeks out of the summer. Teens who never get out of Newark will be driven to the suburbs, welcomed into a Christian family’s home, and taught the basics of our faith.  I would love to see more of this happening.

-TWO Satellite Safe Havens have started up this summer. We are doing a VBS at the church we are partnering with. They had over 100 kids show up.  It is off the hook.

- We just launched spendyourself.org.  Its a social networking like site for urban ministries to connect  each other and others seeking to invest in redeeming the city…

-We also began a new ministry this summer called “The Nehemiah Project.”  It is basically a non-profit construction company seeking to employ and mentor young men while rebuilding community assets.  It also handles all the work projects teams do while here.  Pretty exciting.

Needs

Please pray for us, we are growing like crazy and God is doing awesome things but we have some huge needs right now we trusting God to meet.

-Summer camp Sponsors. We offer a highly reduced in priced summer camp to the kids of the community. All summer long, 6 hours a day 5 days a week.  We can do this only through scholarships through people who sponsor a kid.  It costs $250 to fully sponsor a kid for the summer.  We still have 36 kids in need of sponsors so to say the least we are hurting in paying our bills and our summer staff.  Please pray about sponsoring one of these precious children. We would hate to have to close the camp down early, these kids need this. You can watch a video about each of them and get to them through their blog they are doing during camp.  Click here to get started.

-Iverson monthly support –  Our support account has taken some hits and we are in need as a family for more monthly supporters to help us meet our family needs and allow Danny to continue to pour all his time into this ministry. If you would like to join team Iverson you can do so quite easily through our new website.  Just put “Iverson Support” in the notes or memo section for online donations and checks. Checks can be made payable to Safe Haven and mailed to 483 Ferry st.

-Nehemiah Project - Our summer missions program was expecting 145 people to come here for the summer to do outreach and work projects in various churches and around the community.  We had numerous teams cancel and many teams had youth drop out last minute. When all is said and done it looks like we are only going to have 75 or so here.  Attacks for sure from the enemy.  Not only did many of the community rebuilding projects planned for the summer suffer, but so much of our summer budget relies on what these teams raise. Our budget is basically 50% behind…  Fun stuff right.  Great chances to trust God for His provision.  I know we are in  hard times and I am not surprised this is happening…  but I also know that God is sovereign and we have made it through hard times before and the ministry moves forward.  If God is putting it in your heart to help meet this shortfall please act soon so we can make it through this summer.   Every little bit added together brings us through.  We have never had any big donors and grants and almost our entire operating budget is raised through individuals and churches giving what they can.  It somehow always adds up.  For those of you that have already stepped up to this challenge I thank you form the bottom of my heart for your sacrificial giving.  We are about halfway through the summer and have not had to lay anyone off.  Praise the LORD.

As I slowly stood to my feet, jaw aching with pain, I didn’t know what to think.  Part of me felt so confused, a bit scared and doubtful, but another part of me felt alive with compassion and fresh love for the man hitting me.  I couldn’t believe this was actually happening and I couldn’t comprehend the way the Spirit of God was causing me to respond…

The words “I love you, and Jesus loves you.” were the only defenses I was allowed to use. For some strange reason any hint of anger or self defense was melted away and with firmness and resolve while looking my friend in his eyes; those same words continued to repeat themselves from my mouth as it began to swell and the punches continued to come.

“It doesn’t have to be this way” I found myself saying; interrupting the cursing and screaming directed at me and Erik as we stood in the small apartment across from my friend who had once again lost any sense of control and was ready to hurt someone.  His kids by now had hid in the closet and the mother of the children sat crying and screaming on the bed behind me.

He hit me again and I fell to the ground as the woman behind me began crying loudly.. Everything seemed like it was happening in slow motion…  I calmly stood back up, wondering how long this would go on and what else there was to do.   “Lord give me strength” was the only thought that ran through my mind as I looked once more into the eyes of madness and confusion confronting me, fresh sorrow at the brokenness of the situation washing over me…

It had been a hard week in Newark, a hard summer for the Iverson family…

Dear family and friends,

The battle for the redemption of our city continues, and I see that so much of this battle mirrors the wars being waged in the inner most depths of my own heart, my wife’s heart and the hearts of every human being on this planet.  I have concluded that the redemption of the families of my community, and the whole world for that matter, must come at a high price.  I am learning that the evil one does not surrender territory easily and that there is a great cost to be counted if we as followers of “The Way” would seek to walk in “the way” and engage the brokenness and darkness of the world around us as well as within the endless caverns of our own souls… (More on this later)

I write you this letter with great thankfulness in my heart for each of you and the joy that you bring our lives in the midst of the struggle.  If you would allow me the time, I would like to share with you below the messy story of redemption happening in real time here in Newark NJ and the way I see it cosmically intersecting with the master narrative of redemption that the God of the universe has gloriously and sovereignty written for the joy of all His children and the glory of His Holy name.  So bear with me if you can make the time, and may the mind of you the reader, and mine the writer of these tidings be opened up all the more to the mystery of faith and the eternal joy held out in the Gospel.

So here we go….

As many of you know from my last letter (You can read it on my blog if you didn’t get it) the summer began with a bang and it didn’t slow down in the least.  Day after day the good news of hope poured forth from the corner of Hawkins and Ferry and all the people of the community were truly blessed.  The food pantry stayed empty all summer, as soon as food came in it was immediately dispersed to the neediest among us.  Kids gathered every day to experience grace based community though our summer programs, Over 15 teenagers were employed by our camp and developed job skills. The city of Newark gave us 3 different community development awards and continues to encourage and support the work we are doing.  So many wonderful things happened that I can not praise God enough for His work. We are seeing so many prayers answered and I want to thank you for your support and encouragement.

Below I have highlighted the work that God has done through Safe Haven this summer and some new ways He is working this fall as well as new ways you can pray and support this vital ministry.

Ministry praises…

16 Baptized into the Family of God! Video will be on our website soon!!!! God is doing an awesome work. Whole families getting baptized… Amazing.

Attached are some pictures of our Reformation Sunday service. We fixed the ceiling of the sanctuary and barely got it done in time. We had a partner church (Christ the King) from a nearby town join us. It was awesome to have over nearly 300 people packed into our building.  Trinity’s worship attendance seems to grow each week. New people are coming!  Kids are bringing parents and the Word is out in the community that every day at Trinity God is showing up in an amazing way. We are flirting with 100 or so in worship on Sundays, 85-90 percent coming from our community. God is so good! Thanks for praying!

Safe Summer Camp – The 6 week long, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week camp led by our camp director Donna Mateyka and her awesome team had its struggles as expected but succeeded far more than we could have imagined. The camp enrolled 50 2nd-6th graders from the community and employed 15 teenagers. It focused on developing kids in all of our core areas of development and every child left with a deep joy in their heart and a greater knowledge of the Lord in their minds…  Thanks for your prayers and support. We had a large financial shortfall but trust God will provide. We were promised some money from the city but that hasn’ t come through yet. Please pray it does.  Special thanks to those who sponsored kids. I hope you got their post cards to you and enjoyed them.

Various camps – Our teenagers got  the opportunity to go to two wonderful camps in Pennsylvania this summer; once in July and once in August.  Both camps impacted our youth in awesome ways and continues to bear great fruit in their lives. Thank you for those that helped sponsor those trips and make it possible for them to grow in the ways they did.

New Bus donated – Yes, it is true, we have a bus. Eastern Christina school donated a 25 passenger bus and we are so thankful… Please pray for more CDL drivers to volunteer to help us drive it… (and for Danny to stop procrastinating and get  his CDL)

Block Party- through our partnership with the city we closed off our whole street and had a Jazz mobile come. The jazz mobile is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing jazz to the streets of Newark.  We had a big barbecue, gave out lots of literature, made tons of connections and had over 300 people from the community come out.  It was so glorious.  Pastor Walter and myself both shared from the stage and we really felt the presence of God and great unity in our community.

Mission trip – 16 handpicked high schoolers got to go on this trip now labeled “Danny’s trip”.  This was the only trip I got to go on this summer since I was so busy.  The purpose of this trip wad to serve and this group of urban warriors did just that.  We went down to Haymarket Virginia and ran the VBS for Kimberly’s Father’s Church, Saint Paul’s. Three summers ago when Safe Haven was just beginning, Saint Paul’s was one of the groups that sent their youth up to serve us ( and dig out the basement).  Now three years later we got to go serve them. Our youth also painted their Pre-school and did an amazing job.

New GED Program –We have formed a great partnership with a local community development organization and are now able to host a GED program. Praise God since this is a huge need.  Over 40 adults (many of them parents of our kids) are currently signed up for it. Please pray for them to show up and pass their GED.

Seminary Classes to resume. New York Divinity School has a Monday night theology course in our building. We are excited with the partnership.  Please pray for great success as there is much need for education here. The class is on Christian Worldview and is amazing. We are going through the Stone lectures of Abraham Kuyper and many other amazing works.

New Partenership with “Against all odds Foundation.” Our Safe Haven After Class (SHAC) has partnered with this organization to help address many of the needs of the kids in our community…  Please pray for this partnership.. AOA is a great organization that will be supplying all of our tutoring for the kids.

New Discipleship House.

Kirby Thurston, a 6 foot 9 ex-pro-basketball player turned pastor who had served here in Newark 30 years ago with my grandfather, has come back to run our discipleship house. The house is for single young men ages 18-29 to learn and grow closer to God. Kirby is going to run this program. We are very excited about this program and the affect that it will have in helping these young adults become men of purpose. Pastor Kirby is also helping with the after-school program. He is an amazing man of God and so good with the kids. He is African American and such a great role model to these young guys.  Please pray for him as he adjusts to being in the north (cold) and serving our broken community with the love of Christ.

Ministry needs

Monthly Support… As always we need consistent monthly support to keep us in operation. With the state of our economy giving has gone down while ministry need has gone up.  Everything is growing by God’s grace and so many kids are coming into our family of faith.  Please pray about partnering with us in this Kingdom mission of recapturing the city of Newark by recapturing the next generation.   click here to partner by giving financially. (Checks can be sent payable to Safe Haven at 483 Ferry street newark NJ 07105)

Community Action Points

We have developed a great idea for helping the community, empowering our youth and providing for the many trips planned this year.  We call it CAPS. (Community Action Points) The way it works is that the teenagers volunteer to help with all the different programs and get CAPS for helping.  Each point is worth  $1 toward a scholarship for the many trips we go on. This will help motivate our youth to serve and also provide a workforce that shakes the community for Christ.  Here’s the catch, we need funds for the scholarship fund… if you would like to donate toward that Click here. . (Checks can be sent payable to Safe Haven at 483 Ferry street newark NJ 07105….  Put CAPS in the memo)

Pastor Walter Howard Pastor Walter Howard is now working full time for Trinity as our pastor. This is a huge step of faith for him and he needs to raise financial support to live and continue to grow the ministry with the adults. His adult Bible study has now grown to sixteen and his preaching continues to draw many knew faces each week.  The word is out in the community and God is really using him.  If you would like to support him through prayer and giving please click here or send checks payable to Trinity Reformed Church, 483 Ferry Street, Newark NJ 07105. (Walter Howard Support in the memo.)

Show Choir – 20 of our kids have joined a show choir of about 100 that draws from local churches. they are an amazing group and have an awesome leader. This summer they opened for Kirk Franklin and took first place in Mcdonald’s gospelfest. it was amazing.  here is the need. Each kid needs to have a small tape recorder or MP3 recorder to bring to rehearsal so they can learn their part. These kids leave every saturday at 8 am to go practice for 2 hours and work so hard.  Barely any of them can affod the uniforms, trips or the recorders.  If you would like to help with this please contact Gloria Morales who is our Choir leader at gloriamorales@optonline.net.  Your support is much needed in this to help these kids succeed. If you want to donate small portable tape recorders (that work) or mp3 recorders send to 483 ferry st. Newark Nj 07105. If you want to donate toward this program click here.

Personal Stories and reflection (Sorry it’s so long, I always have a lot to say)

A few days prior to “Danny’s beat down,” Kimberly had discovered that someone had stolen her engagement ring and wedding band from our bathroom… one of the many homeless people, teenagers or kids who use our bathroom throughout the day had gone through her cosmetic bag and found themselves some treasure…  Due to the pregnancy Kimberly’s Fingers swell and so she had taken them off and stored them “safely” in her kit… A very heartbreaking loss as many of you know the history of the ring and our engagement and what it meant to us.

It has made it very hard to love, trust and forgive the community we are in…

(Read Kimberly’s blog for more on this)

Sometimes we just want to leave. Kimberly had a pretty big melt down after we went through all of that and I wondered if maybe we couldn’t take any more and needed to give up.  Maybe the war is not meant to be fought by us, or maybe we had just lost.  The Lord is faithful and shows us His grace even in times of great discouragement and loss, and we are still here. We have decided to move around the corner into our own apartment.  The space is smaller but more private and hopefully this will help give Kimberly a bit more space from the endless stream of need that flows into our current home since we live right next to the church building. Attached is a picture of the two family home we live in  and our living room that Kimberly decorated. (She is so good at making a room come alive without spending lots of money.) People gave us lots of furniture and we are so thankful. The kids love their new home and I love it too. It is like my own safe haven and it is so refreshing to be able to come home to my family after work in the community.  Moving to the street around the corner has already brought a few new kids into the Church too.  Its so amazing how many people there are here and how many kids just around the corner I didn’t know.  God is working and the Gospel is not going out void…I love watching the truth of God’s love and the disciplines of grace utterly change people’s lives. It doesn’t happen over night but it is happening and happening in my own heart as well.

I love having the good news of Jesus actualized in every situation we encounter.

Getting beat up and standing there taking it was one of those moments where the cross came alive and I understood a little bit more the true heart of Christ and what He really did for us.  As I stood there interceding and standing between the raging man and his family my heart raced a thousand ways. I loved the man hitting me and knew that I could never hit him back. He was my friend and one of the sheep that God had given me to shepherd… How could I hit him?  I think if he had swung on someone else, like one of the kids,  I would have got physical, but his anger was directed at me and as I took it I felt a strange sense of unity with Christ I had never felt before. During this whole ordeal the kids were hiding in the closet and the oldest boy who was 12 had called 911. After getting hit in the jaw three times and getting pushed into a bookshelf my friend had decided to leave and stormed out of the apartment. He went and overdosed on his medication to try and kill himself but the cops got him first and got him to the hospital.  The son came up to me afterwards, and said. “Thanks Pastor Danny for taking the hit for me.” My heart broke as I heard that… I began to understand…

On the cross, Jesus Christ took the full fury of punishment for our sin upon himself. He was crucified by sinful man as Acts 2:3 says, yet all of that was for the purpose of redeeming us. He loved His sheep and even though He had the power to utterly destroy those murdering Him and dishonoring Him, He chose to say: “Father forgive them.” He chose to love them. He chose to take the nails into his hand and allow his blood to be spilled that all of those who were His would be set free from sin and death for all eternity.  He who knew no sin became sin for us that day and in His physical body, as Colossians 1:22 talks about, He bore the stripes that we deserve for our sin and by those stripes, those wounds afflicted by sinful man on the prince of peace, we are healed.  At the time I didn’t understand in my mind how me allowing this man to beat me down would heal him and could heal me, but in my heart I knew that this was the only way his heart could be changed and he could truly understand the gospel, and the only way that my sinful heart could as well.  In that moment I think my heart understood the gospel better than ever and in hind-sight my mind now sees God’s true grace in allowing me to go through that situation and what He taught me through it. You see, every time we sin and love or value anything else above God and fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, it is as though we were driving nails into the very hand of the one who loves us most, the very hand that feeds us, the very hand that touches and heals us. In our rebellion, our utter selfishness, our idolatry, our self-righteousness, we as humans daily drive those nails, daily beat, spit upon, forsake and scorn the savior God has sent. Jesus, our all-powerful savior chooses to take it. In love for us, the very people crucifying him, his mercy supercedes even our worst sins.  That is what is truly changing my heart. When I looked into those eyes of rage and heard those cursing words I saw myself before a holy God, scorning the very one who left heaven and came to save me; the very one who was rich yet became poor for my sake that I might become rich.  My heart is so much more wicked than I could ever know and how quick I am to rebel against God, to judge my neighbor, to live selfishly and materialistically, to crucify afresh the mercy God has given.  On a cosmic level, what happened to me that day is what I do to God every day times a billion.  This is a family whom we had helped for nearly a year. Hours of counseling, money, food, clothing and more that we had given them to help them in their poverty.  What better picture of the gospel is there?  God has done so much for me yet my heart so quickly rebels. He has given me so much yet I complain. He has spent himself on me yet I struggle to focus my mind on him and give my time, treasures and talents to His Kingdom cause.  He continues to graciously give, yet I continue to selfishly take. He has loved me, his neighbor, his enemy even, above his own life, yet I judge and condemn and show so little grace and agape love towards those around me and give so little of myself to them.

How I praise God that in moments like these I get to see how much grace has truly been given and how that grace can teach our hearts to fear and at the same to time our fears relieve.

Oh how sweet it is to trust in Jesus and experience Him all the more in the brokenness of our world as we watch the fullness of His mercy become less dim.  The vastness of our own darkness and the skeletons in our closets are made plain as the light of Christ shines brightly into our hearts and out of us.  Our own brokenness becomes more apparent but His healing becomes so much more real and true.

At the beginning of this month I had the chance to baptize this man’s entire family minus his oldest daughter who is getting baptized in November.  He had gotten out of jail and repented, his heart changed forever. He stood there with an unyielding grin on his face as his 6 kids knelt before the baptismal and I baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The court had chosen not to indict him, and the case was dropped. That Sunday, as the sign of God’s covenant was placed on this family we also celebrated the Lord’s supper.  As my friend came forward and I served him the body of Jesus broken for him and the blood spilled to save him. Our eyes never left each others. We both were crying by then, and the words “I love you” came from his lips.  He reached up and put his hand on my cheek and said “thank you.”

Thank you Jesus for the Cross…

May the Glory of God and His deep love for you displayed in the face of Christ be your strength this day dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. We thank you so much for sending us into this mission field and praying for us as we engage the enemy (around us and within us) and strive with all His energy to make His Kingdom of grace visible to our community through the power of His Spirit.  Shalom to you all…

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny, Kimberly, DJ, Trinity and the new iver-baby coming in March.

New Address

107 Brill Street

Newark NJ 07105

Danny’s Cell: 862-215-2940  Email: fromscarlet@mac.com

Kimbelry’s Cell: 862-452-8688  Email: flawedbutforgiven@yahoo.com

Family (Needs to be updated) website: www.fromscarlet.com

Kimberly’s blog. www.totheleastofthese.com

Danny’s blog: www.dannyiverson.com

Dear fellow supporters of the redemption in Newark.

The sanctuary of Trinity Reformed Church has scaffolding lining the walls and is ready for insulation and sheet rock.  The rebuilding of this leaky 134 year old sanctuary has been a long time coming and now by God’s grace and the many volunteers who have come (and Paul Nulton) we have a water tight roof, and have raised the funds and  purchased all the materials for the final job.

We are now making a plea to anyone who would want to help put in the insulation and sheet rock to come the next two saturdays Oct. 18th, and 25th from 9 am to about 3 pm. Lunch will be provided and we believe if we have 15-20 able bodied workers uniting as in the time of Ezra we can finish this large job and meet our deadline of having this done before Reformation Sunday the 26th.  We are having a large Reformation sunday gathering (last years was nearly 300 people) and it would be impossible with the scaffolding still in place.

Please Respond to Danny Iverson if you can help.

Please forward this to anyone you know who might be able to help.

We know that “the Church” is not a building and God receives glory from his people wherever they are gathered, but we know that this building was built to the Glory of His name by the faithful before us and it is to that end that we strive to restore it and fill it once again with worshipers of Jesus.

Thanks for helping.

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny Iverson

Trinity Reformed Church

483 Ferry street

Newark NJ, 07105

Yesterday afternoon.  I came outside of the church and saw a woman on my back porch with a huge gash on her head. She had taken two bags of heroin and fallen over onto the cement while she was walking and stumbled to the church for help.  As I wiped the blood off of her face I realized it was the same woman my grandfather did the same thing for 5 years ago after she had gotten beat up. That day five years ago was my first day in Newark, and it was through this woman “S” that my heart was changed and I saw that I was no different than her, that I needed the same savior to the same extent, that all of us are addicted to the worst addiction there is… We are all addicted to ourselves and every other addiction flows out of that.  This time it was me wiping the blood off of her face instead of my grandfather. I prayed silently as I worked, and Kimberly handed me disinfectant.  My heart was reminded anew why we are here, why God has brought us to Newark and why He has allowed Safe Haven to exist and grow. My mind raced to the 150 kids and teens God has brought to us to shepherd and love, to teach and develop,,, would one of them be sitting here like “S”, bleeding from what they thought was their only source of pleasure, their only purpose for living… would their lives follow this same path?

Tonight we have our first major fund raising event, an event that we have been planning for awhile, an event I have put far too much hope in.  While sitting their ministering to “S” things once again came into perspective in a fresh way. All week long I worried so much about ticket sales, about whether we could raise the money we need to keep our quickly growing program afloat and meeting the many needs. Yes, I worried about the needs, but behind it all my heart was so scared of failing, so scared of not pulling off an event that made me and the orgnization I run look good. Why? Why am I so prone to desire praise of others, to be in control, so addicted to success.  ”S” reminded me once again how truly mixed my heart really is, how all of us have motives that are far from pure, even when we are doing good things. “S” reminded me again of not the “what” of Safe Haven, but the “why.” God used a bleeding heroine addict that couldn’t stop crying to re-center my heart on why we MUST REACH THSE KIDS. Why we need to show them the love of Christ and His unyielding commitment to break the generational curses holding them so tightly. My heart is full tonight with great hope. Hope that the power of the Gospel, the light of unchanging truth, will pierce the darkness of my community and raise up a new generation of men and women eager to live and spend their lives for the Glory of God and the joy of others…

Please pray for us tonight, for David Tyree as he shares and talks about the need to reach these precious kids. Pray that God will help us raise the $15,000 we need for our after class progam and that His protection will be over every one for the kids He brings to Safe Haven.

Pray for all of our staff and volunteers, that God will encourage them tonight and that they will feel that their hard work, the pouring out of themselves, is not in vain.

Pray or “S”, that this will be the last time she has to come here in that condition, that she will become an agent of healing for others…

May His Kingdom come,

Danny

P.S  If you are unable to come but would like to sponsor someone from our community that can’t afford to pay $25/ticket please do.  Send me an email telling me how many people you want to sponsor and click here to donate or send a check to 483 Ferry street, newark NJ, 07105

Below is the link to the event.

Bidder Sweets Silent auction and Dessert Reception

A Fund Raiser for the Kids in Newark

Dear Family and friends,

I write you once again with deep passion in my heart, praising God for you and the wonderful blessing you have been to us. God is doing a mighty work and we could not be here and be a part of it without your prayer and support. What a joy to serve a God who loves the poor and the broken, for that is what we are without Christ, and seeing ourselves as poor and broken is what allows us to accept a Kingdom such as the one that Jesus Christ preached and made visible to us. Last week I had the joy preaching in a suburban church that is one of our key partners here. I spoke on “The Vain Things that Charm Us.”  An exert from that sermon is attached so feel free to listen to it or go to our website and hear the whole thing. I am constantly being convicted in my own life as I look at the many vain, pointless, non-eternal things I go to to try and find my significance and justify my existence. I am really seeing that anything that effects my joy that isn’t God is an idol, a vain charmer that really doesn’t bring the eternal joy my heart of hearts desires. How quickly even this ministry can become such an idol, or my family, or my music.  How quickly my heart goes to things other than God to find its joy. i see in our culture how much materialistic things have become charmers that we run to. So much of our joy is wrapped up in how much stuff we have or can get.  In working with the poor my heart has been forced into a radical re-evaluation of even my family’s spending habits and how truly selfish they really are. I look at the early church and see why the gospel was so attractive, why it had so much power to change lives: it was radical and selfless. The people who claimed to follow Christ didn’t live in the same luxury as their peers.  Those who had means and a way of making money chose to live a simple life; they chose to reach out to the margins and didn’t view their wealth as a blessing from God for them but rather as a chance God was giving them to bless others and meet others needs to the same extent they were seeking to meet their own.  Their joy wasn’t in the material, no, their treasure was wrapped up in the promises of God made real through Christ.  They wanted to follow Christ into mission and wanted to live their lives truly for God’s glory and for others, and therefore they viewed any wealth not as an opportunity to accumulate more stuff, but as an opportunity to serve the poor and broken and reflect the true Good News that Jesus taught. It wasn’t a religion that they brought to their respective cultures but a radical faith in action that left everyone around them bewildered and stunned by their selfless love for even their enemies. The real selfless love of Christ being mirrored in their love for the poor is what showed people the real Jesus. It challenges me, and it needs to challenge the true church, those who claim to follow to Christ, to stop hoping and finding joy in the fake comfort and safety we think this decaying world can offer us, but rather to hope in the “new every morning” mercies, grace and love of our eternal Father in heaven who has brought us and bought us at a price and called us His own. May His invisible Kingdom of justice and mercy be made visible in real time through our lives as we desire to know Jesus more and respond to the message of hope held out in the Gospel. This good news for self-seeking, vain, materialistic, money hoarding, glory-hungry, drug addicted, prostituting, pharisitical, judging people like us is indeed amazing. The more amazing and valued this Good News is in our lives the less value the vain treasures of this world will be to us and the less we will be in bondage to them.  May this amazing grace be a sweet sweet sound to our ears and may our lives spring forth accordingly into action that bears that same Good News to our broken world.

Here are some reports of what the Good News is doing here in Newark . If you want to hear some thoughts and personal testimony and stories about the things God is teaching us through this whole adventure, please do read everything. I promise it is worth your time and it means a lot to me to know that the sufferings and hardships we face day in and day out are being used to strengthen the church not just in Newark but around the world.  So I pray that everything written in this email will flow steady straight to your heart and awaken in each of us a deeper passion to live selfless lives for the Glory of God and the joy and flourishing of the human race, that all nations may encounter the risen Christ in us as we reflect His selfless love poured out so freely to us on the cross.

The Report (I know it is long, but God is doing so much. Praise God for His work!)

New Staff – Safe Haven is happy to report that we have been led to hire a program director. Erik Midboe, a 23 year old all star who has been volunteering with us for the last year has felt led to join our team in a permanent way. He has really stepped up to the plate and is doing an awesome job loving kids while developing and growing our programs.

Youth trips – In January the high school Crossover (our teen program) went to Lake Champion (an awesome young life camp about 2 hours away)for the weekend. we took 25 of us total and it was an amazing time of growth, new commitments to Christ and super fun. It costs $100 per person and nearly every kid signed up that they needed a scholarship and by God’s grace and wonderful generosity from some of you, each kid was able to go. In March we took 35 middle school students and leaders. God provided in amazing ways for them to go as well.  (See below) Trips like these away from Newark are where most of our kids really meet the Lord for the first time and God seems to use these trips to set them on a new course. I can not tell you how crucial it is to get as many kids as possible on these trip.  Please pray about giving toward this cause. We are growing so fast and we need to start raising funds for summer camps for our kids here. God uses these trips to completely change these kids directions in life. He has already with so many!!!!  You can give at this link online or send checks made payable to Safe Haven to 483 Ferry street, Newark Jj 07105. Put Youth Trips in the memo.

Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser- We had our first community based fundraiser to send our middle school students on their Lake Champion retreat.  Each kid who needed a scholarship had to sell tickets to the spaghetti dinner in an attempt to raise the needed money.  As the kids participated in this they learned honesty, initiative taking, organization, and service and ultimately trusting God to provide the needed money.  We were very impressed at their ability to sell tickets to their neighbors, friends, and family and then being faithful to turn in the money and return unsold tickets.  Then each child was a “server” for each of the tables for this reasonably priced, but candlelit dinner.  They were selfless and focused in the roles we gave them.  One youth kept telling me “Thank you so much for letting me be a server, I’ve never done something like this”  (this was after he asked me about 40 times what questions he was suppose to ask his table -meat sauce?plain sauce? do you need more drink?)  We had 100 kids and adults attend the dinner (90 % from our immediate neighborhood), and had raffles for certain items.  Many people gave more than they could afford towards these kids.  We were able to raise almost $900 through this strictly community run event.  This is the kind of progress we want to see.  Our neighborhood committing to our kids, and seeking a different future for them, not just always relying on an outside source to give free handouts.

The Youth center is in full swing. Since opening the youth center last november, we have tripled the number of kids and teens coming to see what is happening at Safe Haven. Our base just got a whole lot bigger. I get to meet a new kid every day it seems. Pretty amazing but that also means we are way understaffed to meet the need.  we could easily hire two more full time staff and have plenty for them to do. (once God provides the funds we need)  Praise God we have some great volunteers really stepping up (we need more though) We are beginning some very specific programs that you can pray for. A weekly dance class,  drum class, guitar class, and video editing class.  All Lord willing will be taught by our very own teenagers under the supervision of myself and other volunteers. We are also starting a solid homework help program using our teens as the aids to teach the younger kids. This will provide jobs for the teens and help for the kids. We still ned to raise funds for this so pray for that.  Read more below about the S.H.A.C. Program.

Spring break trips – We had over 60 high school and college students visit for their spring break, 4 different groups came through for the month of March. Teams from Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, and here in New Jersey. What an amazing time it was. God really used them to impact the community in a powerful way. Whole housing projects got cleaned, the schools got tutors for the week to help with reading, nursing homes had volunteers, repair work was done in the school across the street and in the community, over a hundred kids and teens got to hear the gospel and form relationships with these students. It was awesome. Please pray as we continue to develop this program.

Futureman – We have just started a program called “Futureman” for mentoring young men. It is going extremely well and growing each week. Most of these young men have no father figure in their lives. Our goal is to see the good news break that generational curse and give them hope of becoming a different type of man then their dads and the men they see around them. We are praying that this group will draw more and more of these young men away from the gangs and into the Kingdom.

We have Vans – two vans have been donated. those of you that donated toward our fun, your gifts were used to fix up and insure the vans properly. We still need to raise a few thousand more to insure for this whole year. what a blessing!  We asked for a van and got two. One 14 passenger and one 8 passenger.

More Plans……

The SHAC Program Safe Haven After Class – This program begins in two weeks. We are hand picking 20 kids (2nd-5th grade)  out of our pool of over 100 and inviting them into an intense develop program every day of the week after school (3:00-6:00 pm)  This is a pilot program that we are doing for 10 weeks until school gets out. If it succeeds like we think it will we will grow it more in the fall and begin plans for opening another one in another community here in in Newark. This Program will utilize our computer lab, recording studio, music rooms and develop our kids on each of our four levels-creative, mental, social, and spiritual. We are doing  fundraising campaign specifically for this program as listed below.

Bidder Sweets Fundraiser - Silent Auction and Dessert… Saturday, May 3rd, 7:30 PM. PLEAE GO TO THIS WEBSITE AND HELP US!  We need to raise $15,000 to make the SHAC program a reality and this is the fundraiser we are doing.  Anything you can donate that is worth auctioning off (Tickets, time share, gift cards etc….) or any funds. Most of you on this list can’t physically be there so buying tickets wouldn’t help but any other way would be much appreciated. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SITE WE MADE FOR THIS EVENT.

Summer Internships within the next week I hope to have the full details of this opportunity. The basic breakdown – we need 2 -3 more college students to commit to interning here over the summer. Dates are flexible but we want you here for at least the 6 weeks of our summer day camp (June 30-August 8th)  Each Intern needs to raise 250 for each week they are here. (at least $1500) This covers living expenses, and a weekly stipend. This is a missionary position in every sense of the word. there will be an intense reading list, discipleship, and outreach to our broken community. It will be a stretching and sanctifying experience but will be life changing.  Only the adventurous should apply… those who have been here during the summer know what I am talking about.

Safe Haven Summer Camp – June 30th-August 8th (9-3pm Monday-Friday) We have hired a Camp Director for the Summer named Donna Mateyka who will be leading a 6 week long program for 50 kids from the community. Our goal is for our kids to have a safe summer where they can grow in all of our four levels, creative, mental, social and spiritual. This camp will not only reach our children but also employ teenagers from the community, empower volunteers from the community, and also provide a structured environment for the youth group teams coming this summer to engage in outreach and community development (If you want to bring a college or high school group here on a mission trip we still have room for more teams.)

Ok, That was a long report. makes me tired just writing it… But isn’t God faithful. We love seeing what He is doing and being a part of it and we love that so many of you on this list are sharing in the joy of reaching and restoring this community.  We hope this encourages each of you and draws you closer to Jesus.

Below are some family pictures, the recent sermon I mentioned earlier and links to our web stuff. Check out the cool video a college student named Kaitlyn made of her spring break trip here.  we love you all and hope to hear from you.

Dear Family and friends,

My heart is heavy right now as I write this. Its 3:19 am and I can’t sleep because I can’t stop thinking about the 100 plus young men 2 blocks away gathered for the Crips (Main Gang in our area) initiation. Last night a highschool junior who lives in those projects and has come into the family of Jesus here at Safe Haven came to my door begging to spend the night.  “At least two people are going to be getting killed tonight” he said, “and I don’t want to be one of them.”  He is one of the few young men from those projects (Dubbed Cript head quarters here in Newark) who has not fallen into the gang and has no desire to be.  Below on this email you can read more stories about our encounters with gangs here and the war we are waging to get these kids before the gangs get them. You will also be able to understand the title of this email…. Doesn’t that just entice you to read on and find out…. I am so tricky…

For now here is a Bullet point version of praises and some pressing needs our ministry is facing. Please take the time to read and pray for us and do what you feel led to do.

Praise – God is doing a mighty work! more kids than ever are showing up to church.  We had over 60 kids and youth come to worship sunday. In the past it has been hard to get consistent sunday worship attendance. Things are changing and these last few months have been consistently growing. Some of their parents are coming too. 3 parents gave/recommitted their lives to Christ this past sunday.  God is good. Also, more and more teens showing for youth group on Friday.  Every Friday we have a ministry for teens called “Cross Over – Reverse the Curse.”  The First Friday of the month we have a huge outreach (Bands, rappers, games, and food) and then each other Friday of the month we go on trips to other youth groups in the area. We have 4 college age/ young adult volunteer leaders who show up each week with me to help drive kids and hang with them. It has been awesome to see God work.

Need - WE NEED A VAN. it is time for a van.  Lord help us get a van… 15 passengers are Illegal in Nj for transporting kids. We need a 12 passenger van ASAP.  If God opens up any door for you to help with this please do help us.  Donate online or mail, just designate it “Van fund.”  We are praying to be able to get a van by next month… Join us in this campaign by praying and giving as you can.

Praise – Our Ministry received 3 years worth of 1-6 grade sunday school material donated from Great Commission Publications. (www.gcp.org) Curriculum is expensive and we didn’t know how we were going to afford it for all the kids.  God knew. He provided and we are blown away. It is great stuff too. I encourage each person reading this to send an email to

dan.boulton@gcp.org and thank them for blessing this ministry.

Need – As we start Sunday school up we need prayer. It is going to explode this year, I feel it.  So many kids. Pray for more volunteers. As more and more kids come we are going to need more adult volunteers to teach them God’s word. Pray for willing hearts to love and serve these kids and “jump them into the Kingdom gang.”

Praise - As many of you know we have been raising support for the last year.  We haven’t been able to receive any financial compensation from Safe Haven till this past august when our approved a stipend of half of what my salary will be as soon as we raise it.  It is a blessing to have some consistent income and we praise God for all of you who have given of your resources to empower us to lead this battle here. We have health insurance, a roof over our heads and a car and so much more. The Lord has truly blessed us with lots of little girl clothes for Trinity, they are cute and she is cute in them.  Thank you for your support.

BIG NEED – we are only at 75% of what we need to meet ends meet, especially since our family is growing. We need consistent monthly supporters… Health insurance is the big killer here… so expensive. Now I see why almost everyone in our community is on medicaid… WOULD YOU PLEASE PRAY ABOUT BECOMING A MONTHLY CONTRIBUTOR TOWARD OUR SUPPORT ACCOUNT. $100, $50, $25, $10… a month…. whatever you are led to give.  it all adds up. It is really easy to do too. Go to

our online donation page and sign up securely for monthly automatic recurring donations. Put Iverson in the memo box.  Please pray about that. Every little bit counts.  God continues to provide for our needs but the less time we spend raising support for our family needs the more time we are able to spend meeting the many needs of the community.  If you want to send support by mail, our address is below. Make checks payable to Safe Haven and indicate that you want to be a monthly supporter.

Praise - 20 computers donated for computer lab! Yes God is amazing. we got 20 used Dells (Only 3 years old) donated from Delbarton School here in NJ. Our computer lab is more than supplied for. On top of that we have had 3 churches donate money for 3 brand new Macs for all the music recording, video editing and design stuff we are teaching.  Pretty amazing. I’ll send pictures next time.

Praise – Guitar center is giving us all our musical needs at cost. That rocks!

Praise - We just started a gospel choir for 5th grade though adults.… I have ben praying for 3 years for this. God brought us a choir director and at our first practice 2 weeks ago we had over 30 show up. This past week we had 45! I am so excited about singing in it and seeing the way it will reach this community.

Praise – God brought us food. Our food pantry ministry to the poor has been running dry due to extreme increased need. It seems that through the wonderful efforts of the mayor to crack down on violence and the drug trade in Newark, many families that relied on the dealings of their now incarcerated head of households are short financial resources and in need of food.  Suburban Churches from our denomintion and others have stepped up and in less than 5 days our shelves are now overflowing.  It is going fast but coming in just as fast.  God is good.

Need – There are so many needs in the inner cities of our country, yet there are so few churches being planted there and so few people who want to live there and/or attend church there.  From the inside perspective I want to encourage you to get involved in an inner city/mercy ministry driven church near you.  Even if you just drive in and attend they will be encouraged and you will be too. If you tithe, tithe to them. A few people with good jobs who tithe make a huge difference.  Our monthly tithes don’t even pay our utilities…. . This last weeks tithes were only $138, but nearly everyone gave….Even the kids… And God multiplies. Empowering city center ministries has a huge Kingdom affect and helps us get out of our comfort zones.

Praise – Cool article about Safe Haven

Click here

Ok here are some more thoughts on the gang stuff going on and what we are doing to reach them.  I encourage you to take the time to read this as it will really broaden the perspective of inner city life and what these kids go through.

The Crips are the main gang in this area responsible for the killings, drug distribution and every other crime you can imagine. They begin recruiting young boys as young as the age of 10 now and the way you become a member is by getting “jumped in.” (Usually when you are a teen) Your gang banging buddies basically beat you to a bloody pulp and then you are in. After that comes initiation which is one of the ceremonies going on tonight.  new members are given a final test to show their loyalty to their gang family…. They need to spill blood. Usually this right of passage involves some random person or enemy of the gang getting shot, stabbed or seriously injured.  Sometimes they are told they must kill x amount of people before moving up in the ranks… It is crazy.  One of the things that is so interesting is that so many teens who are crips that I have become really good friends with (I ball with them frequently) don’t even want to be in the gang but are terrified to get out. Last Fall we had a key player coming to a our young Men’s Bible study. He came to Christ and started to experience the conviction and see the light and He wanted out. He knew that it might cost him his life. Exiting Gangs is harder then getting in.  He has managed to get out and thanks to God’s grace and some good connections he is playing football for a college in upstate NY now.  I am really so proud of the many young men in our ministry who are taking a stand and not following the road so many of their peers and childhood buddies have followed.  Girls aren’t exempt. They have their little gangs too and are nearly as violent as the guys. Their gangs are focused a lot on sex and manipulation… so many of them enter into some form of prostitution before they are 15… Sad but true.

I find it also interesting that there must be blood to enter into the gang covenant relationship and the similarity there is to our covenant with God.  In order for us to be apart of the Kingdom gang, blood had to be spilled for us to enter.  But oh how different it is in the sense that the gang leader himself was the one who shed His own blood to make it possible for us to be a part of the greatest gang in history. An eternal gang that has a specific purpose to be used by God to heal the world instead of destroying it and spreading the disease of sin.  It makes my heart ache for these young guys who are so desperately trying to justify their existence, trying so deserately to satisfy that deep heart need for acceptance into some kind of  family… a deep need for some kind of affirmation and love.  One huge player on the scene here, we’ll call him “K” has such a desire to get out. I met him last year at the high school alternative program and he showed me a recent bullet hole through his leg.  We have had times where we have talked and as I looked this tough no joke gangster in the eyes he looked like he was about to cry. Sometimes I don’t know what to say and so just say “lets pray” and put my hand on his shoulder. Amazing, he always embraces it and even though he is too tough to say thank you, I know it means the world to him. Our conversations usually end with me saying “you can get out” and Him saying.” I can’t….”  he has told me he wants to, he just feels so trapped.

So what do we do…. Lock them all up….? Force them to all be together in one location where all their enemies are forced to be as well. Jail is the worst thing for these young men.  They need father figures, they need love.  I can’t think of one out of the 40 plus young men in our ministry who have their actual birth father in their lives. not one…. how sad is that.  Who are the men who are teaching this next generation how to be men? 50 cent, Soljur boy, other rappers, older gang members…. They are doing a great job showing them what it means to be a man (according to their standard.)  How is the Church in the U.S. doing? We are failing. I think we have forgotten what our gang leader did to save us, and instead of being willing to do the same to help bring others to the Father, we relax in the comfort of our religion.  If a Crip member had the complacency of most Christians, they would probably get “taken out.”  Being in a gang means action, you don’t sit still.  God has really been showing me that, especially in my prayer life.  Last week He really brought me to conviction about how little I pray specifically for these 100 plus kids and teens that he has brought into our ministry here, I am seeing that the way I “jump them in” is by praying.  I am asking you to do the same. Please pray for each precious soul that God allows us to encounter and share His amazing love with. There is so much to tell and I already have written far more then intended… If you want to read more about what is happening you can go to our

website.

We love you all and praise the living God that has blessed us with so many friends and such a wonderful supportive family. We couldn’t be doing what we are doing without you, God is using you to build His Kingdom here in Newark through us and we pray that you feel as blessed as we are to participate in showing the amazing healing grace of our Savior to this broken world.

For the King and the Kingdom,

The Newark Iverson Clan

483 Ferry street

Newark, NJ 07105

Danny’s Cell: 862-215-2940

Kimberly’ cell: 862-452-8688

Daniel Josiah’s Cell: 1-800-terrible-twos

Trinity’s cell: 1-800-change-my-diaper

Family Website:

www.fromscarlet.com

First we want to say thank you for the wonderful support and prayer during the hard summer of war for the Kingdom!  God is so faithful and never leaves His children alone and powerless. We feel so encouraged by all the prayer support, financial support and the many who have come stood beside us and helped us fight the battle we have been called too. By God’s grace we have seen a summer of extreme victory that makes the war wounds well worth it. God worked great things in us and through us this summer and we just want to share with you the awesome things God did so that you can praise Him for His faithfulness and know how He has answered prayers.

1. We have seen his promises from His word come alive in a powerful way. Many people sent us passages and prayers to encourage us. One of the women on our board sent us Isaiah 41 to encourage us and it came at the right time, right when we felt that we couldn’t go on. The whole chapter is so powerful, read it if you get the chance. Here are a few of the verses that stood out and spoke to us. 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. 13 For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God.And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you. 17 “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.”        God didn’t abandon us, and through the struggles He poured out His grace in amazing ways in our lives and into this community.

2. Summer Program: God really came through. Even though we were short workers our volunteers stepped up and made it happen. we had over 20 volunteers from our community and the suburbs help out with the programs. What a relief to see God bring in reinforcements. The mission teams that came for the rest of the summer picked up the pace as well and finished strong. Our youth group volunteers led the whole mission trip and Kimberly and I had a week to rest and get better and really just focus on the Lord and our family and pray for the ministry. God moved in a mighty way. Two teens from Newark, Vernard and Anthony were baptized on the trip and 2 more made solid professions of faith. They came back alive and eager to share the gospel in this community and be agents of change for Newark.

3.Over 100 kids from the community were impacted for life through Safe Haven’s VBS Program “Tommy’s Time Machine”. It was so amazing to see the gospel seeds planted in their hearts. What a joy! I wouldn’t trade that for the whole world. There really is no greater privilege than to be used for God’s Kingdom! His power is shown in our weakness and in the midst of the struggle He did more than we ever could have done on our own strength. What an awesome and faithful God we serve.

4. Over 130 teens came from across America this summer to impact Newark and Newark ended up impacting them far deeper.  We saw such amazing growth in the teens that came who did such an awesome job serving this community through physical labour and the various outreaches and summer programs. One teen, Stephen, from Indiana actually came back for another week on his own to serve in any way He could. God really used Him and did some neat stuff in his life in the process. The Holy Spirit really planted in each person a deeper desire for serving the poor selflessly from the heart in the way that Jesus served us.

5. Safe Haven youth center is done, computer lab funds almost raised! Our youth center looks great. I ‘ll send pictures in our next email. God has done miracles in bringing this to completion. Also it looks like we will be able to start operating the computer lab this fall. 3 churches that came here on mission trips have already agreed to each raise funds for one of the eight computers. Another church from nearby who supports Safe Haven, had their VBS Program raise the funds for a fourth, so we are half way there. Praise God! (Side note- If anyone wants to make a special gift to help us complete this computer lab you can do it online by clicking here, or send check to Safe Haven @ 483 ferry street, newark nj 07105.make sure to write computer lab in the memo)

6. Kimberly and new baby are doing great. As I write this she is 2 centimeters dilated and having minor contractions. Any day now a new Iverson will enter the world. We are so excited to meet this new gift to our family and can’t wait to see if it is a boy or girl. We love the surprise. My mother is coming from Japan next tuesday to help in any way for ten days, that will wonderful. Kimberly is so full of joy and ready for round two!!!!!

7. Daniel Josiah’s Chest X-rays came back negative for the TB Infection. That means he was only exposed which is common and now he is on meds for 9 months and then there should be no problems. Praise God and thank you all for the prayers. He is as healthy and as active as ever and never ceases to bring great to joy to us and everyone in this community. Everyone loves him and he seems to have a gift for breaking down the hardest walls and making the meanest gangster smile. We love Him so much.

8. God has really raised up support for Tasha Dent, the mother of 5 who was in great need.  When I sent out an email a few months agao asking everyone I knew to help I had no idea how amazing the response would be.  All her material needs have been met each week by God’s grace through the church of Jesus Christ across this country. Her husband Jamar, Lord willing, will be released in two weeks and we still have enough support that has been given to help them get back on their feet while He looks for work.  He really met Jesus  in a real way while in jail and is excited about coming back and supporting His family and seeking the Lord. Attached below is a thank you letter from Tasha to all who helped her pull through. The family of God is amazing. God really multiplied each dollar given and supplied all their needs. Their family never went hungry and they are all caught up on their rent.  Praise Him for that. Continue to pray for God to provide for them on their road to recovery.

9. My beautiful bride and I got to take a 24 hour get away. A family from a supporting church let us use their camper and they watched Daniel Josiah for us so we could have a retreat before this baby comes. What a blessing to get out into God’s Beautiful creation and reflect on his mercy and faithfulness. We got to read, go on hikes, cook out on the fire, talk, pray, sing, cuddle and just be together. It was very much needed and refreshed our spirits and bodies. We are so thankful for all the many supporters who have been so faithful in showing us the love of God. We love you all and praise God for you each day.  We couldn’t have made it through this summer without you!

May Jesus our Savior continue to make His rich mercy abundantly clear to you as you seek the face of God each day. Remember, our responsibility is availability to Jesus Christ. To be who we are in terms of who He is, 24 hours a day, one day at a time.

Forget not the promises of serving the living God. My each of us take up our crosses all the more each day and joyfully serve our Lord  who was willing to give Himself to redeem us.

January – March Prayer Letter

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters of Safe Haven,

We thank each of you for your support in the important work that God is doing here in Newark, NJ. Your

prayers, financial gifts, and emotional support are keeping this ministry alive. And ALIVE it is. Much has been

happening as we fight the war for youth’s hearts. Here is an update on what has been happening in the past few

months.

~January- Danny and other youth volunteers took 10 guys to a Young Life retreat.  A powerful time of sharing occurred

in which each of these young teenagers opened up and shared heart wounds they had experienced and ways in which

only Jesus could heal them.  Eight out of the ten guys do not have their father in their life. To have “street guys” open up

in this way shows a powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

~February – “Warriors Retreat”, in which Danny took twenty guys paintballing with a follow-up extensive study on being

a warrior for God, for one’s family, and one’s community. They also did work around the church in order to clean up,

and further the progress on the youth center. As a result of the training, a few of the guys have joined the city’s

Community Council to help be a voice of change for their neighborhood.

~March-We held a break-dance seminar for the local high school’s, Twilight Program, a program in which students who

cannot attend regular school due to behavioral issues go to class in the afternoons.  Danny has been volunteering and

providing counseling for the students once a week for the program and the professional break-dancer has committed to

holding more lessons and seminars for the teens once the youth center is opened.

– “Rock the Church” happened! A large stage, lights, a fog machine, a professional break-dancer and rapper,

and several bands…The Lord mightily blessed it with 150 youth showing up from the community, and surrounding

church youth groups.  The gospel was boldly proclaimed to many who do not know the good news of Jesus Christ, and

the evening closed out with an extended time of worship.

-We had 36 college students from Virginia and Michigan come for their spring break to help with the ministry

here. During the mornings they went into the local elementary and high schools to do a week of “Catch-me-up” tutoring

for youth behind in their reading.  GREAT connections were made, not only with the youth, but with parents, teachers,

and principals. In the afternoons, we ran Kids Club for nearly 30 elementary students. Each day the kids learned stories

about Jesus and we closed the week with a Resurrection Party. Also, at the end of the week we had our first Crossover,

a monthly youth meeting where over 40 neighborhood teenagers come to have fellowship, play games, and do Bible

Study.

Please join us in praising the Lord for:

~The twenty guys that are faithfully showing up for men’s group, church, youth events, and community service events.

Some of them have to catch a bus and come all the way across town, but they are showing up, growing in their walks

with the Lord, developing deep friendships amongst themselves and youth leaders, and are desiring to see change in

their communities and families.

~The many things that have been donated towards the ministry and our family: sound panels for the recording studio

(worth $600), the stage for Rock the Church (worth $450),  groceries to feed the many young men that eat at our home

(worth A LOT),  volunteer labor on the youth center (worth $2,000), a two day getaway to a lake house for a very

exhausted urban missionary family (i.e. us) (worth-priceless)

~Recently, while visiting a church family who has not been able to attend church lately due to a very sick grandmother,

we spotted pictures, signs, and journal entries about the 10 commandments on their walls.  The mother, who Kimberly

has been working with, then told us that every Sunday that they miss Sunday School the kids work on their own “at

home” Sunday school lesson. We praise the Lord that the things these children are learning at church have been

brought into the home and are now being taught in this home.  Two years ago, the mother claimed, she would have not

wanted anything to do with church or God.

~The two young men who are living in our home are showing growth in the Lord that is starting to affect their work ethic,

desire for education, and their relationships with the opposite sex.

Please join us in praying to the Lord for:

~Monthly Support: We are at about 30% of what we need to be able to live here and cover our living expenses and

health insurance.  God keeps on providing on a month to month basis in amazing ways so we are thankful, but we are

hoping and praying for a consistent monthly support team to be raised up so we can focus all our energy on reaching

these kids for Christ. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting us $25, $50, or $100 on a monthly basis. We

are praying to be at 100% in the next few months. Please join us in asking the Lord to meet this need. Automatic

recurring donations can be made on our website: www.newarksafehaven.com. Donations can also be mailed to 483

Ferry Street, Newark NJ 07105. Checks payable to Safe Haven.

~Special Easter festivities to come: Good Friday Jesus Film viewing, Scripture Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Service and

Feast, and a girls club to be held during the kid’s spring break.

~Grant Writing!! There are many tedious processes in grant writing and we need supernatural strength and stamina to

get through them.  Also, we need to find favor in the sight of the foundations giving the grants for we are one of

hundreds applying for them.

~The warrior young men who are growing in the Lord-that God will protect them and lead them in the way of

righteousness.

~Helpers and teachers for the Sunday Kids Club (i.e. Sunday School). Kimberly has been the only elementary Sunday

school teacher all year and needs help and someone to aid in the organization and growth of the ministry.

~The completion of the youth center and the official start of the program we are going to run there.

~Planning for the summer as we host youth teams and interns nearly every week to help run our summer kids program

and community outreach events.

~A continued healthy pregnancy for Kimberly and our little Iverbaby due to be born August 23rd.

Thank you for what you do to make this work possible.  If you have not already committed to praying for and giving

financially to Safe Haven, would you pray about doing so? Please visit our website for updated pictures, news, and how

you can help further the Kingdom of Christ in the lives of these children and youth.  www.newarksafehaven.com

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny, Kimberly, Daniel Josiah, and Iverbaby Iverson