Spotlight: We Just Love Jesus

We Just Love Jesus!

Iron Sharp Foundation Making a Difference in Community

by Kay Little, Little History Adventures

Recently, I had the privilege of meeting a couple who are making a difference in our community. I came away so encouraged and feeling like I had been in an exciting church service.

In the early 1900s, Sloan’s Grocery Store in Ochelata kept the citizens well fed, even during the hard times of war and recession. People were able to save money by shopping there. The churches in Ochelata were known for being friendly and working with the community.

Today, at the same location, T.J. and Jennifer Hendrix of Iron Sharp Foundation are helping to feed the community and are working with local churches. They have set up a pantry in the building and hundreds of people come through every week to “shop” for groceries to help feed their families. The couple is doing their best to make sure no one in the community is hungry — literally and spiritually.

The Hendrixes moved to Ochelata in 2018 and received a vision from God in 2020 that He would use the old grocery store to feed people. The building was pretty raw, but they had faith the money and resources would come. The Lord brought it to pass in March 2021, when He provided the finances to purchase and restore the building. God continues to send people and finances to not only sustain the operation, but also grow it as He desires.

They opened the building May 1, 2021. They serve about 300 people a month and the numbers keep rising. But food is not the only thing T.J. and Jennifer offer people. Jennifer is working on her master’s degree and license in counseling and is able to offer some counseling. On Monday nights they offer in-depth Bible study and on Thursday, they have discipleship training. They are working with a friend to possibly have a ministry to area youth. They know there is so much more to do, but they are seeking God’s will, to move with Him.

T.J. and Jennifer are adamant that they are NOT a church, but a para-church organization. A few churches in Ochelata have food pantries also, but they all help each other. When one group receives an overabundance of food, they reach out to each other and see if they have a need. Iron Sharp Foundation is partnered with a few other ministries and organizations where they are able to obtain quality food as well as other items families need. On November 13, they partnered with Get Real Ministries, bmonthly Magazine, and others to help give food and coats at the Warm Up Bartlesville event. Jennifer calls these God dots.

T.J. talked about how all believers are a part of the Body of Christ. While one may be a hand or a foot, he feels that they are a tendon that helps join and strengthen other parts of the Body of Christ. First Corinthians 12:12 states “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” The organization is founded and stands upon Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

They have a motto: R2P2, which means Relationship, Rest, Presence, Peace. We are all to have an intimate relationship with Jesus and carry His Glory! How does that happen? By seeking Him in the secret place. As we are resting in Him in the secret place, His presence will come, and with His presence comes His peace that surpasses all understanding.

The Hendrix couple wants everyone to know who they are in Christ. T.J. wants people to operate in the authority Jesus has given them, because only then will the people have freedom. They want Jesus to be exalted above everything. When people come in to the Pantry, they want them to encounter Jesus!

For additional information, check them out on their website: ironsharpfoundation.org.