Sowing & Reaping in a Whole New Way

BY CYNDI LAMB (‘74)

In 2011, Evan and Andrea Mosshart left Oklahoma to serve for one year as on-site coordinators in the African country of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland). The Mossharts were part of a now 20-year partnership between SNU, Bethany First Nazarene, and this tiny country the size of New Jersey which has the highest prevalence of HIV in the world.

When Evan disembarked from the 19-hour plane flight, he expected to encounter a country ravaged by disease and poverty. What he didn’t expect was to see “people who had a passion for helping their neighbor. People who worked tirelessly for the benefit of those in need around them with seemingly reckless perseverance and irrepressible enthusiasm.”

One of the Mossharts' assignments in eSwatini was to assist the established HIV/AIDS Task-Force which visits hundreds of homebound patients offering palliative care. The task force also works with communities throughout the country in planting gardens. Evan observed people bent over toiling, faces glistening with sweat as they worked together - digging, planting, and weeding in the African sun. Even those who were sick would help as they could.

When the Mossharts returned to life in the US, Evan brought back more than great memories and some beautifully woven baskets. He brought home a longing for a new kind of normal. “I found within myself this relentless gravitational pull, an incessant yearning to take the things I learned there and contextualize them in my life today.”

The couple found kindred spirits at a new church plant in midtown Oklahoma City - 8th Street Church of the Nazarene. One of the congregation’s founding values is to “be a good neighbor.” The church eventually realized that addressing the neighborhood’s food insecurity would be a major way to do this. The Mossharts began to view this challenge through this lens of longing they’d brought with them from Africa and to imagine what an urban garden might mean for their neighbors. Evan and Andrea explored the idea with lead pastor Dr. Chris Pollock and eventually shared the vision with the church.

“As we look around our neighborhood at 8th and Lee, we see people who are hungry. Oklahoma is the fifth hungriest state in the nation. One in four Oklahoma children fights back hunger pangs every day. We are hungry…not only for food but friendships, to belong to people that understand us, to love and to be loved, to be able to contribute to something meaningful, experience personal growth, and have a place to call home,” said Evan.

Pastor Chris introduced Evan to his friend Kevin Marshall. Several years earlier Marshall had left a 35-year profession in IT, sold his home, and moved to an acreage north of Oklahoma City without knowing what came next. In time he sensed the Lord saying, “I want you to farm.” Gardening had been a lifelong hobby, so Marshall started with the few tools he had and began “to play in the dirt” as he describes it. Four months later his land was ready for planting.

Andrea (Green) (‘08) & Evan Mosshart (‘09) with children

Marshall initiated an innovative farming practice called market gardening, which involves taking a small plot of land - one to five acres - growing produce, and then selling directly to the public. This technique uses low power implements and focuses on growing the soil as much as growing the plants. Marshall avoids tilling, harmful chemicals, and applies organic fertilizer with an ingredient list that reads like a multi-vitamin. This technique produces healthier and tastier plants.

God also gave Marshall a vision for his future. “He told me, in five years I would be training other farmers. I thought that was crazy since I didn’t even know how to farm myself. But at the end of last year, which was our 5th season, Evan Mosshart came to us wanting to work and learn how to farm.” From that meeting, Evan began to intern three days a week at Indigo Acres under the tutelage of Kevin Marshall.

But the story doesn’t end there. From its beginning, 8th Street Church has enjoyed an innovative partnership with its neighboring hospital - Saint Anthony’s (Oklahoma’s oldest medical center). Together, they share a vision to minister to their community. This past summer, the 8th Street Urban Farm was created as a separate 501c3, built its first raised beds, and planted its first crops on

As the farm has begun to take shape another opportunity for collaboration has emerged. St. Anthony’s is the site of a behavioral health unit for adolescents. One morning a week, a group of middle schoolers from the unit now come to help on the farm. They do hard, physical labor - from spreading large tarps to filling the sandbags that hold the tarps down - to tedious tasks like pulling weeds and planting seeds.

Through working with these youth, Evan has seen part of his vision unfold in a way he could never imagine. When his helpers tell him, “Wow…I really felt like I did something today,” or “I’m so proud of what I accomplished,” Evan’s dream is blooming even before the garden has produced its first harvest. He’s overwhelmed to hear a young man who was setting fires a few weeks earlier now saying, “Whenever I get out of here, I want to go help my grandma in her garden.”

As the first vegetables rise from the healthy dirt that Evan and his helpers have cultivated, the urban garden is already producing a bounty. A bounty of caring…for others and the earth…a bounty of purpose and community. And a reminder to us all that God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV).

If you want more information on the 8th Street Urban Farm or would like to support their mission to be good neighbors you can go to: 8thsturbanfarm.org or find them on Facebook and Instagram by following @8thsturbanfarm