This email went out to our list of supporters and interested folks on July 29th of 2010. We send something like this out most months – if you would like to get on that email list, please go here and give us your email address. Of course, we won’t share your info with anyone, and we won’t fill your inbox with crazy spam. (Or even sane spam.)

Dear Friends,

When I met them several years ago, they were homeless. She had delivered five children, all of whom had been taken by the state. He was a crackhead living off her food stamps, who made spending money by turning tricks for the white-collar types that cruise the homeless camps looking for sex.

He has several kids by different women. She has a two pack a day habit. They had a baby together – his family was fostering that kid for the state while they “got things under control”. Then they found out she was pregnant. Again.

Luckily (!) about this time, they were on a city bus that hit a car. As a result, they got a small settlement. They paid a year’s worth of rent on a place infested with fleas & roaches & moved in just in time for her to deliver the baby. The state let her keep this one.

They still had no money, no job. They had food stamps & whatever church they were stringing along for help that week. He was still turning tricks & she was selling her food stamps and WIC allotment. Apparently, the state was impressed by their industry & let them have custody of their other child, who is now three. The last time I was over there, the kid was watching a VHS tape of New Jack City & eating a cold hot dog while a roach ran across his foot.

Last week, I get a phone call the day before I go out of town. He ran off with the neighbor, with whom he has been having an affair. The neighbor is HIV positive. And the lease on the apartment runs out at the end of August.

Her mental health caseworker & I talked to her for hours, encouraging her to file for child support & get a restraining order. She said she will. While I am out of town, he moves back in with her. And why not – it’s almost time to get food stamps again. It’s hard to blame her – the thought of being alone with two kids has her terrified.

Loving these people is not easy for me. It is easy for me to say that they are where they are because of the choices they have made, or their moral failures, or whatever. But if I only love people who are lovable – well, even terrorists do that.

My Evangelical friends complain I don’t talk enough about my faith in these letters. Well, understand that the only thing that keeps me answering the phone when she calls is my belief that she is valuable to the God I profess to believe in. And the only reason I am not filled with total despair for those babies is the assurance found in the ancient prayer that one day it will be “on earth as it is in heaven.”

But until that day comes, I don’t know anything to do but to try my best to love them, even when it is not easy. And to pray really, really hard.

They could use your prayers, too. Truth be told, so could I.

Love Wins. Always.

Hugh Hollowell
Love Wins Ministries | Executive Director

Web: http://lovewins.info
Blog: http://lovewins.info/blog
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lovewins

This email went out to our list of supporters and interested folks on June 22nd of 2010. We send something like this out most months – if you would like to get on that email list, please go here and give us your email address. Of course, we won’t share your info with anyone, and we won’t fill your inbox with crazy spam. (Or even sane spam.)

Dear Friends,

After the recent article about us in the local paper, I have been asked dozens of times just what we do, exactly.

We feed people. But we aren’t a feeding ministry. And while we do help people get jobs, we aren’t a job training program. Almost 50 times since Christmas we have gotten work shoes for folks. But we aren’t a clothing ministry. And in a few weeks, we will be celebrating the 4thof July in the park with our friends who live outside – but that isn’t what we do.

At any given moment, we may be doing any or all of those things. But we are primarily a ministry of presence.

Being homeless means having no one to listen to you when you hurt, no one to share your dreams with, and no one to celebrate with when good things happen. And no one to stand beside you when you are scared.

Which is why, several weeks ago, I was in the doctor’s office, sitting next to my friend Sarah, holding her hand as we wait to hear the bad news. She had recently had her first annual exam in 16 years. (When you are struggling to survive, sometimes you let things like that slide.) And when she had called for the results, they refused to give them to her over the phone. This is never good.

Her sponsor in NA died of cervical cancer, so she was scared to death of going to that doctor’s office by herself to hear the news. So there I was, looking very out of place as she and the doctor talk about cervixes and ovaries and so on. And when he told her it looked like cancer, I was the guy who held her as she cried. And prayed with her in the parking lot.

Today she got the results back from the specialist. It is cancer of the cervix, and in a few weeks she is going in for an operation. So it was only natural that she called me and some of our volunteers to let us know. And when they wheel her back in the hospital room after cutting on her, it will be our faces she will see when she wakes up.

What do we do? We are present. Often our being present doesn’t change things – she is going to have surgery if we are there or not. But now, she won’t be alone. And that is not a small thing at all.

Love Wins. Always.

Hugh Hollowell

http://lovewins.info

PS: The only reason I was able to be in that doctor’s office next to Sarah was because of your financial contributions that pay my salary. And it is your money that will buy the flowers in her room when she comes out of recovery. If you don’t currently support our work but want to, you can find out more about that here. We really need people who are willing to commit to ongoing monthly contributions, so we can budget.

If you are in Raleigh, you may be interested: We confirmed last night that I (Hugh) will be speaking at a conference in Raleigh this September, called Big Tent Christianity: Being and Becoming the Church.

Among the other speakers are:

Philip Clayton, Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Bill Leonard, Keith Ward, Tripp Fuller, Gareth Higgins, Anthony Smith, Tim Conder, Terence Fretheim, Jo-Ann Badley, Jay Bakker, Brian Ammons, Tim King, Spencer Burke, and Tom Oord.

That is some impressive company!

So what is this conference about? The event planners explain it this way:

Numerous battles in the past produced the large number of denominations and separate churches within American Christianity today. Some of these battles were important. But many of the old battlelines no longer speak to Christians today, especially to the youth. Indeed, our divisions are driving some folks away from the church altogether.

In the old days revival tents were set up outside towns and cities across the South. The people of God would join together for celebration, community, and revival. The revival tent was a sign of Christian unity and Christian renewal — the ongoing and active work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

What would happen if Christians came together from across the South to proclaim what unites us as followers of Jesus Christ and as His disciples in this modern world? Some two dozen leading Christian speakers from around the country will be assembling in Raleigh for this event. They will share with you new and innovative forms of church-based ministry and renewal — new ways of being and becoming the church. And they will inspire you with their vision for how we can speak even more powerfully in and to the world of the 21st century.

So there you have it. If this is your sort of thing, I hope you will plan to be there. If you do, make sure you come up and say hi to me, would ya?

Every time I speak somewhere, people always want to know practical things they can do to help people who live outside. I resist this, because I do not like to perpetuate the idea that there are easy answers, because the answers are not easy.

But today, I have one simple thing you can do. It will cost you less than $5 and it has two parts:

1. Buy a case of bottled water and put it in your car.
2. Give a bottle of water to people you see outside holding signs.

It is scary hot outside. Here in Raleigh, it is in the triple digits. People who are outside holding signs are usually not in the shade and stand out there for hours at a time. They are a heat-stroke looking for a place to happen.

If you want extra credit, you can ice it down in a cooler, but that is not really necessary. The important thing is that they get  water inside their body.

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. ~ Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 10:42)

One of our volunteers and I were talking the other day, and he mentioned how it seemed every single guy we knew that lived on the streets was not only a veteran, but had been in “Special Opps”. No kidding – I had one guy tell me, with a straight face, that he had served in Delta Force with Chuck Norris.

Or there is the guy I know who is always carrying paperback books by intellectual authors – but I am pretty sure he has about a fourth grade reading level. Or the conversation I had with Martha right before she died, where we talked about Jazz musicians. She made it a big point to tell me about the artists she had seen in person.

If you spend much time out here at all, you hear about the hot ex-girlfriend, the car they used to own, the job they used to have or the college they went to. In other words, they want you to know that they are special.

“I just want you to know – I am not like these other guys out here. “

I have heard that line, or some variation of it, hundreds of times. I used to think it was a hustle. But I have come to see it for what it is – a cry for respect, a way to scratch out some way that they are unique, while living in the midst of people society says are all the same.

Even more than they want housing, more than they want jobs, more than they want the fundamental right to take a shower or decide when to use the toilet, my friends who live outside want their dignity. They want to know that they matter, that they are not a wasted life. Despite the fact that society gives them their leftovers (leftover food, leftover clothes, leftover time), they want to know; they need to know that they are not leftover people.

In the Judeo-Christian story, we are told that humans are made in the very image of God – that we all hold something of the Divine in us. Whether we mean Mr. Slocum the bank president or Blind Willie who lives under the bridge – we all bear the image, the imprint of God. This means we probably owe an apology to Blind Willie for the way we treat him.

Dignity is not something we grant, but something we recognize in each other. But first, we have to be willing to see that the person living under the bridge is special – not because he was in Delta Force with Chuck Norris, but merely because he exists.

About a month ago, the local paper interviewed me. It was a good interview, and they told our story pretty well. But the reporter opened the article by saying that Love Wins is best defined by what we do not do – we do not proselytize, we do not push people to church and we do not distribute tracts. All of that is true.

Several people told me they could no longer support our work financially because we do not “share the gospel”. Others accused me of being ashamed of Jesus and said we should be much more up front with the “good news”.

Let me tell you a story.

She’s 24, but could pass for 16. She’s rail thin, with prominent cheekbones and dusty brown hair cut almost as short as mine. She grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, but for the last year has lived in a tent south of town. Let’s call her McKinsey.

When she was 17 years old, she told her mother that she thought she might be gay. Distraught, Mom went to her pastor, who told her that the thing to do was to exercise “tough love” and put McKinsey out – to shun her, if you will – until she repented.

Since then, she has lived by her wits. For the last six years, she has survived mainly by turning tricks. Somewhere along the way she picked up an alcohol addiction. She has been sexually assaulted more times than she can count, and sleeps in her tent with a steak knife under her pillow for protection.

My question for you is this: If you are McKinsey – Who do you get mad at? Do you get mad at your mother, for throwing you out? At the preacher for telling Mom to do it? Or do you get angry at the God that preacher is supposed to speak for?

If you are her, and you see God as having caused all this, you probably won’t react well when someone comes up to you and tells you God loves you – however true that might be.

So I did none of that. Instead, I sat with her on the park bench as she held her cardboard sign. I listened for hours as she talked about all the anger she held for her mother and for God. She laughed when I told her a joke she had already heard the day before, and I laughed when she described me to someone else as “her preacher”.

And earlier this week, I was looking very out of place in the woman’s section of Wal-Mart using your money to buy size small sports bras, while trying to not answer embarrassing question from the clerk about cup size and so on. Because McKinsey had no one else who would go for her.

After all this, McKinsey still is not a Christian. And in truth, she has been so burned by the church, I’m not sure that is ever going to happen. But had I “Led with the good news”, I would have eliminated any opportunity for the friendship McKinsey and I now have. And if I had let that happen, you couldn’t call me a Christian, either.

On the Fourth of July at 3:00PM, we are going to, for the 3rd year in a row, celebrate the fourth of July with our friends who live outdoors.

In Moore Square (click here for a map) in downtown, Raleigh, there will be hot dogs, baked beans, watermelon, lemonade and much more (we hope, anyway). If somebody could bring some guitars, footballs, a wiffle ball and so on, that would be pretty cool too.

Why are we doing this, you ask? Because who you eat with, matters. Jesus believed that with every fiber of his being and his entire public ministry gave testimony to this. When he ate with prostitutes and tax collectors, he was making a statement about who God is. And when we ignore the homeless and poor to eat with folks like us, we make a statement about who we think God is.

Other reasons:

• Because while no doubt you have friends and loved ones to spend the Fourth with, many of the homeless and poor do not. Bring your friends and loved ones with you.
• Because on holidays the soup kitchens are closed, so any free meals usually consist of bag lunches with peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Surely we can do better than that?
• Because when the poor go hungry, it ticks Jesus off.
• Because you need more friends who have less than you do.
• Because you will get to eat with some really cool people.
• Because things like friendship, community, dignity and happiness are important in the Kingdom of God.

If you would like to help, here is a list of things we really need. If you have any questions, or are planning to come out with your family or friends to celebrate with us, please email Melissa at melissa@lovewins.info and let us know.

As that great philosopher John Lennon said, life is what happened while we were busy making other plans. That is definitely true of the way things have went here at what has become Love Wins Ministries.

As I have said elsewhere, I had never intended to start a nonprofit, or to have volunteers, or to even earn a living doing this – but all of that has happened, and more. And most of it has happened in the last six months.

Two years ago, I would have paid you money if you had sat down long enough to listen to my ideas about poverty and faith and how we in the church do a really good job of excluding the poor. These days people pay to hear what I have to say-and sometimes even act on it! I have a growing file of letters and emails from people thanking us for the work we are doing, for speaking out, for loving radically and for inspiring them to do the same.

And then there is the ‘other’ file – the one from the people who believe I am “loving people straight to hell”, who believe that I have crossed the line, those who, when you boil it down, feel threatened and scared, so they write letters (anonymous, usually) to churches that support us, or comment (anonymously) on blog entries or articles I have written. As my long departed Greaat Aunt would have said, “Well, bless their hearts”. Indeed.

Yet and still, we go on. So far this year, we have added three faith communities to our support team, helped a couple transition from living in a tent to living in an apartment (Karen always describes her place as not just as an apartment, but always adds “with a pool!”), bought countless shoes and boots, served several thousand biscuits and many gallons of coffee and spent more hours at Wake Med hospital with folks than I want to count.

And none of that would happen without you and your prayers and your financial support. So, it may sound trite or whatever, but I seriously thank you for helping us to love radically, for allowing me the time freedom to build this thing, for helping us show that, well, Love Wins.

A group from Kidron Ohio Mennonite Church was on a mission trip to Raleigh and wanted to help us here at Love Wins! Never one to pass up free labor, we said why not?

We spent an afternoon assembling hygiene kits that we will distribute late to our friends who live outside. Because of their help, we assembled over 100 kits that will provide much needed hygiene items to people who desperately need them.

You can see more pictures from their visit on our Facebook page.

If your church or small group would like to help us out here at Love Wins, please let us know!