Photo: Tony and his wife, Gloria are parents of three girls.
Last Thursday it was my turn to give the devotional, my last chance to minister publicly before flying off to Argentina again the next week.
The tables were set with scripture verses by the place mats. At exactly 6 PM the kitchen crew announced that "all was ready." Tony called the cooks, the servers, the sound and video operator, the counselors and worship leaders together. We formed a circle and joined hands as Tony led us in prayer. God was waiting when the door was opened to invite the line of hungry people inside.
Then Tony invited anyone who had learned the memory verse to come up.
A valiant older man with a strong Latin accent made a noble attempt. Obviously English was not his native language. He struggled and left out a word or two, but included the entire message of the verse. He got an applause and a prize, a coupon to the "Dollar Store".
After the meal was over I noticed an elderly man who did not rise from his seat. I thought I detected tears in his eyes and went over to hug him and pray with him.
There could be no doubt. God was in His "Banquet Hall". And the guests seated at the table were those from the highways and byways... the very ones that our "King" instructed us to invite to our feasts.
This morning, Sunday, I cornered Tony and Gloria after church and asked for an interview. I found out that he works a full-time job organizing truck deliveries. Yet now for 7 years he has faithfully spent many additional hours every week operating the H Street ministry. He started reaching out to the needy in this area even before the H Street building was purchased by Neighborhood Church and remodeled.
He has about 25 faithful volunteers. Some are men and women that formerly were part of the line waiting outside. This is not just a program of passing out groceries. Each visitor is carefully registered and is shown personal interest. They are individually given godly counsel and prayed with. Some now sit on the other side of the table! They have been saved and have been prepared in special classes. Today they are listening to stories similar to their own, stories of broken people. But now they are offering counsel and praying with them! Praise God!
Tony told me of an atheistic former gang member that was living with a girl friend. Now they are saved, properly married and attending church in Reno, Nevada.
He informed me that every Tuesday night a team meets with him to prepare about 100 large bags of groceries to give out to needy families. At daybreak Wednesday mornings people start lining up since they know that the packages are limited in number.
The Thursday hot meal is a relatively new idea. Tony says that he was seeking a way to have a more "church-like atmosphere" complete with a couple of worship songs and a short devotional where they could hear testimonies and a Gospel message from God's Word. It is working!
On the first Saturday morning of each month a special children's program is prepared. (See my March 8, 2014 blog entitled "God's Masterpiece.")
I asked Tony, "What made you start doing this? And what keeps you doing it faithfully week after week?”
He answered “It happened when I was visiting a ministry to the needy in San Francisco. I remembered Jesus’ words, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' And ever since that day when I look at these people's faces, instead of a ragged beard and the scars of sin... I see the face of God!"
Ralph
