Unleashed Ministry Highlight
Spotlight: Denver Rescue Mission It’s early on the first Saturday of the month, and the alarms of Abiding Hope folks are beeping, chiming, and singing. “Get up,” they’re urging. “Men and women are gathering around the Denver Rescue Mission on Lawrence Street downtown, waiting for breakfast.” And so they are, clustering in the darkness, waiting. “Saturday morning,” we mutter? “Why then? Saturday’s a day
for sleeping in!” It is, but it’s also the meal service that’s most difficult for the DRM to staff. Serving our sisters and brothers isn’t always convenient for us, but it’s what’s helpful for them that we care about. Twothree hundred breakfasts later, the AH team heads for breakfast themselves and debrief their experience of being Jesus’ heart, hands, and feet at the Mission. Compassion, joy, and concern float over their eggs and bacon. Affirm families will pile into their SUVs the next Saturday and head to another Denver Rescue Mission site, The Crossing in NE Denver. They’ll serve lunch and smiles there. The children, women, and men who live there are either in a rehab program for alcoholics and addicts, or in a program to support poverty level families as they learn skills to help them move to better employment and housing. One hundred or so folks will enjoy the delicious food there, and our team will join them at the end of their service. Being Jesus’ heart, hands, and feet has benefits of love shared, laughs enjoyed together, and appreciation grown for the hard work that The Crossing participants are involved with.
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There was a time in my family’s life when we were homeless. My mom and dad had put every penny they had into a small town restaurant. They worked hard from pre-dawn to post-dusk. The venture wasn’t a success. They had $25 left in their pockets after two years, and that wouldn’t last long. We had to divide up to live. My mom, sister, and I went to our grandparents’ summer cottage. My dad stayed with our other grandparents in the city, where he got his old job back and saved money until he was able to rent a duplex for
