Isa 9:5
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
Streetfire Ministries
North Carolina
Our Corporate Board
Pastor Mark DeLap
President and CEO of Streetfire Ministries since 1987
(Secular: Photography for National Geographic)
Ordained as “Bishop” – 2012 “Confidence In Him Ministries” Phoenix, AZ
Pastoral Ordination – 1985 “Gwaltney Evangelistic Association” Milwaukee, WI.
markdelap@hotmail.com
Fine Arts Website: markdelap.com
coaching website: http://coachdelap.wordpress.com
Reflections:
It will change you (from the column “On our Playground” by Mark DeLap)
There are definitely some days when you buckle up, put the pedal to the metal and you pass life by. At the speed of light.
It is on those days (weeks… years?) when you realize that you can’t slow down but at the same time you realize that you are missing some things that make life… life. That make life… sane.
They say when you move into a house you really don’t take possession of it for at least two years. Some things remain in boxes, furniture is moved a million times and you are still not completely happy with where it fits in a room. But oh, how you long for that moment when everything is where it should be.
But then the day comes when you slow down. And if life is really good to you, you stop and take a deep breath and instead of looking around at where you are going or what you should be doing, you just take a 360 into every bit of your senses. You are suddenly focused on the surreal.
It’s that time when things start to make sense. When all the veils are blown back and purpose is revealed. Purpose. Covered up with the rigors of life. Passed by as your freight train speeds so fast that the things you pass are just a blur. At times… out of control and you know that you don’t know how to stop something that big and that complicated.
I’ve been in North Carolina now for going on two years. I look back on early struggles and challenges and obstacles that I have been able to remove. Walls that I have beaten my head against without gaining anything but a bloody forehead.
I know that I have said it before and say it again now. I’ve never felt more at home in any other place I’ve ever lived. But have I taken time to live here and appreciate it more?
Thoughts for another talk on our playground. But I can remember that one weekend not so long ago. One of those times when I “had a moment.” An epiphany if you will. I was driving on a desolate rural highway. I was exhausted from a very busy day that was ending quickly with the sun dropping like a wrecking ball behind the horizon.
I don’t know what she hit on the other side of the sphere, but suddenly there was an explosion of color all over the sky as if someone had dropped a paint bucket and it splattered everywhere. The glow lit up the clouds and the colors were as if someone had taken a paint brush and began to change the color of an otherwise dusky horizon.
I knew I had to hurry home to finish up some things, but something told me to just stop and snap some pictures of the majesty that suddenly appeared out of the quickly moving darkness announcing the day’s end. It was like God Himself was telling me that this was the grand finale.
And it was. Grand. The sky took my breath away and I don’t know if that has ever happened before. I was all alone, and suddenly that feeling of being alone didn’t scare me anymore. The only thing I can relate it to is driving home through a fierce snowstorm, seeing your driveway after white-knuckling the steering wheel for hours and stepping in through the front door of your house, finally safe and sound. And. Breathe. Dropping your shoulders and surrendering to the gratefulness.
As I stood there in the dusk surrounded by the canvas that was being created – I stood and watched and I got that feeling. Like stepping in through my front door. Knowing I was not alone. Knowing this was what has been prepared for me all of my life.
And after some introspection sitting on the grass being covered with a blanket of stars, I knew that I needed nothing. I yearned for nothing. The Apostle Paul said, “wanting nothing.” Except. To just stay a little longer to watch the show. To listen to the night birds and tree frogs with melody and harmony and then realizing that the wind through the trees was the best percussionist I’d ever heard…. banging branches and swishing leaves and realizing that I’d never heard a symphony such as this.
Perhaps the overture was called, “at peace with myself.” That moment when you know things are going to work out. When you realize you are right where you need to be. And the timing for your last chapters couldn’t be more perfect.
As I left that spot, the air was different. I had changed my emotional posture. Scars on my soul were healing. I headed for those gorgeous lights of my city in the distance that I have loved so much on long, never-ending days. Going home.
To come in and realize that the scent of that beef in the slow cooker had filled my senses with memories. Thoughts of suppertime and my dad calling from the back door that it was time to eat. As I leave you this week, I encourage you to slow down. Establish your true north. And find your way home.
Perhaps I am coming to the point of navigating my own soul. Realizing that all I have is all I need. And watching the artist paint me pictures was perhaps all He wanted for me in the first place. Purpose. Everything else will fall into place. And when you find that pivotal moment, it will change you. It really will.
Personal Information and Testimony
After coming out of a three week time of seclusion and fasting in preparation for a new direction, God had given me favor and started to fulfill a prophecy in which God promised that He would restore everything the devil had stolen.
After an 18 month stint as a managing editor in southeast Minnesota, I was hired by Iowa Information Publishing to work as their managing editor for the Sioux Center News. In addition, we are reestablishing the Streetfire Corporation in Iowa where it all began in the 80s. Before that, I was the senior Pastor of Crossroads Church in Ionia, Michigan since June of 2007.
In 2005 Oral Roberts in his last public preaching appearance came and spoke to our church. The Holy Spirit was at the same place in time asking me to prepare for a move back into full time ministry. I have been ordained under the Gwaltney Evangelistic Association http://www.libertytemplechurch.org/ since 1985. In that time, I have started churches, operated in the office of a youth pastor, evangelist, apostle, teacher, prophet and senior pastor. I have established one Christian School, I have been a teacher and a coach in both Christian and public schools, I have a degree in education and an MBA. I am also working toward an MA in Practical Theology from The King’s University, Jack Hayford’s seminary in Van Nuys, California.
In 2005, I relocated temporarily to Placentia, California as I was working on a project with Sony Picture Studios to take my novel to the next level, which would be a full length motion picture. I have also been offered many secular positions there, but my heart has always been in full time ministry.
I have been through the fire and have come through much wiser and more cautious. In 2003 I was senior pastor of a non-denominational church in Duluth, MN where in two years time, we saw tremendous church growth. In the midst of a great revival there, the enemy came in like a flood. I stepped down from the ministry with a very broken heart and a broken spirit. I went to Chicago and took a secular job as a writer for a large corporation and also worked as an evangelist when the doors were open. I have had one novel published which is a love story about hope and reaching out to those who have been labeled as “having gone too far”. The book is entitled “In The Always”. I also have a published children’s story about growing and believing called “The Little Acorn” that has a foreword by Pastor Jack Hayford. In 2010 I had my third book published, “A Warrior’s Heart” which ministers and motivates athletes. All books can be ordered through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or American Star Books Publishing.
Whether in a small community or a large area, I have ministered in remote places like “Booger Hollow, Arkansas” and “Oldfield, MO”… and many places that don’t appear on most Rand McNally maps. I also have ministered to large audiences in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. I believe that God sends us… we obey His call… and people are touched by His Spirit.
Our heart is for revival and our lives are His. We are intercessors, brought up in travailing prayer and seek His leading wherever that may be. We have labored in Tennessee and continually try our best to surround this ministry with people who are not legalistic, where the Spirit ministers freedom, grace and restoration, and the heart of the people are to labor along side of us in prayer for a great moving toward revival. We will not go and play church… we are believing to become a hungry people who love the Word, love to pray and love to be in His presence.
I was born in Milwaukee and was raised in Menomonee Falls, WI. I graduated from a large high school and went on to the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire where I earned my BA in journalism education. After college I met Pastor Russell Olson from Evangel Temple (formerly the old Minneapolis Evangelistic Auditorium). A minister who attended the church describes it as: “The church was in an old theater building (AKA Loring & Music Box theater), on 14th and Nicollet Avenue, and was called EvangelTemple. All I can say is that for the first time in my life I was in a church where God’s presence and power was evident in every service. No church games were played, no man devised programs were followed. The Holy ghost led every service and many lives were saved, healed, and delivered from every sort of stronghold and bondage on a regular basis.” While living in Minneapolis after college, I went to take my first job at Faith Academy High School in Minneapolis, MN. A year later I went into full time ministry.
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Thecia DeLap
Vice President Streetfire Ministries
Branch Manager – VanDyk Mortgage
“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Genesis 2:18
Penned from Mark DeLap – for National Wife Appreciation Day. He wrote it in his weekly column for the Bladen Journal entitled “On Our Playground.”
“National Wife Appreciation Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of September, offering a dedicated time for husbands to show appreciation for their wives. This unofficial holiday encourages spouses to express gratitude for their wives’ efforts and to acknowledge their role in the family. This year the holiday was this past week and here at 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning, I am compelled to appreciate my wife in my personal column. It is also scriptural if you believe that your wife is a virtuous woman according to Proverbs 33, which I do. I especially love the 28th verse: “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” So, what can I say to praise the love of my life? In one word, I would have to say that she is tenacious. To go on, she is driven, focused, kindhearted, extremely busy and intensely private. She has a small inner-circle and life has not always been kind and has made her cautious. This spitfire grew up in an Italian family in south Philly with 7 siblings as she was a “somewhere in the middle” child. She was born to a father from Oklahoma and a mother from Pennsylvania. She had the cliché’ Italian Aunt Rosa who owned an Italian restaurant and took her under her wing both in the kitchen and in life. From that time, cooking would be her passion. Everything revolved around family. She left home at 16 and set out to prove that she could make it on her own. She began in the mortgage lending business and has stayed faithful to that calling all these years, now coming upon her 50th anniversary in her incredible career. She has become a success in the industry and the go-to person in the lending industry nation-wide. Although she has worked for many companies and faced many challenges, she remains on top of her game. It is an industry that can eat you alive and she has watched as many who have entered the hallowed halls of finance fail miserably. She went from Philadelphia to Texas (where she owned her own ranch along with her mortgage lending company) and then went on to spend most of her life living in Florida and working for national lending giant, Vandyk Mortgage Corporation – a heavy hitter in the mortgage lending industry. When she started at Vandyk, she was starting fresh and wiping the slate clean. Now after 13 years with that company, she is among the leaders, owns her own branch and has amassed several awards. I’d have to create another room in our house for all of her accolades. She has many times been among the leaders nationally in closed mortgages and in the last two months, she led the entire company in pre-quals. She is a self-made woman who never attended college and has never needed anyone’s help. A kind of “Mary Tyler Moore” mold but I can assure you that she doesn’t throw any hats into the air. Although she wears many hats. Her expertise is in the mortgage industry, writing the book on special programs for people who need help such as the Ship Program, Workforce Housing and many others are just a part of what she does. Realtors use her as she has developed a program called “co-marketing.” She is used to teach and give presentations all over the country and her teaching and mentoring skills makes those who work under her – better. Better because of her. She is not an easy teacher. She can be stern and “my way or the highway” – and though I’ve seen some try to go their own way, she has cornered the market on “No. This is how you do it.” Her reputation precedes her and I’d have to guess that with her track record she has put almost 20,000 people in their new homes. We are now in our late 60s and our motto is, “Too busy to grow old.” I have taken pictures of her in pretty much all of our travels which have included Wyoming, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and I am pretty sure I am missing a few. She apologizes to anyone coming through our house as she is kind of embarrassed by her pictures on my walls. “It’s hard being married to a photographer,” she says. “He just comes out of nowhere with his camera and I have to be careful every time I turn a corner.” And she remains my favorite person to photograph. I have inside eyes and am convinced that nobody works as hard as she does – working seven days a week and taking phone calls at all times of the day or night. I’ve listened to her with clients and Realtors and am amazed at the knowledge she is filled with. She never gives up fighting for people to get a home, and in some occasions when they don’t qualify, she takes it personally. Last week she was invited to do a seminar for Jon May at Fathom Realty in Virginia. She insisted on buying the meal for those in attendance and then brought a presentation that just blew me away. The calls have not stopped coming from new Realtors that have clients who needed a credible lender and who can get them the best deal possible AND will be available WHENEVER they call. When I met her, I was shooting pictures for National Geographic, was the editor of two newspapers and had been heavily invested in my Wyoming community – planning on retiring out west. I tell people that she not only turned my head, but also turned my heart and the next thing I know we were married in Flagstaff, Arizona, (long story) and looking to live out our years in Florida. To be frankly honest… she saved my life. (Another long story) As you all know now, I couldn’t stay away from journalism and I was pursued by Champion Media and will never forget the day I told her I was offered a job in North Carolina. After 26 years in Florida, she packed up our four-bedroom house in our gated community in West Palm Beach where all the night life had wowed us and where we had millions of memories. No. Wait. Literally – I started the job here… she packed up the house all by herself with our trusted dog Maxwell and soon we were on the road to North Carolina. She is licensed to do business in 7 states and coming to North Carolina would move her into the middle of those states and the hub seemed perfect. So now, instead of working those states from Florida, she does it all out of her office here. When I took over, she had an idea to create a recipe column and called it “Recipes from the editor’s wife…” We didn’t know how it would do, but after a few months, there were literally hundreds of positive comments. Just last week she was in Raleigh at the North Carolina Press Association awards banquet and she received a third-place award for “Best light-column.” An “atta-girl” from peers and colleagues meant a lot to her. I said earlier that she won’t throw her hat, but that she wears many hats. She sings with me, she is a sketch artist, she plays guitar and kazoo, she created our landscape and our interior design at our home in Clinton, she mows the lawn, she pulls weeds and cuts bushes, she helps me haul bricks and mortar and dirt and sometimes at night she can’t shut her brain off. As a result, I get to hear all of our new adventures we’re about to embark on the next morning. I have a feeling that if we retire one day – we won’t really retire. Her most spoken quote, “I’ve got so much to do.” I am glad I am the one she chooses to do it with. She has sat with me while I was sick or in surgeries and even though I go through the procedure, she is more of a wreck than I am. She always finds a way to get me back to health. My favorite story is how she let me sleep in one Sunday morning and when I got up about 8 a.m. – she had half the kitchen painted and was en route to start on the upstairs bedrooms. Simply amazing. I must end by using an old Ralph Kramden term of endearment… ‘Baby – You’re the greatest.’”
Mark and Thecia DeLap 2023 Flagstaff Arizona
“She brought me back to life and called me forth from the grave.”
For those of you waiting for “Your prayer partner of agreement,” be patient,
God knows what He is doing:
Corporate Board and/or Consulting Ministers:
Pastor Stan and Sharon Carlson – Joshua Ministries – Davenport, IA
Pastor Irwin Keller – Laguna Niguel Church – Laguna Niguel, CA
Pastor Jack Hayford – Church on the Way – Van Nuys, CA
Pastor CJ Edmonds – Church of the Living God – Milwaukee, WI
Chaplain Douglas Davenport – Crossroads Church – Ionia, MI
Chaplain to the Auto Workers Union
