SPEAKER_01: 0:00

This is the podcast. Welcome home. Hear us now. A space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul. I'm Eric Engelman, co-host, volunteer at Union Gospel Mission in Tarrant County, and with me is the CEO of Union Gospel Mission, Charles Wolford.

SPEAKER_00: 0:24

Eric, so good to see you again, my friend. How amazing it is just to belong and to be a space in space with you. I always look forward to our time together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:34

Hear us now. There's even a play on words there, because God hears us now.

SPEAKER_00: 0:40

He does. He does. And what's great about that is I think all of us want to be heard, seen, and to be present.

SPEAKER_01: 0:47

So how exciting is that? Present now. You've handed me a couple of sheets about street ministry. What is it called? Street feeding.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Street charity, as it is called. Some context will call them street feeders and charity workers, missionaries. There's lots of nomenclature around this, but it certainly is an opportunity just to delve in and talk through how we collectively, as we seek to belong and as we seek to hear our neighbors, what is street charity? So we'd love to chat with you about it. We've done some research and looked at how communities seek to address street charity. This is multidimensional, Eric, and there's many layers to it. So first, we want to address the issue of the compassion that so many of our neighbors have for those of our unsheltered who are living on the street. And we're grateful for that. What we also want to collaboratively do is make sure when we attempt to help, we don't hurt. And street charity, if not done in the proper context, and if those deliverables are not done in such a way that are meaningful, we can be do, we can be harming the neighborhood and the community where street charity is taking place. Because the aggregate as a whole find themselves coming to communities and areas where those street charity events take place, and it causes this collective gathering of individuals who are unsheltered out of behavior to malinger in those spaces, and they just hang out there because they're anticipating when the next feeding will come. And so what you begin to do behaviorally is you condition individuals to come to that same location again. So they will sleep out there. They will hang out there as an attempt to get that basic need met, but the long-term effects of that is they will stay out in that location and in that area versus getting the true services that they need. And so let's use, for example, Union Gospel Mission here in Terrent County, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Salvation Army that are in our community. We have other partners that are when we love, that's off of the street, beautiful feet. We have so many great partners here. And what we can demonstrate is between all of our partners, we provide thousands of meals a day to this region and in this community. What we can be assured of is that individuals who are down in this region, they're not going hungry.

SPEAKER_01: 3:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:44

It's not an issue of their hunger here. So what we want our street charity community partners to do is come alongside and partner with us so that it's not oversaturated. An example would be on a Saturday. We're feeding them, we're connecting with them, we're sharing the gospel with them. On one Saturday, there were 12 street charity incidents where people from the community will drive up in their SUVs or their vehicles and pull out food and feed them. We thank you for being compassionate to do so. But what happens after that is there's fights on the street for those commodities that someone would bring down. Many people get injured because they're trying to rush to the food. We had a young man who was in a wheelchair who got ran over. And so if not, if it's not done strategically and intentionally in an organized manner, it causes more chaos and confusion. And the unfortunate residual effect of that is there's lots of litter that happens afterwards because the bags and the cases, dire foam buckets, they get thrown on the street and it's the after-effects.

SPEAKER_01: 5:05

So it sounds like there's a need for food, but there's also a need for an absence of chaos. There's an order that needs to happen. There's a consideration that needs to happen. The young man in the wheelchair being an example, and not thinking through or collaborating on how to do that, there are some side effects.

SPEAKER_00: 5:28

And let me address the first part of your statement, though. Is you made the statement that there's a need for food. And I would argue that in this context, there is not. There is not. In the quarter that many of our street neighbors live outside, there's not a need for food because there's an abundance of it here. There's an abundance. UGM, for an example, provides a thousand meals a day. There's not a thousand people down here. Collaboratively, Presbyterian Night Shelter provides a thousand meals a day. So combined, in this quarter here, you just take the two organizations. That's 2,000 meals. If you reside at Salvation Army, which is a mile down the street, they're providing 500 plus meals a day. So that's 2,500 meals. So you mean to tell me that in this region there's a need for food? And I would argue that there is not. I get it. In addition to that, if you are one of our neighbors and you miss the meal time, you can still be given a sack lunch or something that would satisfy your hunger in that moment. So when done intentionally and structurally through through a system, the partners who are providing those services down here, as I've mentioned them and listed them out before, we have we're connecting the dots with so many of our neighbors to get them housed. And so we want to be in partnership with anyone that would come down here so that it's just not a feel-good moment for someone in that distribution of that food. Because if you feed them once and then we don't see you again, that's about you. You've done a feel-good moment. If you want to engage and be down here long-term strategy, I use the context of doing missional work, is sometimes individuals like the event and not the experience. The experience of missional ministry goes beyond a one-time feel-good event where you gather your family or friends and you come down and feed for one-time event. If you want to argue the fact that you're wanting to feed the hungry, then they're hungry 365 days a year. Do it 365, not just that one-time event. Be a part of the collective of participation of what we do every day. That's breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, Monday through Sunday. It's the same narrative. If you are compassionate to do the work, do the work. Street feeding can be very transactional. What we do long term is transformational. We want people's lives to be transformed from time in time and into eternity. The narrative of Luke, I think it is the 11th chapter when they were arguing about the poor will be amongst us and Jesus is questioning their intention for doing the work. What's your intention? Is it for your own grandizement? Is it for your own self-satisfaction? Or do you really care about the poor? Do you really care about them legitimately to bring them from this place of dependency to independent lifestyle and living? So we want to be in partnership with our street charity workers. We want to bring them alongside with us and work with them. If they have something that we can be in partnership with them, let's do that. We're not trying to disparage, we're trying to create a plan that would allow us all to help our neighbors no longer need us to feed them, but they can begin to feed themselves. One of the solutions that we are building with our partners is we have our community outreach center here at Union Gospel Mission. It's off of 1400 Kentucky Avenue. We've opened up this space to anyone who is a compassionate street charity, missional worker that you want to do this on a consistent basis, we can help provide safety and security and environment for you to do it. We also will come alongside you and have a conversation with that individual who is currently unhoused to say, how can we help you become housed? How can we help you get your medication? How can we help you with your documentation? So it becomes a collective agreement with us all so that the neighbor who is residing on the streets, you're addressing more than just their hunger, you're addressing the other things that they may have to need, they may need assistance with that that moves them beyond just the transaction. It becomes transformational. It becomes very transformational. And so we want to do that. So that's one of the solutions that we've made available. So if anyone listening is a street charity ministry, compassionate warrior, we have a place to partner with you. Come along with us and let's do this work together collectively. That's our desire and that's our heart. Let's use another example. It's a really good biblical illustration. I think it's found in Luke. It's recorded in most of the synoptic gospels of Jesus feeding the 5,000. That's 5,000 men, not women and children included, if you listen to many of the commentaries. The argument there was how does Jesus display compassion in that moment? How is he working through all of the issues of just the feeding? He moved it from being transactional to true, transformational, in that he saw the compassion. It says it he would he felt compassion for them. And so he asked them to lay down and to lean into this moment a little bit. But then he challenged the disciples because the disciples was like, send them away. And Jesus was like, no, no, no, no. You go away and you find a way to help feed them and take care of them. Because he felt compassion for them in that moment. And he did not want this to be just transactional, he wanted it to be transformational so they can see the power of the Lord Jesus Christ meeting them at that point of need. Because after that, when all was fed, there was enough left over for them to begin to not be dependent on that moment, but become independent beyond there. So the 12 disciples now had enough that they can feed beyond that moment. So we have to see the biblical narratives come alive and be able to apply some strategic initiatives that's going to help the leftover effect. What are the leftovers? The leftovers is we get you housed. The leftovers would be we get your documentation together so that you no longer have to live in the streets. The leftovers of a person who is maybe hungry then says, can we reunify you with family and friends? That's the leftover effect because now you're not listed looking just for the transaction. Your life has been transformed because you met the Savior. That's how we do transformation.

SPEAKER_01: 12:22

I've been reading a little bit in Psalm 78, where it talks about how the people forgot that God provided, that God provided water, that he provided bread.

SPEAKER_00: 12:50

We as community leaders have to lead like David led, skill of hand and integrity of heart. It's one of our core principles here, core values at UGM, that as we lead, we lead with skill of hand. So we can be technically proficient, but we have to employ strategies that's going to work. That's skill of hand, but integrity of heart is we see the compassion of our neighbors and we feel their their sorrow and their grief and their pain. We do what we're doing today. We help people feel that they have a belonging, that they're seen, and that they are heard. Hear us now.

SPEAKER_01: 13:27

What greater opportunity can we give in that space? And it's not just in the name of David that it's being done, but the name of Jesus.

SPEAKER_00: 13:35

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01: 13:36

Who is praise God the bread of life.

SPEAKER_00: 13:38

Yes, sir. We're called to be good stewards over all the resources that God gives us. This is a stewardship conversation for us all. So to our street charity, missional-minded individuals, it's good stewardship for them to come in partnership because you don't want your gifts to be squandered. And so if you have someone whose belly is already full and they're just taking it just because you're getting it, you're squandering your gift. Because they're just going to take it just because you've made it available to them. We are required to steward every dollar, every dime, everything that our neighbors give to us at UGM. And so we have to be very intentional about that. So to your point, absolutely, you're spot on that these initiatives and these solutions, it's about stewardship. It's about very being very intentional. And we want anyone who would be compassionate to keep in mind their stewardship as well. That they are whatever God has given to them, that they're responsible for stewarding that gift very well. If it's not done with intentionality, then I think there's going to be some accountability to whether or not they um were listening to the Lord and they stewarded that gift very well. Because it if it goes in the trash, if it goes on the ground, it becomes litter, if it starts a fight, if it starts a fight, that's no good stewardship.

SPEAKER_01: 15:04

And there are places where Yeah, there's uh there's a lot to learn about giving, acceptable sacrifice, and uh may the Lord have mercy on us all as we as we consider the long-range effects of uh of what we're doing. Yeah. Uh and of course for anybody who's listening, we have room for volunteers. At some point we're gonna learn, I think, more about that. I keep getting a sense that there's something in the works that maybe not isn't quite ready to be announced yet. But uh and stay tuned for maybe some more ways where volunteers, and in in the case of this episode, it's it's uh it's somebody who wants to get involved in collaboratively ministering on the street around here.

SPEAKER_00: 16:03

Absolutely. Thank you for that. There's tons of volunteer opportunities to get connected. One good way that we can feed the soul is to do exactly what you do, Eric, is you can come and minister. We have 32 chapel services. That's a great way to come and share the gospel if someone is compassionate about this work. We feed over a thousand people every day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's a great way for someone to get connected and to be a part of the ministry that's happening down here every day. Uh, Dana Walsh, who's our volunteer coordinator, can get them plugged in. We've created a poverty simulation called Project 541. That's another way someone to get it connected and learn about the work that we're doing. So there's an invitation for individuals to come get connected. If not with us, PS, When We Love, Salvation Army. There's some great organizations. And if someone has their own organization, come link up arms. We do not have to do this alone. And my last statement would be let's move from being event-driven ministries to experience-driven ministries so that we can take the gospel to be from transactional to transformational, and I believe that we can see God move in this community in an amazing way.

SPEAKER_01: 17:17

I have a man that I pray with in the mornings, and we are centering on a verse listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. And when we say that, we say that in our prayer time, and that's a long-term solution. Jesus is the long-term solution. He really is. Dr. Wolford, thanks for challenging us with a different part of the mind of Christ than maybe what what we think about by ourselves. And by coming together, by collaborating, we can learn each other's strengths and maybe where the gaps are. I have a friend who's uh been down in the hill country who for a number of weeks worked with the churches down in the hill country, the ones that you know were still left, and uh the ones that came in and just worked at alerting people where there were overlaps and where there were gaps. And that's an awareness that we can have in Christ.

SPEAKER_00: 18:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:38

But it it takes a little collaboration. He also said that, by the way, uh at some of the initial meetings, everybody had a different piece of information that nobody else had. Absolutely. And so that's uh again, that's important to collaborate. I wonder in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. So if we close in prayer, we can we can collaborate with the most high. Would you please do that, sir? Sure.

SPEAKER_00: 19:03

Hear us now, God. Thank you for this belonging place. Thank you for the ability to use our voice in places and spaces where we see opportunities for overlaps and gaps. So, God, give us wisdom that we would prioritize your agenda, not ours. We would prioritize the opportunity to sometimes be still and listen, just as Psalm 50 reminds us that we could hear your voice and that we would be still long enough to heed your direction and guidance. In the name of Jesus we pray.

unknown: 19:53

Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 19:54

I agree in Jesus' name.