First, the good news: After three and a half years of broken pipes, missing permits and seemingly endless delays, the Poplar Living Hope Center is now officially open! The Living Hope Center’s manager received the long-awaited occupancy permit in mid-July. Although the basement is not yet fully finished and there is still work to be done upstairs, the building is now in use every Sabbath. Upwards of 20 local people have been attending the manager’s and pastor’s Bible study on Sabbath afternoon. All praise to God!

More than two years ago, we started giving packaged soup to the homeless and street people. Soon afterwards, I was impressed to hand out a GLOW tract with the soup (GLOW tracts are small religious pamphlets on different topics). Doing so led to opportunities to pray with the people. Since then, we have had groups of people come to our home asking for soup and prayer. Admittedly, most come for the soup, but not all. After reading the tract I had given him, one man came back saying he liked the tract and wanted to know if I had another he could read. Others routinely come just for prayer and a visit. (Street people are mostly folk without a consistent place to live. There are many reasons for this, unemployment is but one.)

When we started distributing soup and GLOW tracts to the street people, I encountered some pushback from well-meaning individuals. Some said I was enabling a bad lifestyle. But God used it to build relationships and open many hearts to spiritual topics. A man recently came to our home, asking if I knew anything about the new church on the other side of town. “Yes!” I said, “I am a member of that church.” He admitted he had been attending infrequently but was interested.

Then he quietly asked, “What do I have to do to get God to like me?”

I assured him that God already liked him, and I told him about his friend Jesus.

Please pray for our manager and his wife, as well as our district pastor, as they lead out at the Living Hope Center. Please also pray for us as we endeavor to write culturally relevant Bible studies and share the love of Jesus throughout our community. Thank you for your prayers and support.

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