04/16/2018
Some of you may have seen posts over the last 4 months targeting me that express frustration regarding our church ending a particular ministry that provided a weekly meal and ministry to our homeless neighbors: I haven't commented because what I say publicly about this has been twisted, and frankly I haven't wanted to be defensive; I figure people can believe or not believe what's being said...or better yet, ask leadership about it. But lately these negative posts have been specifically targeting our kids and youth. As a shepherd I need to respond to help cover our young people: Ending the Thursday night meal was a difficult, but we believe right, decision; since adjusting our ministry strategy to our community, we have significantly increased our efforts to the homeless, hungry and underserved in our neighborhood: We've started providing groceries (along with ministry) for hundreds every week, and we're newly funding/partnering with multiple local homeless ministries who serve the same people (and many more) who we were serving once a week, but they're doing it every day, providing meals, showers, shelter, and resources (blankets, socks, etc.) with resources and daily consistency we couldn't approach. We understand that we aren't ministering exactly the way some would prefer anymore, and it's ok to be sad about the closing of a ministry, but it's disingenuous and divisive to state that we're no longer serving or care about homeless people. We've simply made a spiritual and strategic decision to adjust the way we reach our neighborhood friends, but we are still doing it with effective impact. If anyone has questions please feel free to call the church office and ask for me, Carmen Quevedo or Dan Hicks (one of us will get back to you), as I'm very rarely on facebook and may not see responses to this to engage with. Thanks for your support and for your prayers as The Church On The Way continues to seek to be radically obedient to all the Lord leads us towards.
