We Welcome You

Tears streamed down Brenda's cheeks as she told me she and her husband wanted to go back home to Louisiana. Her face was a rustic sort of beautiful, tender, but with lines from the hardness of life etched upon it. "We just can't make it here in Jackson," she said.

She had stepped forward for prayer after the sermon this morning down at the park. Her husband had stayed with the shopping cart that contained little more than their pillows and a few other belongings. We talked together for a while about hearing God and following him as he tell us what to do.

I hugged her and then I noticed Martin, the singer, standing quietly to my left. "Hello, Martin," I said. How are you doing? "

He said, "I wondered, Mrs Sylvia, if you was gonna come to the Bible Study at 4:00." "I expect so," I said, "but Maggie gets in this afternoon, so I'll see. But Martin, there's something I think you could do for us right now," and I introduced him to Brenda and Robert.

I said, "I think they need a song. Could you sing one for them?"

"Yes, " he said in his gentle voice, "I speck so," and smiled. I looked at his very dirty jacket and pants, his hands in his pockets, and his face upturned, eyes closed. Then he began singing, and I closed my eyes as the Spirit of Jesus Christ fell on the four of us.

"We welcome you! We welcome you! Lord, we welcome you. We welcome you!" It was simple little song, but Jesus the Son of God must have liked it, because He came.

One homeless soul ministering to another. Now I was the one with tears coming down my cheeks.

"Barbeque For Lost Souls"

Beatrice Mae bounced in late for the backyard meeting tonight, but as soon as she'd slipped into a seat beside me, she hugged me, called me Precious, and began taking earnest notes with her red pen.

Her title for Mrs. Amy's exposition of Romans 6 was "Barbeque For Lost Souls." What she meant was that everyone had been fed barbequed chicken, and now we were seated on the Lancaster's sloping side yard like a "real" church in the open air. I guess we were all the lost souls.

Actually Bee is doing very well, she is looking for a real job after giving her heart away to Jesus and learning day by day how much he loves and values her, so she needn't give herself away to the neighborhood men.

From our little group of five souls around David and Amy's kitchen table several months ago, tonight we were about fifty (I did not count). David led worship from a boom box, and we sang, praised God, and amened as Amy preached about God's grace and not sinning.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?


After the preaching, we all joined hands in our biggest circle ever, and prayed for a new guy who wandered in and seemed confused. Ms. Marie's strong voice belted out 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus,' which woke up Toxie who was sprawled out asleep on the ground behind us.

After the meeting broke up, our Baptist church group joining us, some downtown for the very first time, we all hugged and prayed for each other. Everyone asked about everyone else's welfare and made sure that any new folks got a jacket, socks, a bag of food and a prayer before they left.

It was nice to see a number of our Smith Park church guys and girls present tonight, which means they are seriously wanting more of God's truth or they are hungry, likely both. In the morning our redneck Messianic rabbi had joined us. I believe this is a beginning of a outreach for our synagogue because he relates well to the street guys and has their respect because he is not afraid to dig deep into his pockets, when he feels the Spirit prompting him, but he also is scared of nothing, because before he got saved he was a cowboy and rode bulls.