After a small step of faith, my wife and I find ourselves parked on Blount Street adjacent to Moore Square on a cold, dreary November morning in 2007. Stacked in the back of our van are 48 bacon/egg/cheese biscuits and 60 cups of hot coffee. The Square is more than quiet. Eerie quiet. You could shoot off a cannon without fear of wounding a single soul. Donna and I look at each other and wonder if we’ve really felt the Lord pushing us in this direction. I glance to the rear of the van and quickly calculate how many days it will take me to consume the biscuits. I’m feeling less than confident as I tell her, “I’m going to setup the tables and put the food out”. I’m thinking of the movie “Field of Dreams” for a brief moment.

After setting up the tables, placing the biscuits, cups and coffee into position, I take another look around. I can see only one person. He is sitting on the brick wall across the street at the bus station. Pouring two cups of coffee, I head across the three lanes of Blount Street and ask him, “Do you need a cup of coffee?” Eugene from Ohio responds, “Man, do I !”. I tell him we have “a little” food if he would like something to eat. He springs to his feet. As we walk back across the street, I’m noticing his less than adequate cold weather clothing. He wears a denim jacket, no gloves and no hat. It’s freezing out here. By the time Eugene and I reach the food table, I glance back, and to my surprise, there are at least a dozen people following us. Where did they all come from? I feel more than a little guilty as I remember my doubts and lack of faith. The Lord is really good. It’s too bad he has to work with such flawed people.

After about an hour, the food and coffee are all gone. Little do we know that we we’ve just met many people who will become part of our inner circle of close friends. The conversations today are short, nice and somewhat guarded. We learn and remember many names that day. We share our names as well. We probably ask too many dumb questions because we know very little about life on the streets of downtown Raleigh. But, we are willing to learn and I hope this shows through. We know one thing as we drive home that morning – we love these people and our lives will never be the same.

Looking back over the past 17 months, we continue to share biscuits and coffee but the food is just an “excuse” to come together, share our lives with one another and hang around in the Square well beyond when all the food and coffee are gone. We’ve grown to love our Moore Square friends more and appreciate some of the challenges they face every day. As friends, we have gained the right to share “what we think” and “what we would do”.

Those silly biscuits have opened a door into a new world and into the lives of 50-75 very special people in our lives.

Just a quick heads up that March’s newsletter went out on Friday of last week.  If you did not get yours, let me know – some folks said theirs was booted to the spam folder in their email client.  And if you are not subscribed, I hope you will consider it.

Also, I included a link to our donate page, but the donate button was on the blink. If you wanted to help support us and tried Friday, go give it another try. It should be working now.

As I wrote the other day, not all homeless are destitute. Nor do they all live in shelters or under bridges.

In this excellent article in the International edition of the New York Times, the author profiles a family that lives in a motel in California. This is sad, but it is NOT rare. I see this a lot, especially when a family can afford the $200 a week to stay in a motel, but cannot save the nearly $2000 to move into an apartment (I explained how that works here.)

When I am asked to speak, I like to hold a Q&A afterward if at all possible. Inevitably, I get asked a slew of questions that imply that the people I am helping do not deserve my help. And I have to be honest here: That line of thinking really makes me angry. Implicit in that line of thinking is that we do deserve the life we got. I intend to write about this a lot more, but to give you something to chew on for now, I give you this excerpt  from a talk I gave at the Baptist Student Union at Campbell University several weeks ago.

* * * * *

Why did I grow up in a house with parents who loved me, who passed on a work ethic and taught me how to dream, how to set goals, how to love? I had nothing to do with it – it just happened. I was in the right place at the right time.

Why did my friend Jimmy* grow up in a house where his mamma’s boyfriend beat him with a fan belt, where mom had to sell her body to survive after Daddy went to jail and where the only male role model in his life was the local pimp? He did not pick that life. He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

If you are going to work with broken people, the first thing you have to realize is that you are not better than the people you will be working with- you are not smarter, you are not more in God’s favor, you are not morally superior. You are not better, you are just better off.

How would your life have turned out if you had to steal food in order for your little sister to eat? If you had to go to school three days in a row in the same clothes? If you had to sit on the porch in the cold while your momma is ‘entertaining’ men for money so you can eat tonight? How would you have turned out if your momma had a crack addiction, or if the only time you saw your daddy was on visiting day at the prison, or if you were raped regularly from the ages of 7 to 16?

If you are going to work with broken people, you have to understand that there are all kind of reasons that people are broken, and it often has nothing to do with their salvation, or their walk with God, or their eternal destiny after their death or whether they said some prayer.

Some of you are resisting… Hugh,  Do you mean that the relative wealth I enjoy (and if you live on  more than $2.50 a day, you are wealthier than half of the planet) is not God’s gift to me, but luck, or circumstance or the result of my race and culture inheriting the wealth produced by enslaved people on stolen land? Yup. That is what I mean. You were born into the right place, at the right time.

You are not better – just better off.

* I often change my friend’s names in order to protect their privacy.

When I mention that a big part of what we do here at Love Wins Ministries revolves around the homeless, many people automatically think I mean people with no jobs. People with no money. And sometimes, that is true. However, a lot of the people I know do work… they just do not earn enough to survive.

If these folks have a job, why are they homeless? There are a lot of reasons, but let me give you one: lack of affordable housing. Here is an example – I know of a guy that lives in the shelter. Right now his Mom is keeping his daughter, whom he has custody of. But he really wants to get an apartment, so they can be together. His Mom really wants this too.

But look at what he is up against.

Most sources agree that in order for your rent to be considered affordable, it should be no more than 30% of the renter’s income.

In Wake County, a two bedroom apartment has a Fair Market Rent* of $797 a month. To stay within the 30% guideline, my friend would need a household income of $31,880 a year. If he worked 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, he needs to make $15.33 an hour to be able to afford to live there. And make no mistake, many property managers will not rent to you if you do not meet that 30% criteria.

Put another way, at minimum wage, he would need 2.3 full time 40 hour a week jobs, working 52 weeks a year to make that two bedroom apartment affordable.

Who does not make $15.33 an hour?

Home Health Workers
Cashiers
Retail Sales People
Bank Tellers
Receptionists
Security Guards
Restaurant Workers
Preschool Teachers
Many nonprofit employees

In addition, most apartment complexes want at least a one month deposit, in our case $797, in addition to  the first month of rent, another $797.  If you are keeping track, that is $1594, plus whatever water and electrical deposits he would have to pay. Before he puts a can of beans in his kitchen, he has to have over $1600 in cash, or, if he is making the $15.33 an hour he needs to afford this apartment, he needs to have saved about 130 hours of pay after taxes.

And he still would have no furniture, no food, no beds… nothing but a place inside.

And people wonder why the poor sometimes give up hope.

*A wealth of information on housing policy can be found at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Here is the page for Wake County.

The phrase most often searched on Google to end up on this website is “Homeless Help Raleigh“.

These are often people that are facing homelessness and don’t know what to do. They may have just lost their job, or are about to be foreclosed on, or just at the end of their luck. The way the economy is going right now, I get asked for this sort of thing often.

For a long time, I have wanted to put together a list of emergency resources for people about to become homeless in Raleigh.  Now, we have it. Or, at least a beginning of it. The list of Raleigh, NC Homeless Resources is just a start, but over time we will update it and add additional resources we come across.

If you find additional resources, feel free to let us know about them in the comments below.

By some counts, there are over 2000 verses in the Bible that deal with the subject of poverty and social justice. While I doubt I will ever get to listing all 2000, I have decided to start  this page, where I will keep a list.

I have spent most of the last year collecting a list of these verses – now I just have to transcribe them all from my many post-its, notes and diverse scraps of paper. If you have any favorites, just put the chapter and verse in the comments and I will add them to this page.

Leviticus

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. -Leviticus 19:9-10 (NIV)

‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. -Leviticus 19:15 (NIV)

When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. ³⁴ The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. -Leviticus 19:33 (NIV)

Deuteronomy

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. – Deuteronomy 15:7 (NIV)

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. – Deuteronomy 15:10 (NIV)

Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. ⁷ Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. ⁸ So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. ⁹ He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; - Deuteronomy 26:5-9 (NIV)

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. - Deuteronomy 26:12 (NIV)

Psalms

But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalms 10:14 (NIV)

I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted
And justice for the poor. - Psalms 140:12 (NIV)

Proverbs

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. – Proverbs 14:31 (NIV)

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.- Proverbs 19:17

A generous man will himself be blessed,
for he shares his food with the poor. – Proverbs 22:9 (NIV)

The righteous care about justice for the poor,
but the wicked have no such concern. – Proverbs 29:7 (NIV)

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute. – Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)

Matthew

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. – Matthew 5:42 (NIV)

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:2-4 (NIV)

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” – Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”- Matthew 19:20-21 (NIV)

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” – Matthew 25:31-46 (NIV)

Luke

John [the Baptizer] answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” Luke 3:11 (NIV)

He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” -Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)

Looking at his disciples, he [Jesus] said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh. – Luke 6:20-21 (NIV)

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. – Luke 12:33 (NIV)

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Even though the temperature has dropped here in Raleigh, life on the streets goes on. And even though I was snowed in on Monday, I still caught up on the local gossip on the street… via the internet. That’s right – the homeless have email and Facebook accounts, just like you do.

It is easy to understand, when you think about it and know a little bit about them. They often duck into the library to escape the cold, and there they can use the free computer to set up a gmail account, or to set up a page on Facebook (They used to have a lot of MySpace pages too, until the library blocked MySpace). This lets them keep in touch with relatives in other cities. Plus,  they can use the internet and Craigslist to find work. I even knew one guy who would post an add to Craigslist, offering his services as a laborer. He stayed pretty busy, too.

It was by email that I heard about Jimmy getting arrested over the weekend, that Pablo let me know that he was denied for unemployment benefits and that I first heard hints that the lunchtime soup kitchen may not serve that day because of the weather. And Facebook lets me know that Heidi has moved back in with her parents and that Lizzie is struggling in her hometown, but in a different way than she struggled here.

In other words, our internet strategy is just as important a part of what we do as the actually being out there – just like being able to email your friends is just as critical to you as actually seeing them. It is not one or the other, but rather that they compliment each other. It is just another way that community can happen.