February 12th, 2009 §
Dear Friends,
Just before Christmas, I was at a meeting of Social Justice oriented pastors. During a break, I was talking with a pastor who works for [Really Huge Denomination] at the Regional level. She is ‘over’ many churches, and was really interested in what we are doing. She mentioned she would like us to talk about me talking to various small groups and pastors in those churches. Then she asks me “Where is your office?”. The conversation lasted about 12 seconds after I told her I work from home, but not before she said “Oh, I had no idea you were so small…”.
I have to tell you, that was a little disheartening. In fact, it was downright depressing. Partly because, of course I would like to have an entry to so many churches, with the endorsements of their higher-ups. We have goals we want to accomplish that would be much easier with the support and financial backing a Really Huge Church could give us.
But the most depressing thing was that I had somehow failed to communicate that we see small as a blessing. Small, to quote the title of a book well worth reading, is beautiful.
You see, because we are small, we know the names of the people we buy shoes for. Because we are small, I can blow off the whole afternoon of appointments to go sit in a hospital room with a friend who tried to kill herself. Because we are small, I am welcome in the soup kitchens and the shelters, even if I am not so welcome in the board rooms and the churches. Because we are small, there is no need to make up metrics that justify what we are doing out here. We are free to love people and pray for peace and work for justice and have confidence that God, when all is said and done, bends that way.
That being said, all living things must either grow or decay, and Love Wins Ministries is no different. The last six weeks have found us in conversations about how we can help build more relationships between folks with houses and folks that live on the streets without becoming ‘institutional’ and stagnant. Or how we can capture the freedom of smallness I just described and yet be acceptable (or at least accessible) to people and organizations like that pastor lady, who values size over substance.
Over the next few weeks and months, lots of changes will be happening. We will be discussing some things on our blog we have not before, like our boots and shoes ministry, and you will be hearing from other voices over there as well.
In the meantime, keep praying for us as we build, grow and seek the will of God while we, in our small way, keep loving folks most people would rather just went away.
Love Wins. Always.
Hugh Hollowell
October 15th, 2008 §
Dear Friends,
It was the middle of the night when my phone rang. I answer it, a bit afraid, for no good news comes in the middle of the night.
It was T–, and she was crying. “B– is gone, and I don’t know where he is.” In between the sobs and the occasional wail, it comes out that he had left for work that morning at 8am and now, near midnight, she had not heard from him. He had never shown up for work.
This would be scary to anyone, but B– has a history of heroin and crack use and yesterday was payday. In addition, B– had left the Cripps a while back when he decided to try to turn his life around, and death threats had been issued. Before she had called me, T– had already called the hospitals and the jail. No one had seen or heard anything from him. B- was missing.
“I am scared to be out here alone. B– protects me. Who is going to protect me now?”
Together we decide that the safest place for her tonight is at the bus station, where the homeless have allies who watch out for them and she can sleep unmolested. She begs me to stay on the phone with her, and we talk for over two hours as she walks to the bus station. The conversation wanders from her childhood, to Raleigh, to her kids with three different men, to B— and his addiction problems to how disappointed she is with how life has turned out.
Finally, after 2am, she tells me that she is safe at the bus station and is going to try to get some sleep. I tell her to call me when she knows anything. “Thanks for everything”, she says. “I had no one to call and tell about B–. I just wanted someone to know.”
Just so you know, B– showed up the next day. It seems there was a misunderstanding; something about cousins, and Durham, and a lost cell phone. That was his story anyway, and no matter how feeble it sounded to me, T– was happy to see him, and that night, they were back in the park, together.
When you boil it all down, this is what I do: I give people someone to call. Someone who cares, someone who will sit on the phone for two hours in the middle of the night and listen so a burned out homeless woman will feel safe. I have a shoulder they can lean on, an ear to listen to their stories, hands they can hold when prayers seem unanswered. It is nothing special; like most things all it takes is the will to do it.
Some updates:
- Because of some of our ministry allies, you can now deduct gifts to our ministry. Please make checks out to LOVE WINS and send them to Love Wins, PO BOX 25135, Raleigh, NC, 27611 You will get a thank you note from me and a receipt for your taxes at the end of the year from our awesome accountant.
- This weekend we begin our weekly Bible Study/Discipleship gatherings. I am very excited about the gatherings and the potential they have to move our ministry forward. They cost us $280 a month to rent space to do them, and the plan is to do a communal meal once a month, which will add to the cost. In short, we are about $325 a month short of where we need to be in order to fund this exciting new ministry opportunity. Any help you can give us, on a recurring basis or as a lump sum, would be greatly appreciated.
- Many of you have asked about James and Ruby (read their story here) and I am happy to report that things are good. James is recuperating, the rent is current and there is food in the cupboard. We are still short a few things: For a current list of needs for James and Ruby, check out this list here.
Again, it is only because of you and your support that I am able to be out here, answering the phone at midnight when things go wrong, getting sick people groceries and sharing the love of God in the way of Jesus with some pretty awesome people. Thank you for letting me be here in the broken places.
Love wins. Always.
Hugh Hollowell
http://lovewinsalways.org
October 7th, 2008 §
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May 26th, 2008 §
Dear Friends,
One question I get asked a lot, especially by those in traditional churches, is about my statistics. How many people I work with get off the street, how many get sober, how many get ‘saved’. I have to tell you up front; I have crummy statistics. But I am OK with that because I have some awesome stories.
Like the young couple I was talking to right after they heard her mother was in the hospital with heart trouble and they had no way to get home (200 miles away) to be with her. They are upset and crying and depressed and really pouring it out to me. While we were talking, an ‘evangelist’ pressed a tract in her hand and told her that if she gave her life to Jesus, he would change her life. As a result of that day, that couple and I have an ever increasing bond that has led to them making serious changes in their life. That evangelist saw a statistic, but that couple and I have a story.
Or the guy who braved the snow to visit my friend Renee in the hospital, bringing a collection of fruit, peanut butter sandwiches and crackers he took up from the other homeless. When I scolded him for coming, he looked me in the eye and told me, “Hugh, all my life I have not been worth much. I have been in and out of jail, in and out of rehab, in and out of relationships. I am 38 years old and you are the first person my whole life to ever tell me they are proud of me. I love you, man. I am here for you.” All those Social Workers saw a statistic, but he and I have a story.
There is the lady who had to leave her husband because liquor was destroying her life and he refused to quit when she did. She moved into a small hovel owned by a slumlord where she could barely pay the rent. When ends did not meet one month, the landlord filed eviction papers. I went to court with her and all the money but $50. The statistics said we did not stand a chance, but when she showed up in court and he did not, we got the eviction overturned and bought a few more days to raise the money. Now she is still in her house and still tells her friends the story of when she and I went to court.
Stories, not statistics. Names, not numbers. Meals, not metrics.
You see, we operate from this crazy premise we see in the teachings of Jesus that love, once given, spreads and grows (sorta like yeast, or a mustard seed…) and takes hold and, in small ways and in incremental bits, works to change us, then each other, and then, the world, working towards truly making it on earth as it is in heaven.
The way it happens is not through statistics but through stories shared over a plate of food, on a walk through the park together, sitting with them in the living room while a loved one dies in the bedroom. It takes being there.
You guys bless me incredibly by allowing me to be out there, touching lives and building relationships with people the world has written off but God has not. That you support me in doing that with your prayers, your time and your money mean more to me than I can ever say. Because of you, some people who have reason to have a low opinion of the church get to feel what the love of Jesus feels like.
Love Wins. Always.
Hugh Hollowell
