"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14 (NASB)



The 1975 Houston outreach called “Three Weeks in August” was coming to a close. Spirits were high. Big things were in the air. This was different from other outreaches we had done before in that there was also a ministry wide conference. Almost everybody from every team had come to Houston to compare notes, pray for direction, and win the lost together.

Conferences were always great. You got to see what was happening on other teams and spend time with people you loved who were working for God in other fields. It was a time of high energy and not much sleep. Every day was packed full and every night there was a service.

Three weeks in August was a milestone. During that time we merged with another outreach ministry called Evangelistic Temple Youth Outreach. We had met them years before on one of our first trips to Texas. That merger greatly increased the size of the ministry.

Real excitement was in the air.

Jim and I had been on music teams for most of our ministry life. A few months before “Three Weeks in August” we had finally come off “life on the road” and gone to the Denver team for a stint there. Denver was a “field station” - a semi permanent work. We fully expected to go back to Denver - we hadn’t really been there very long. As it turned out, God had other ideas.

When we were told that we were being given a team of our own, we were shocked. Although leadership seemed to be the goal of most, it really never was for us. We had different giftings, different desires. We never thought managing people suited us. But, it was going to be a small work, in a small town, with a small team. Hopefully, we wouldn’t mess things up too badly.

Our new assignment was in Victoria, Texas. This was a work that Charlie Moore had started some months back, but now he was being moved on to other things. So, he gave us the keys to the building God had provided for him, along with some phone numbers and wished us well. The next step for us was to find a way down there.

We had owned several cars since we were in the ministry. In fact, I was one of the very few who had owned a car when I joined. But, what with one thing and another we found ourselves without wheels during “Three Weeks In August”. It wasn’t usually much of a problem. There always seemed to be a way to get where you were going. But, when it came time to make the trip to Victoria, we were left scratching our heads. We weren’t really a big enough team to warrant a ministry vehicle and Charlie had an old twisted wreck of a Fiat already down there that we could use once we arrived. It was just getting there that seemed to be a problem.

In earlier years, we probably would have just thrown our duffel over our shoulder and stuck a thumb out. But now we had a eighteen month old baby. Looking back on it, I think to myself, “That would have gotten us a ride even faster”...chuckle.

Providentially, my parents were on vacation in their motor home and had decided to stop by and see us at the tail end of the outreach. As soon as we saw them, we knew our transportation dilemma was solved. Sure enough, they offered to give us a ride to Victoria. As “Three Weeks In August” came to a close, we packed our suitcases - most of our belongings were still back in Denver - said good-bye to the other departing teams and hopped aboard for the two hour trip and a short visit with the folks.

Everything went real well until we found the address we were looking for - 1010 Juan Linn St. Have you ever heard stories about places on the wrong side of the tracks? Well, think of the worst neighborhood you’ve ever driven through in small town USA. and you may be getting close.
We got out and tried the lock. It opened. This was the place. When we went inside the origins of the building became evident. Somewhere around 50 years before, this place had been a grocery store. It was big and barren and there were spots where you could see daylight through the walls and floors.

The streets were empty except for a few old winos sitting on the sidewalk and a pack of dogs that chased every car driving by. In the weeks that followed those mongrels came to be called “the three legged dog patrol”, for reasons that would have been obvious to you, had you seen them. A few months later one of those dogs, a male kind of a beagle looking mutt called “Brownie” was used by God to protect the life of our little girl.

But, we hadn’t been there ten minutes before my parents flatly refused to leave. No amount of reassurances helped. Standing on our “adulthood” didn’t phase them. Explaining that we were doing God’s work and that He would protect and provide didn’t get us anywhere, either. To them we were just kids, even though we were 22 and 25 at the time, and they were not going to leave us - or their grandchild - in that “ghetto”.

Finally Jim pulled out the phone numbers Charlie had given him and started dialing. Within a few hours we pulled up at a nice ranch style home out in the country and were met by a wonderful Christian couple named Johnson, who said they’d be happy to let us stay with them until we found a place. Satisfied, my parents headed home.

As we sought the Lord, however, we became more and more sure that our place was there on Juan Linn Street. Within two weeks the rest of our team had arrived and we had moved back into the store front on “The Lane”. We turned the tiny, narrow office along the back of the store into our bedroom and the store room into Fawn’s room.

Jim built a special baby bed for her that had only one central post instead of four legs. He covered that post with a piece of linoleum and waxed it good so the rats couldn’t get to our little girl while we slept at night.

The guys on our team, Dave Miner, Ron Krueger, Mike Jaynes and Steve Hoffert, were fresh out of DTI and ready for whatever God had in store for them. For the moment they slept on several couches that were out in the main room. All of us shared one restroom - inside, thank God! and one shower - outside with a little fence sort of thing around it. The real blessing was a good sized kitchen and a chest freezer stocked with donated beef. For the moment anyway, we were well provisioned.

So, having gotten ourselves where God wanted us to be, we set about trying to determine just exactly what it was He wanted us to do. As we began to meet the neighbors, we discovered that the locals called Juan Linn Street and the surrounding area The Lane. Of all the things it needed, The Lane surely needed God the most.

Dee Patton