Once a month, a group of Grace Church students, Pastor Armstrong, and a few others take part in a ministry borne of the student’s own initiative. These students could choose to be anywhere, but they are on a mission to feed the bodies and souls of people who will never be able to repay their kindness. Before they leave the church parking lot, students review the G-O-S-P-E-L acronym and standard safety instructions.
They arrive unannounced on the street near the Salvation Army Harbor Light Homeless Shelter, Minneapolis in a church bus towing a van. Armed with prayer, salvation bracelets, Bibles, and Gospel cards, they eagerly hit the street. Within minutes, food trays are pulled from a commercial food warmer in the van that is hooked up to a portable generator, and students are handing out coffee and hot food to homeless men and women from folding tables along the street. There are about 150 meals – by the end of the evening, all the meals will be served.
Rick Strickler and Marlana Horejsi are among the few adults who know about this ministry. They began cooking the meals about two years ago, after Dale Nelson, Public Safety Manager at Grace Church, noted their commercial kitchen experience and asked them to join the fledgling ministry. A few students join them at the Grace Church kitchen earlier in the evening to make coffee, fill water jugs, and prep side dishes to load into the van with other supplies. Other students help; this is their ministry.
Armstrong is quick to add that the students pray by faith for the food to serve. The 600 portions of Lloyd’s Ribs donated by the Eagan MN franchise supplied enough for three or more visits. Since then, Second Harvest has been providing much of the food used by this ministry.
This ministry stands out from others like it because the kids personally hand plates of food to people and pray for their needs. Regular recipients who have become accustomed to seeing them use prepaid cell phones to spread the word among their friends: “The church kids are here.” Their presence is so profound that one cop on the street commented, “I’ve worked this area since 1993 and I never saw anyone hand out meals like this, especially young junior high kids.” The kids call their ministry Covert Ops.
A second set of folding tables, piled with various clothing items, lines the opposite side of the sidewalk. During cold weather months, students hand out donated hats, gloves, socks, and coats to people whose dire needs are often painfully obvious; one man was wearing flip-flops and socks on a night when temperatures had plunged below freezing.
Students donate their own funds to purchase many of the items, and they are initiating a clothing drive to outfit 36 backpacks with winter socks, hats and gloves. By caring for the physical needs of people they meet, students earn the right to share the message of salvation, and pray for the people they meet. If they have supplies, they may also give them a compact New Testament Bible with Psalms and Proverbs.
Emily Malloy first became interested in this ministry by talking with a friend who participated in it. “What I have learned in this ministry is the need to humble myself. We live in such a materialistic world, and we don't realize what little some people have – and they are some of the most joyous people I know. Even though we go there to bless and help out these people, we get just as blessed in return, and we always leave in high spirits.”
“This ministry has impacted my life in so many ways: I have learned to lay down my pride, and just connect and be open with people.”
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She adds, “This ministry has impacted my life in so many ways: I have learned to lay down my pride, and just connect and be open with people. Doing that opens so many windows for conversation. It has also taught me to be open with my faith all the time, not just at church or at home, but to show the love of God to everyone. Just seeing my peers lend a hand to people in need in the name of God, not just to seem like a better person, is so uplifting. I have learned to truly lean on God all the time, not just when I'm in need, to praise Him when He blesses me, and to pray with the right motives, not selfish ones, in mind.”
“We need to reach the kids when they’re young. They need mentors. If someone had connected with the people at this homeless shelter when they were young, some of them wouldn’t be here today,” said Horejsi.
One student, Colby Kornoelje, said, “Homeless people defy what most people think of them; most are kind and spiritually hungry people who are trying to find answers to their spiritual questions.” In preparing for the evening, he reads Isaiah 40:28-31, and gives his time to God. He approaches people with a simple greeting. At an appropriate time, he asks, “Do you know how to get to heaven?” He then asks if they would like to spend eternity with God. If they respond “No,” he asks if they need prayer. If they respond “Yes,” he leads them through the salvation prayer.
At the end of one bitterly cold night, after the van was packed up, the kids were seated on the bus, and Nelson was behind the driver’s seat, one of the homeless men stepped onto the front of the bus. He leaned forward on his cane and said, “Thank you very much. God blessed me because He sent you to me.” Then he started to sing the first line of a song, He’s got the whole world in his hands… Everyone on the bus joined in.
When asked how this ministry has impacted his own life, Kornoelje said “God has strengthened my faith because of this experience like nothing else. He is doing wonderful things through this ministry, and I am proud to be a part of it.” He hopes to someday go on a Grace Church mission trip and see how God might use him in another country.
The final stop for students at the end of the evening is Fireside Pizza, where they pool their money to wind down over pizza and cokes. “God has taken our five loaves and two fish and multiplied it,” said Armstrong. “The impact of this ministry has already extended beyond the homeless people it serves.”
Today’s
students want the opportunity to be a part of the local church. They want to
serve now…not someday!
