Best way to reach them... quality time

Today at our Wednesday lunch outreach, a guy who I will call Marcus came. I hadn't seen in a while. Several years ago, he was instrumental in how I was doing the lunch outreach. At that time, I was cooking inside my apartment and the guys were coming to my door to get the lunch plates. This young man and I had a conversation about how to reach the guys better. He told me, "You live right here in the projects with them, but your apartment is still another world to them. You've got to get into their world." At that point I began praying about what to change about the lunch in order to reach them better. I decided to start grilling on my porch so that I would be outside where all of the guys hung out. The lunch outreach grew from that point. Today the conversation with him was another one of those instrumental ones. He spent ten years in prison and has been out for several years. He has a brother who in in prison and two brothers who have been killed by gun fire. He knows what it's like to do life on the street and has even been homeless at one point. He is currently attending a church and has helped another church start a homeless ministry. As he sat there today having lunch with us and sharing his experiences and the best way to reach these guys, the volunteers and I listened. One thing Marcus said that stood out to me, was this, "A lot of ministries just want to go in once, share the gospel and give out food or clothes. Yes, people need these things, but whether you're reaching a homeless person, a kid or even a thug, what will reach them the most is if you spend time with them. You may not think a thug needs that, but they have a heart too." Wow! He was confirming what our goal is in providing lunch to these young men. We feed them so that we can spend time with them and build relationships with them. We were so grateful for his insight today and left very encouraged and inspired. (Read more about the first time I met Marcus in the October 2008 blog archives, titled "Into their inner circle.")