Life Downtown

Last Thursday night when we arrived, I noticed that someone was feeding some of the homeless across the road from our location at an abandoned gas station. I was told by some that a local church had set up there to feed and share the gospel. Since it is the same night we are feeding and ministering, it has resulted in a slight decline in our numbers. This week we served 49 meals with the assistance of 12 volunteers. Although, we have considered continuing Thursday nights indefinitely, this may require us to return to Tuesday after Paul finishes his classes. I would appreciate any feed back from our volunteers either as a comment on the blog or directly to Paul concerning the best night to meet the needs of the community.

One of the most difficult situations we see on the street is homeless adults with children. It is very difficult for us to provide any long term solution to this problem. Currently, we are ministering to a young father with three children. We are providing short-term housing and even baby sitting services so he can work. He had been coming by himself for a couple weeks before asking Paul for help after his wife left him and their children. Please pray for this family and for us as we minister to this family. There are very few ministries available for this type of situation.

It seems that every week individuals show up late wanting food even after we have finished cleaning up. This week, one individual who is a regular did show up late but he had a good excuse. It seems he was downtown and had a few words with another homeless person and the authorities arrested him on a charge of “nuisance behavior”. I have heard from others that this is generally the charge the authorities use to make a sweep to remove some of the homeless off the street. He showed me the ticket he had gotten to verify his story. Fortunately, he was released after about twenty minutes but he needed something to eat. Since he does come every week and listen to Paul’s message, I decided to break one of our rules and give him some money for a meal.

One of the major reasons for homelessness is mental illness. I have seen so much evidence of that in many people that come through our ministry. You can have an intelligent discussion with a person and all of a sudden, they will say something that definitely is out of the ordinary. Early in Paul’s ministry, we had an individual that would come each week and sit by himself. You could see him talking to some imaginary person by his actions during the meal. He told us of elaborate plans for different businesses that he was considering. He even prepared written plans and budgets which he had accurately calculated his success. One week he showed up after missing the last two weeks and I asked him where he had been. He responded that he had just gotten out of jail. It seems that he was arrested for trying to change the locks on a church that he had previously purchased.

I saw further evidence of this last Thursday night. We gave a couple a ride home. Since our catering van has only two front seats, this person and I were sitting on the floor in the back of the van. He began to tell me of the difficult time he has with hearing voices. He indicated that once he did take medication in jail that seemed to help but now he does not take any medication. He has the belief that it is the result of a stomach problem that causes him to get mixed up in his head. Fortunately, he is not homeless because he receives a disability check each month. Many are not so fortunate. Most are on the street dealing with mental and/or physical problems associated with homelessness. Our desire is to meet all of their needs but most importantly it is the need of their heart to be changed. We know that God through Jesus can change a person regardless of their condition.

~Marc

In the Beginning

Last Thursday night Paul decided to give his testimony because he felt that there may be some who had not heard it before. In the same way, I decided this week to give a short description of what prompted my son, and ultimately our whole family, to get involved in this type of ministry. It is my desire to give credit to the power of God to change lives and to encourage others to utilize their skills to help others.

My son, Paul, had abused drugs and alcohol during much of his life. We tried everything to help him but nothing worked. Programs did not work. Short stay in rehab facility did not help. Even a short stay in jail for a DUI did not work. But what did work was that Paul was changed by God's Spirit on Oct. 1, 2000. He definitely was a new creation. Paul had spent some time on the street, so he felt the need to help the homeless receive the same transformation. He convinced the owner of a Christian Coffee shop in Greenville to let him use it for a bible study on Tuesday nights in downtown Greenville. It was just my son (at that time he was not married), Mom and Dad (that's me). A couple of weeks no one showed up. It was just us having a bible study. Then a young homeless boy showed up one Tuesday night. We fed him pizza and ministered to him. At that time he was living under a bridge in the downtown area. The next Tuesday he brought in 14 more homeless and we were off and running. Since I am a CPA, I applied for 501(C) 3 Non-Profit status and now receive some financial support off and on from relatives, friends and volunteers. Mainly, the food is provided by my son’s catering business, StreetSide Catering Inc. Later, we out grew that location and moved to an old church that was turned into a ministry for the downtown folks. They let us use the facility each Thursday night.

We don't see as much change as we would like, but then again we don't know what God has done for some folks. People seem to come and go. Recently, I wrote a post on “Giving a Voice and a Lending an Ear” that highlights some of our activity. Honestly, it probably would not have been something that I wanted to do, but after close to 5 years, I can say that some of my best friends live on the street. That young boy that helped us start out still comes and he has been our “go between” for our world and his world. He is what I call a guest homeless. He bounces around between people who let him sleep on their couch or in a spare room. Usually that does not last long and he is off again but he always shows up each Thursday night.

We continue each week because we have a passion to help others. Many feel that they do not deserve our help because they do not appreciate our efforts, but this is not the reason. It is based upon God’s grace. The best way for anyone to start a ministry or any other community activity is to find out what your passion is and then fill it with your time.

~Marc

Testimony of a volunteer

There is a man who has been volunteering at Food for Life that agreed to share a brief testimony and share what God has been doing in his life as a result of his time at Food for Life. The following includes his response to some questions I asked him. I asked him to share because I felt that his testimony could be an ecouragement to our readers.

What is a brief description of your testimony? "After being raised as a church goer, but not having a real relationship with Jesus Christ, I was graced by a vacation Bible school with some local missionaries who were used by God to lead me to receiving salvation by grace, through faith and I began my relationship with Jesus at about age 12. Then in high school I drifted away and fell into serious pride and sinful habits including multiple addictions. Only after landing in prison did I "come to myself" and return to God and humbly cry out for His forgiveness. He granted that and much more. To His glory, God has restored my life and joy and I now am highly motivated to go out and serve others who may be ready to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and become truly set free as I have become."

How did you hear about Food for Life and what made you interested in helping? "My Dad, who knows me well, clipped an article from The Greenville News about Chef Paul and Food For Life Ministries. Dad gave me this article because he knew I would find it interesting. As soon as I read it, I knew that I would want to help, but also did not know how I could find enough time to help."

How has your heart been touched by being a part of the ministry at Food for Life? "By God's grace and to His glory, I just stepped out in faith and took the time that I did not think I could afford. I showed up at one of the Tuesday Nights and was RICHLY blessed by the message that was taught from The Bible and even more blessed by seeing people live out that message. Now the most joyful time of my week is after helping to serve people in need through this ministry. Some of the people I meet think that they do not have hope, but when they find out that I was in prison and am now doing great, by God's grace, sometimes they realize that maybe there IS hope for them too. It blesses me to no end to think that God can use me in His soul saving and heart healing work."

~Charity

Now is the time - Line Up !

It is hard to believe that less than 3 weeks ago, it was cool and damp with many on the street asking for blankets or a change of clothes. However, last Thursday night it was sweltering heat with the temperature approaching the 100 degree mark. Naturally, the requests were more in line with the change in weather. Everyone wanted a cool place to rest including lots of cold ice water and tea. We are very fortunate and thankful that Triune Mercy Center allowed our 14 volunteers to serve 60 meals in their air conditioned facility. This is a real blessing not only for our street friends, but also for our faithful volunteers.

I am always amazed how much time Paul spends with the each homeless individual. He always gives each one his undivided attention. As soon as we arrive each night, I see individuals "lining up" in order to talk with Paul. Some are requesting clothes, a room for the night, a bus ticket out of town, a job, help with their bills, a ride across town, or many just want some money. Everyone can use a little money; sometimes for the wrong reason. Others just want to give Paul suggestions what to preach. This night, one individual said he was writing a book on how to interpret the Bible and wanted to give Paul a few of his suggestions. Another, more importantly, needed individual ministry. Paul was privileged to talk and pray with him after the meal. Our desire is to present the true Gospel straight from the Word of God and minister to the hopeless on an individual basis. We are very fortunate that many of our volunteers are equipped and willing to assist Paul in this endeavor.

This Thursday Paul continued with Romans 13:13-14. The overall theme is the understanding of the urgency of the time and that our salvation is nearer than we may believe. If that was true at the time Romans was written, how much more urgent is it today. It is important that we all realize that time is short and as 2 Corinthians 6:2 states now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation. We can not just focus on our earthly needs at expense of our eternal destiny. It is the difference between eternal misery or eternal bliss. This understanding fuels our ministry each week.

Please pray for Paul and his volunteers that we may advance the Kingdom of God each week and we would never be ashamed of the Gospel, because as the Apostle Paul stated in Romans 1:16, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. That includes all of us, including our friends on the street.

~Marc

Updates

Updates and Prayer Requests

This past week was the first week that we met on Thursday. We will be doing that for the month of June while Paul and I have our birthing classes on Tuesday nights. We wondered if we would have a struggling number of volunteers and homeless people, but we had plenty of both, which was great! It is so wonderful how many faithful volunteers we have that are willing to make themselves available every week to help and pray for the homeless people that we are trying to reach out to, and it is really wonderful when they are so flexible. The homeless people had apparently heard that we were changing from Tuesday nights to Thursday nights because we had a really good turn out.

I wanted to give a brief update and a prayer request or two.
Paul is still preaching through Romans, but he will be finishing soon, so pray for him as he chooses which passage he should work through next.

I am still praying for the lady that I was teaching to read named Deborah. I started teaching her how to read during the winter of 2005, and I tutored her for two and a half years, but only once a week. The progress with her reading was slow, but progress was taking place for which we were thankful, but more importantly it was enabling me to have the opportunity to build a friendship with her and encourage her to make some new right lifestyle decisions. I have been praying for her that God would help her to make some particular decisions that I believe are very necessary for her spiritual growth but also for her safety.

During the time I worked with her she seemed to starting to experience some personal conviction, which made me so pleased. Then I got pregnant and was so severely sick that I missed several months of Tuesday nights, and the tutoring was impossible to maintain. I would like to pick it up again, but with the baby coming, I feel that my plate is quite full and will be getting even more full during the beginning of my new life as a mommy. Please pray for me that I will find a way to start tutoring her again and continue our friendship so that I can be helpful to her. It will have to be in the right time, which I need God's wisdom in order to identify.

We appreciate the constant prayer and support of those who read the blog. Thank you!

Charity