Transforming Others

For more than a few decades my ministry has been focused primarily on the welfare of the poor. I began in the mid 90’s in Savannah Georgia, ministering on the streets and in homeless shelters. By the unction of the Holy Spirit I relocated to the Washington DC area and founded The Church Without Walls, Inc. For many years, we literally held weekly church services outdoors in…


…a homeless park, street named “Eviction Park”, where the poor gathered together to eat from a soup truck. It is there that we ministered to the homeless, those struggling with addiction issues, prostitutes, the transgender prostitution community, the extreme poor and the at-risk, etc… 

We held services without fail—spring, summer, winter, and fall; rain, snow, sleet, or shine. When the weather was bad we simply covered up all the sound equipment and continued on with our services, regardless. Our motto was that they were out there…therefore, so must we be. In fact, we were told repeatedly that our faithfulness to be out there with them evangelizing and loving on them, no matter what, won their hearts as much if not more than all of our preaching. We were able to get hundreds and hundreds of people off the streets and into ministry homes here in DC, as well as in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and sometimes Atlanta, depending upon what their issues were. My wife and I often brought many of them to live with us in our home.

In the summer of 2003, we eventually added another dimension to our ministry, and on the heels of a 3 day ‘evangelistic offense’, we set up church services in a neighborhood that at the time ranked number 1 of the 14 hotspots in Washington DC for drugs, crime, and violence. Upon invitation to our ‘Offensive’, other churches brought out their Bands, Dance teams, Step teams, Drama teams, Praise teams, choirs etc…

We rented moon bounces, served sodas and grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, ministered to and prayed with many people. From this offensive, we established church services in the neighborhood community center, and eventually because of our heart to minister to and care for the needs of the poor, we were given one of the 3 story units to use as our office and Crisis Center. And ever since then, It has been from there that we have fed and clothed the poor. We are good at helping people find jobs (for those that really want them). But, stronger than any preaching gift I might have, has always been my pastoral counseling gift. With it, I have been able to bring about the greatest healings in the lives of those who've needed it most.

In 2005 we established Missions To America, Inc., a nonprofit organization to help ‘umbrella’ all we were aspiring to accomplish, in our various ministries. 

And yet for all our tireless laboring, if I could be perfectly honest with myself (for which I am prone to be, if not painfully so)…for all the work we have done—for all we have managed to accomplish…it has really been just a small drop in the proverbial bucket compared to all the heart, energy, and effort, we have expended. Nevertheless, over the years, after all the countless approaches, the researching…both successful and failed attempts…the LORD has etched in my heart what works and what doesn't, and why. And so, even though Gentrification is now on the verge of bulldozing the neighborhood along with our headquarters and meeting place, I find myself experiencing mixed emotions about the imminent loss of something I've labored so long and hard in. I’m extremely sad on one hand for having to say goodbye. And yet on the other hand, despite myself, I am finding myself to be almost equally excited as hard experience has intimately taught me that in order to fully realize my original GOD-given dream of making a widespread and serious transformative impact in the lives of the poor in this nation, I needed to rebuild but, on a altogether different foundation…entirely.

I’ve always understood the heart of GOD for the desperately hurting but, it’s taken years of the LORD dealing with me for me to more fully understand the ‘mind’ of GOD for the poor, and the ‘how to’ to successfully build something that works.

THE SPECKLED AND SPOTTED SOLUTION

In Genesis 30, Jacob made a deal with Laban that he would shepherd Laban’s flock. In return, he would keep the speckled and spotted sheep and goats as payment, and in so doing, build up a flock of his own. At the time, the speckled and spotted sheep and goats were the very vast minority. Therefore, Laban liked Jacob’s proposal. 

Jacob got some branches and peeled away much of the bark from them making them speckled and spotted in appearance. He then placed the speckled and spotted branches around all the watering troughs so that it was all the flock saw when they were being watered. Invariably the cattle tended to mate at the meeting places of the watering troughs, before the speckled and spotted branches. As a result, the cattle began to mate and birth out speckled and spotted sheep and goats until soon they became the vast majority, making Jacob a wealthy man.

In similar fashion, It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. As such, we can all too often become products of our environments. Our lives can become programmed and even shaped by what we see happening around us and to us. There is a reason that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

And this is why that despite the fact that we may be saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Spirit, and despite the fact that old things may have passed away and behold all things have become new, that we may still be struggling to grow, to experience the fruit of the Spirit—or the fruit of our transformation…until our minds are renewed. This is why the Bible says to be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds…the reprogramming of the way we think…the reprogramming of the way we see things; the way we see GOD; the we see one another; the way we see ourselves. 

For this cause, GOD uses the power of His holy word and the examples of those within it, as well as our spiritual leaders of today, to reproduce His own speckled and spotted transformation in our lives. Indeed, the LORD’s intention is to show others something speckled and spotted through the witness of our demonstration.

And this is entirely the case with the poor or the low-income. Poverty is very much a culture. It is a way of thinking, along with its behavioral tendencies and attitudes. And this culture is conceived, birthed, nurtured, and perpetuated within the lives of its victims…generationally. For, a child might not always do what his parents says but, he will much more likely do as he sees his parents doing. Indeed, poverty is very much a culture. And those trapped within its barless prisons, are shaped by its way of thinking, and its way of life.

THE CURSE OF THE POOR

The Bible says in Malachi 4:5–6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”.

Notice that this scripture directly implies that in a family where the relationship between a father and his children are broken, that if they're not careful, there could be a resulting curse, in that family. Consider also, that in the ghetto, ‘hood’, or in at-risk communities, are largely made up of fatherless families. As a result, the hood has become a breeding ground of perpetuating tragedy, violence, and overall statistical disaster. Indeed, in this nation, the presence of the ‘curse’ is most apparent in these at-risk communities. And the children of the hood are simply reproducing what they see. 

50% of all African American children live in homes without their fathers. They don't see present fathers so, they reproduce absentee fathers. More than words of instruction or rebuke are needed. There is a dire need for those poor people to be shown something speckled and spotted. It has become unusual to see a young African American mother pushing a baby stroller to be wearing a wedding ring, anymore. So many of them are entangled in the welfare system, 4 and 5 generations deep because it's all they've been shown. We need to show them something speckled and spotted.

75% of African American and Hispanic youths aren't finishing high school. They aren't ‘seeing’ diplomas much less, degrees. They are simply reproducing what they see…high school dropouts. Encouragement and even exhortation aren't enough. They desperately need to be shown something speckled and spotted. 1 in 4 of all African Americans have a police record. African Americans fill the jail houses of this nation. It's all they see. Regardless of the often disproportionate arrests and sentencing issues between the races, there is still very much a grave need for something speckled and spotted, to be displayed in their lives.

Have you ever noticed a 2 or 3 year old baby girl trying to play mommy to an infant or a younger baby. She will try to hold the baby and ‘mommy’ him. She's just a baby herself. No one sat that 2 year old baby girl down and instructed her on how to ‘mommy’. She learned by observation. She learned how to mommy from being ‘mommied’ by her Mama. She is simply acting out from a child's perspective what a mommy looks like to her, based on her observation.

By the same token, who then teaches the boy how to be a man, much less a father, when there is no father present for the boy to observe? The best mother makes for a poor father, as she can neither demonstrate masculinity nor impart manhood…much less fatherhood. Only a man can do that. And whether a father realizes it or not, even in his absence, he is still defining or modeling for that boy what a man and a father look like according to his own example, as in many cases did his father before him…do for him.

Therefore, that boy develops a distorted point of view or slanted association of what masculinity or manhood is supposed to be, and often gleans his definition based on what is imprinted on him from the streets or the ‘hood’ subculture and it's statistically fatherless peers. That child’s future is crippled from the start, even before he begins. He is endangered of becoming a statical disaster. He needs desperately to see an example of something speckled and spotted, modeled before him. 

Herein is the basis of the vision of the church system that the LORD has given us to build; one that will not merely sustain the poor in his poverty but, bring healing and deliverance to them from the very spirit and culture of poverty, as well. For, we don't want to just continue giving to the poor without trying to help them overcome their poverty, lest we fall prey to the sin of enabling, and become part of the problem. Now, we do want to continue to help the poor, practically but, the real deliverance will come from the spiritual help. There's the adage about the difference between giving someone a fish vs teaching him to fish. Our heart is to freely give all the fish needed, while we are teaching through demonstration, how to fish.

Therefore, the key…the very solution to it all, really revolves around the proper use of the system that Jesus chose to use to inspire transformation in His followers—the system of discipleship. Discipleship, whose infrastructure is rooted in demonstration…not just teaching and preaching alone with actionless words. But, ‘show and tell’ is the basis of true discipleship. This is the system Jesus originally used because of it’s power to bring about the greatest, and most lasting transformative impacts.

Therefore, in the new direction the LORD is calling us to build, discipleship cannot be limited to the pulpit alone, it must likewise come from the pews, as well. And aside from the discipleship that transpires between the Pastor and the leadership, as well as that which takes place between leadership and laymen…there must also be a discipleship that thrives between the middle-income group and the low-income group. Indeed, this is key.

KNEELING DOWN TO HELP OTHERS UP

John The Baptist understood that to prepare the way for the coming of the LORD (so that the LORD COULD come and have His way), or in our case, the coming of the move of the Spirit or the Kingdom Of GOD, or GOD’s will on earth as it is in Heaven…the high places had to be made low and the low places had to be made high (Luke 3:5-6)…so that there is equality as both sides are now standing on even or equal ground of liberty, dignity, and blessing. The high places (the middle-class) must make themselves low. They must humble themselves and kneel down to the low places where the poor have been brought low…where the down and out are trapped…and help them up so that they are standing on equal ground…together. Only then can “all flesh (both middle and low-income groups together) see the salvation of GOD”. Only then can there be the coming of the LORD, the move of the Spirit, or the establishment Kingdom Of GOD within the lives of ALL those abiding within that church system, together.

Now, the middle-class are of a different mindset than the impoverished in America. For, those within the middle-income class there is movement. They MUST move. For, if they don't work, they can't eat; their utilities will get shut off; they're stuff will get repoed; they can get evicted. But, this is not necessarily so for America’s low-income group who may not always have to work. They can be sustained by the welfare system and given food stamps wherewith to eat. They can also be given section 8 vouchers to live in low income apartments (the ‘hood’). They have almost completely lost their ability to 'move' because the welfare system has effectively immobilized them.

The more babies that are birthed out of wedlock, brings in more welfare support, so that it somehow almost seems to pay to have more babies. Therefore, the welfare system that was originally intended to act as a safety net, has in fact served to definitively and spiritually cripple the very poor it hoped to save. It has effectively sabotaged their work ethic, deflated their drive and motivation, and sapped even their strength to stand on their own to make their own way, anymore. Therefore, the low-income are in dire need of being motivated by the movement of the middle-class. In this way mobility can be positioned to inspire mobility within the ranks of the immobile.

Therefore, anywhere the poor congregate, whether it be church or neighborhood, and there is nothing speckled and spotted being modeled before them, no matter how much help is promised, or might even be deliverable, it can still only be counter productive at best, in nature. For, it condemns those within it’s borders to continue reproducing what they are seeing, over and over again…from generation to generation…to generation.

Therefore, in our new initiative, we will continue going after the low-income but, this time we will focus our efforts through the middle-class. As our philosophy has always been to put feet on all that we do, we will focus on pursuing and attracting the middle-income group, through any number of our evangelistic tools and approaches.

The mobilized and motivated middle-class, will come along side the single mother or depending upon the single mother’s age, they will ‘adopt’ that at-risk family and give young mother and children something speckled and spotted to look upon. The young boys will see first hand what a responsible man looks like—who takes care of his family, and is both a faithful husband and a present father…towards them also. Likewise, the spiritual mother will demonstrate what a responsible and committed wife and mother, look like, with an encouraging respect and a trained sensitivity towards the young mother. There job will be to simply fill in the gaps to become whatever is needed in that family, by way of the speckled and spotted.  

My role as Pastor will be to continue to keep a steady diet of instruction and inspiration of all things marriage, family, and parenting…flowing from over the pulpit, in classes, and in seminars. It will also be my job to reach, teach, mobilize, inspire, and structure, our middle class members to become ‘spiritual parents’ and to “GO ye unto all the”…poor to faithfully connect with them, that they might provide the direly needed demonstration of the speckled and spotted.

We will do this though our Extended Family Outreach System (EFOS), which is really a discipleship or mentoring system that will be patriarchal and matriarchal (‘spiritual’ fathers and mothers but, especially fathers) in nature and approach. In this system, we will empower the middle-class ‘spiritual parents’ to care for their adopted low-income families. Finances, (short of enabling), are a big part of how this works. Among other things, a father imparts—provision, protection, and direction. Therefore, we must work from a faithfully stocked benevolence fund, as it will be the key that will empower our spiritual fathers and mothers with the influence needed to build up and make transformative impact in the lives of their respective at-risk extended families. 

It is important to note that, one of the challenges that the working-class often struggle with regarding the low-income group, is the feeling of having to be responsible over what at times, may seem like the poor person’s…irresponsibility. And the middle-class folks can sometimes feel intimidated over the sense of obligation and even overwhelmed at the challenge of the seemingly constant needs of the poor. Therefore, as a rule, any need for financial help will come from the church benevolence fund, and not directly from the middle-class adopting families, so that they won't have to bear any pressure that could potentially disrupt their developing relationship with one another. In this way, the spiritual parents will be more easily viewed as just a resource and not have to bear up under the pressure of being looked upon as THE source or answer to the problems of the poor. This is will also help to establish the spiritual parent as a help and not as someone trying to be in control. 

SOME OF THE NUTS AND BOLTS

 If an at-risk family requests help 3 times, this will constitute a pattern, indicating a problem. This will be a very important component in our help for the poor, because we meet them at the point of their need. And aside from knocking on doors and connecting with them in the name of praying for their home (which has always been a greatly successful approach for us), meeting people at the point of their need is a major evangelistic inroad into their world. With grace and kids gloves, there will be a Benevolence Fund Budget Form that they will fill out with accompanying receipts for the following month, to track what’s happening in their world, that we might determine exactly what kind of help is needed.

And with the Benevolence Fund Budget Form along with our door to door prayer and counseling connection, we will begin tracking what their issues are. And whether there is simply a need for a job, or for a better job; or if there might be addiction issues of any kind; or money mismanagement issues; or if they are simply seniors on a fixed income, who are simply overwhelmed; or even if they are struggling in their relationships with one another as a family or having marital issues…whatever the issues are, these approaches usually gives us a clue on how we can actually bring about real life changing help to those that truly need it most.

Most often there are so many programs already readily available for the poor, to help them move forward in many areas of their lives—ranging from literacy programs, to job programs and almost everything in between but, that many tend to be unaware of many of them. Others may be aware but, may lack the motivation and discipline to attend them or to continue in them. Our role is to connect them with already existing programs, and see them through to completion through our affirmation system.

OUR AFFIRMATION SYSTEM

As a whole though, we have found that no matter how many helpful and “get ahead” programs that may be available, many people aren’t taking advantage of them for what can be perceived as a lack of motivation but, is in reality a lack of self-confidence, self-worth or low self-esteem. They just don’t believe that they can do it. So much has failed around them that they lose the capacity to have faith in anything anymore, including and especially themselves…despite their bravado and often facade of confidence and courage. It is a great tragedy. 

Our remedy to this self-defeating problem, is to take on an affirming role in their lives in any number of ways. Indeed, our affirmation approach is really the heartbeat or the engine that makes everything we do, work. By it, we are able to successfully reach into the lives of almost anyone, no matter how ‘far gone’ they may seem to be...and actually ‘reach’ them. By it, we are able to keep connected those so struggling with breakthrough goals or available programs—motivated and encouraged. We are able to help them to manage their self-doubt, their feelings of being alone, unsupported, and unable…in what can often be very much an uphill battle...to breakthrough to the next level for them. We are the voice of “YOU CAN DO IT!” And we will do almost anything short of having a parade over what to someone would seem like small steps...but to someone else…giant leaps. It always amazes me on how far just a little encouragement can go with those whose only real problem is weak faith.  

CONCLUSION 

The answer for those struggling with weak faith is an easy remedy—and within our grasp. For, the Bible says that “Faith cometh by hearing…” Therefore, armed with the steady feeding of their faith with believable words of faith...and we are on the move. 

We need help in building a new Church…a new system of deliverance that speaks faith into the lives of those languishing in poverty, while also demonstrating something to them, speckled and spotted. 

We are in need of help in finding another place of operations—be it building or facility…to house our ministry, as we are about to lose our present location, to Gentrification. We have been given a clear vision and a tried and tested, new plan. For, even though our approach might be evolving, our heart and purpose after those who feel the most forgotten, have never wavered. We have with us, both the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and now more than ever, the counsel of proven experience…to guide us. 

If anyone reading this post knows of a place, or knows of someone who knows of a place, or a means to help us, please contact us.

So many of you have prayed for the poor, the at-risk, the homeless, the addict etc… and the LORD means to answer our every prayers for them. Our every prayer. For, no one’s heart breaks for the poor more than the heart of GOD. And He has motivated us with His intent. He is raising up ministries as ours, who have been equipped with the tools and the know how, to be able to bring about real fruit and make a real difference, in the lives of those who all too often, go forgotten. 

As we are being sent in response to your prayers, if not your hopes, I invite you to stand with us as we once again prepare to take our place onto the field of battle but, unto a whole new level, this time. With your help, we can do it. But, we need your help to do it. Therefore, pray about helping us to establish the Kingdom Of GOD…or GOD’s will in earth, as it is in heaven! Together, we CAN do this! The LORD has mandated us to do this! Help us to build a system that brings forth powerful transformation to all those in attendance! Help us to build a church that truly remembers the forgotten! Help us to build something speckled and spotted, that all may see it together...and be saved!


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