Vieux Carre Baptist Church

Last month during Mardi Gras, members of the Vieux Carre Baptist Church stood on their gallery watching the parade, throwing Moon Pies to riders on the floats. Tom Bilderback, pastor of the Vieux, said that many in the community of the French Quarter expect judgment from people in the Church, but they seemed to appreciate some sugar from the Church instead.

The Vieux has a rather unique address: it's one block away from Bourbon Street, a street known for its bars, boisterous music and strip clubs. The church itself has a bar for a neighbor.  A previous pastor, decades ago, is said to have been irritated by loud jukebox music from the bar next door. He stopped in the middle of his Sunday morning sermon, went next door, and asked for the music to be turned down. The music, not surprisingly, was turned up. The pastor went next door and cut the juke box cord. The bar called the cops. The pastor had to fix the cord to avoid being arrested.

Pastor Tom has tried a different approach.

The church began as a home Bible study back in 1954, moving from house to house. The current building was purchased in 1964 (I heard conflicting reports about whether it had previously been a restaurant or a bakery). There have been several pastors though the years, and times when there has been no pastor. At least one of those pastors wasn't even a Baptist. The connection of the church to the Southern Baptist Conference is rather loose, but the church has a commitment to stay true to the conference's doctrinal positions.

Tom arrived in town in 2007 after working for years as a master auto mechanic. He was part of the church, but was not yet the pastor. Tom got a job as a bartender on Bourbon St. He didn't make a deal of being a Christian, but just tried to live as a Christian. And the other people working at the bars noticed he was different. (Need we mention that this one thing about Tom quickly won over the people who write Dean and Mindy Walk into a Bar?)

In 2011, Tom became the pastor. He doesn't have a seminary background (in fact, he doesn't have a college background), but he has the gifts and heart of a pastor. One of the duties that falls on Tom and the congregation, due to the church's location, is caring for the homeless. Part of the appeal of the community for the homeless is the relatively mild climate (apart from the occasional tornado, hurricane, or flood). Sadly, a bigger draw for many in the homeless community is the ready availability of drugs and alcohol.

Mindy and I attended the Wednesday night Bible study attended by a mix of folks, including a few other out of town visitors and a few homeless folks. Jason introduced himself as a homeless alcoholic. Tom asked Jason about Joey, another friend of the church, who seemed to be missing. Jail or the hospital seemed like his most likely location.

A central part of the church's ministry to the homeless is the Friday showers. I went with Tom to Armstrong Park to hand out tickets for the morning or afternoon session. The ticket allows the holder to a shower, lunch and clothes from the closet. There were a dozen men waiting when we arrived at 7:00 am, and for the next hour more men and women showed. It was a chilly morning, and I noticed a man wearing shorts and a thin shirt. I approached him. He told me he got out of jail the day before and could use a jacket. Tom gave him a ticket.

The first session was at 10:30 am, but they let one woman in to shower early. It was explained to me that the woman who called herself "Baby Doll" took a long time in the shower for her "personal business." Sonja, Tom's wife, told us that she used to have a vile temper, but that God had worked on her heart through time and she was now quite the sweetheart.

Volunteers from another church had brought the lunch for the day:  jambalaya prepared by the crew of a fire station (it was quite good).  Tom watched the front door ("Doing the politicking," he called it). Adam (a former Vieux intern) controlled the flow at the door to the showers. A number of people rotated between serving and chatting with guests at the tables. Mindy joined Mama Rose in the clothes closet; handing out jackets, pants, shirts, jackets, shoes, socks, and underwear and various toiletries when they were requested. Mama Rose spent decades on the street before becoming sober and a Christian; now she's a vital part of the ministry of the Vieux.

 After the second shower session, when all the guests had left, the toughest part of the day began. The bathrooms smelled rank, the floors were covered with dirty, discarded clothes, and the sinks in the men's room were covered with stubble and blood. And though people help with other parts of the day, usually Pastor Tom and the interns of the church are left to clean that all up, wash the clothes and towels, and restore order by Sunday morning.

 On Sunday mornings the church doors opened at eight, though the worship service isn't scheduled until 10:30 (a half hour earlier during the Saints football season). Donuts and coffee were set out, and a few people enjoyed those and the conversation, but left before the service began. Because of the many conversations taking place, the service began about ten minutes after the scheduled time. Adam introduced the service and gave some announcements. Adam's wife, Megan, led Lent oriented Scripture readings. A couple of guest musicians led the worship music along with the church's worship band.

Tom's sermon was titled, "The Trouble with Being Naked," based Genesis 3 -- the same passage Mindy and I heard preached the week before at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It's a pleasure to hear different insights from the same passage of Scripture, and Tom brought out many good points that were different from Tasha Blackburn's excellent sermon the week before.

I asked Lauren, an intern at the Vieux, what she appreciated most about the church. She gave an answer that I heard others at the church echo in various forms: "Honesty."  She said the guys on the street don't hide their problems, like people do in churches she's been to. And you can't address problems unless you're honest about them. And by God's grace, Vieux Carre Baptist Church will continue to meet the needs of the French Quarter with love and compassion.

Statistics:

Service Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

Sermon Length: 40 minutes

Visitor Treatment: By Sunday, we weren't exactly visitors, so our experience wasn't typical. Newcomers are taken as a matter of course and welcomed whether they're tourists or street people. There's no attendance registration, but regular attenders know who's who.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: We had lunch with Tom, Sonja, and Adam. Late Sunday afternoon, Sonja texted us.

Our Rough Count: 39 people and two dogs

Probable Ushers' Count: 45 ... if there had been ushers

Snacks: coffee, ice water, donuts

Musicians: percussion (male)

bass (male)

keyboard (female)

vocal (female)

acoustic guitar (male)

electric guitar (male)

Songs: "Shackles"

"One thing remains"

"Good, good Father"

"How He loves"

"Holy Spirit"

"Doxology"

Miles to church: down the hall and around the corner (we slept in bunks in the same building)

Miles from start: 7,115

Total 2016 Miles: 7,070

Church website: www.thevieux.com

The Next Step Homeless Services, Fort Smith, Arkansas

"Fort Smith is a uniquely caring community," John Foster, director of case management at The Next Step Homeless Services, said. "This city attracts the homeless because the community cares for the homeless."

We had heard indirect confirmation of this sentiment earlier that day when we were at the Fort Smith Public Library. Two librarians were talking about a local homeless man who had been stabbed and hospitalized. "I hope it wasn't one of ours," one of the librarians said with real concern in her voice.

John mentioned the same stabbing. His wife had asked him the night before, "Was that one of yours?" John had to say it was. (Happily, later news reports revealed the hospitalized man is going to be okay.)

John began working with Next Step two and a half years ago. For twenty-seven years before that, John had been working in mental health service, and when he was done with that he thought he was done working. "But He had other ideas," John said, pointing heavenward.

Next Step was founded in 2002 when a man named Gary Hays saw that homeless people in the area had nowhere to go during the day. He went to St. John's Episcopal Church for help. The church offered a building for use as a day room. Next Step Day Room offered warm food and a TV room and soon offered much more.

A slogan for the the program is "Seeking solutions to homelessness one individual at a time," and one of the primary solutions the program utilizes is employment. To that end, Next Step offers job counseling, psychological assessment, life-skills training, message and mail services, and even make-overs to look right for the interview.

Next Step also helps people who've been without I.D. for years to find their paperwork. John said he tells people who come in with, say, a driver's license, "Don't lose track of that, it's precious."

Next Step receives limited government support (primarily because of their provision for veterans), some help from the United Way, and support from individuals and churches. St. John's Episcopal Church does charge Next Step Homeless Services for the rent: every year they have to come up with one whole dollar.

Homes for the homeless in Austin

Mobile Loaves & Fishes Community First! Village 

"We're all about forming relationships here," Matt, the assistant property manager, told us when we asked about the purpose behind the permanent community that's taking shape on the western side of Austin. Through a slow but constant process, a ministry originating in 1998 with five men who wanted to love their neighbors has become much more than a minivan loaded with food.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes now has a fleet of modified catering trucks that serve food, clothing, hygiene items, and other life sustaining material to homeless people in Austin and other communities. In a quote on their website, Alan Graham, a founder and now president of the organization, says, "Everything we do is about relationships. The biggest lesson we have learned over the years is that we are not a food ministry. We merely use food as a conduit to connect human to human and heart to heart."

Community First! is one of a number of Mobile Loaves & Fishes' projects. Their website describes the village as "a 27-acre master-planned community that will provide affordable, sustainable housing and a supportive community for the disabled, chronically homeless in Central Texas." From that description, I would have pictured cinder-block buildings in tidy rows with (perhaps) a community garden and a recreation room. That's not at all what we found.

As we drove up, the first things we noticed were enormous teepees. Later, we found that these were bed and breakfast spaces for volunteers. Dean immediately noticed the large movie screen, which (through Alamo Drafthouse) will be used for free outdoor movies for the community.

As we walked around, we saw the mobile home park, the oldest part of the community. Across the center road, past a central area with a dining tent, gardens, chickens, a giant chess board, and a memorial marker for residents who have died, miniature homes and canvas cottages face meandering paths. The variety of homes is remarkable. Matt told us there were several models, but it seemed no two were identical, although all of them were attractive. Homes were at all stages of completion, and workers were everywhere.

This is not institutional housing.

I think my favorite moment was when we passed a house that was built, but didn't yet have its siding in place. The pine walls were covered with handwritten Bible verses of blessing, conveying the hopes and prayers of the builders for the future residents of the home. Matt told us that whenever a resident moves in, there's a blessing ceremony, welcoming the new resident to the community. 

He told us there's a kind of community on the street, but when people are moved into housing in an existing community, sometimes the former homeless person feels ostracized, in part because they've lost the community they've had. That's why, he said, "we're all about forming relationships here."

The community is designed to serve people whose housing needs have no other way of being effectively met. Except for ten "missional" families who live on site, the residents of the community have been chronically homeless (for at least a year in Travis County) and must have an assessed disability. All residents agree to abide by three rules (these rules are detailed in agreements that each resident signs before becoming part of the community).  Basically, each resident agrees to obey civil law, pay rent, and obey community rules.

The community also includes a medical clinic, an art studio, extensive produce gardens, goats, beehives, chickens for meat and eggs, and a smithy. The entire community has internet. The micro-homes and canvas cottages rely on shared kitchens and bath houses within 150 feet of their doors. Each resident has his or her own secure space for keeping food in their kitchen. There are currently two chapels, where residents and volunteers can pray or, if they want, "yell at God," Matt said. Soon, a new building with offices, creative spaces, a computer area, classrooms and a sanctuary for worship services will be built near the center of the community.

Churches and faith-based organizations have obviously been involved in the project since the beginning.  I wondered if the word "goodness," which was present on various signs all over the property, was a kind of code name for God's activity. After spending time at Community First! Village, I think it probably is.

Four (or seven) iconic sights that we could see from Sunday's church

The church we visited this week is something of a landmark; its sanctuary was built before movies had sound, and it's plainly visible from the freeway.

As we drove in, we got to wondering how many other Los Angeles icons we could see from the church property. Though we didn't see the Hollywood sign until we were about a block away and headed for home, here's what we did see:

1. Palm Trees

2. LA Fitness (and the sign for Hollywood Boulevard)

3. Capitol Records Tower

4. Hollywood Tower

and the Hollywood Freeway

and a homeless encampment*

-- Mindy

*This is an incredibly serious problem in the area. While I was writing this post, I was glad to see that the church has a number of programs (as well as partnerships with other organizations) to help those literally on their doorstep. 

The Bridge, Church at the Park, Santa Rosa

I'm all for these words being used in every sermon: "When I finish up we'll be serving root beer floats," along with these kind words, "Sorry, Ken, but you'll have to wait for the kids to go first." (I suppose the 'Ken' is optional.)  There had been food served before the service this week, hot dogs and chips and potato salad and brownies. Not surprisingly, some people left after getting their lunches -- no floats for them.

The Bridge, a Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Santa Rosa, holds an outreach service for the homeless the last Sunday of every month at Bicentennial Park. Even the day before, we didn't expect to be there (we didn't even know about it). Please excuse a digression about how God brought us there.

Every month we have a theme for the places we'll worship. For Urban Churches Month, there was no shortage of churches to choose from, any more than there was a shortage of places to go to Rural Church Month. This month, we decided to have Outdoor Worship Month, but we found there were not as many churches to choose from, which kind of surprised us. For the last Sunday of the month we were looking at two Southern California possibilities. Then Mindy had a vehicular mishap involving a curb last Wednesday. It wasn't serious, but we weren't going to be driving on a long trip until the car was fixed right. So we invited people to join us in the park to worship. We didn't know if anyone would come.

Since we thought perhaps no one would show, on Sunday morning, we decided to go online and look for a later Sunday service, maybe something Sunday night. In a listing of area worship services, Mindy noticed that The Bridge held Church at the Park the last Sunday of the month; an outreach to the homeless, from noon until 3:00 pm. We decided to catch it after out little service at Shiloh Ranch Regional Park.

Only one person met us at Shiloh Ranch, our friend Jeff, who is looking for a church; a church that has a ministry to the homeless. God can be funny.

Folks from The Bridge were still serving hot dogs off the grill when we got to Bicentennial Park. We noticed a couple of large boxes of clothes that people were sorting through. I talked to Jennifer, who had just scored a pair of tennis shoes. They were a little big but she said they were much better than wearing her Sunday shoes every day, which she'd been doing for the past few days.

Darby (who started the ministry), realized they'd run out of food before everyone was served. So she ran off to buy dollar burgers at a nearby Carl's Jr. Four years ago, Darby started making food in her kitchen and delivering it to homeless people on the street and in the park. When the Bridge began a couple of years ago, Jim McKee, the outreach pastor of the church, was looking for ways to involve people in minister. He adopted Darby's ministry, leaving her in charge but bringing more people aboard.

Apparently most Sundays they also offer haircuts, but the gentleman with the shears was on vacation. They usually offer "survival packs" with granola bars, tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, and other hygiene products. The most important thing they offer, though, is relationship.

It was a short -- very short -- worship service. The guy leading the singing apologized for forgetting his guitar. We sang "Amazing Grace" a cappella and without song sheets. The church's Celebrate Recovery pastor, David, spoke. (Celebrate Recovery is ministry to those dealing with addiction.) David talked about how everyone is important to Jesus. There were a few children present, and David talked about how important children were to Jesus (and that kids would be first in line for the floats; orange soda floats were also an option). He closed with Romans 5:8, saying that God loves us sinners.

I enjoyed the chance to talk to some of the folks who came to the service. Ken isn't technically homeless; he rents a cabin. But he said he has a hard time sleeping there with cats on the roof and animals making noise. He is struggling and appreciates the hot food.

I talked to Linda who admitted she was homeless partly by choice. She has grown daughters and could live with them but doesn't want to be a burden. My brother does work preserving big cats (lions and tigers, not bears) and we talked about that for a bit. Linda said that she believed God had given people instincts to live outdoors like He'd given instincts to animals.

I'm not sure about that. I am sure that God has provided good folks from The Bridge to care for the homeless. One of the best things I heard from David was that he said their ministry isn't once a month. They meet people once a month in the park, rain or shine, but when they see them at other times, they stop to talk with them. Jim said the homeless folks have his cell phone number and he's received calls at 2:00 am.

David said they didn't believe the church should be confined within four walls. We agree, and were happy to find that Outdoor Worship isn't a rare a thing.

Statistics:

Service Length: 10 minutes

Sermon Length: 8 minutes

Visitor Treatment: Everybody was greeted. We were  asked to fill out a visitors' card, if we wanted to (we did)

Our Rough Count: 30 adults, 4 children, 2 dogs

Probable Ushers' Count: 50

Snacks: Hot dogs, soda, lots of water, chips, potato salad, root beer and orange floats, brownies

Musicians: one singer (male)

Songs: Amazing Grace

Miles to place: 8

Total California Miles: 10,709

-- Dean