Mercy Chefs/Bowery Mission NYC Thanksgiving Outreach 2008
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When we were at The Bowery in May, we were asked to pray about helping out for
the Bowery's Thanksgiving Outreach. They were already feeding over two
thousand Thanksgiving meals, some in house, some at outreaches and some that
were dropped off to other churches and ministries to heat and serve themselves.
But with a mobile kitchen, even more outreaches could be done.
We left in May and prayed and talked about what we could do. Finally it was
decided that we would do it. Gary had just purchased Mercy 2 and we would go
wanted to go along and help. Gary said he would try to get some of the Mercy
Chefs to help out and we decided to do a short term mission trip from CC Sarasota.
We started planning and getting things moving in July. There was a lot of upfront
work to do, including raising some funds to offset expenses and help the Bowery.
We ended up with 8 from our church, Mary Jo and our kids, Nick and Melissa,
Kevin and his son Jesse, John and Jon. Mercy Chefs had Dave, Walter and Gary.
MJ's cousins Ken & Barb in New York joined us as well. Paul and Mandy and
their daughter Nicole were also in town and Termite and Suzanne, our friends
from Sarasota joined us as well.
I made a scouting trip and Tom took me around to look at several potential spots
for outreaches and we went over several logistical items. God was clear to us as to
where He wanted us to be on Thanksgiving and we chose two outreaches on Staten
Island and two in the Bronx. We had no idea what to expect, so we set our
expectations high. The Bowery got busy printing fliers for the churches to pass
out. Everyone was getting excited with what God was going to do. I made a return
trip two weeks before Thanksgiving to ensure that things were moving in the right
direction and to help out in any way I could. Things were going great!
In the past The Bowery served around 2400 Thanksgiving meals. The official
count this year was over 3400 meals, praise God! This count however doesn't
accurately reflect the meals that we helped prepare that week. There were five
other outreaches during the week where full Thanksgiving meals were served,
they amounted to over 1100 meals, which included our last outing where we fed
almost 500, but more on that later. And while these meals were being prepared,
the Bowery still feeds breakfast, lunch and dinner on a regular basis. This week
we saw over 250 people come in to eat for each meal and yes our crew also helped
prepare and serve these meals as well. Someone asked me how many turkeys did
we use, we seem to have lost count after 500 and its anybodies guess after that!
We had no idea as to what all we were getting ourselves into, but nonetheless, we
knew that this was what God wanted us to do! Our work began Sunday morning
cooking breakfast for the house. It quickly was brought to our attention that
there was a lot of work to be done and that in order to get it done, we'd need to be
working 24/7 until we were finished on Thanksgiving evening.
We quickly figured out a schedule that would allow sleep for all! The crew that we
had was great and no one complained a bit about all the long hours and hard work.
We did our first outreach at a small Russian community. Being a proud people,
many of them had a problem with taking a handout, but we still managed to feed
quite a large amount of people. We spent the rest of the week preparing for
Thanksgiving and cooking and serving the normal house meals.
The Thanksgiving day outreaches were awesome, though we didn't feed the
amount of people that we had planned on feeding, we did exactly what God planned
to do all along! The ministry that was done and continues to be done as a result of
the outreaches will not be known until we get to heaven.
Friday some of our crew headed home and the rest of us headed to do our last
outreach. We were tired but we pressed on. We had only expected around 125,
but prepared enough food for 300. God provided the people and miraculously
provided enough food to feed almost 500 people, which by the way was how many
people came were in line, no one left without food that wanted it!
I'd have to say that this was the most exciting trip that I've ever been apart of
from the planning to the conclusion, but it was also the one with the most spiritual
warfare that I've ever experienced. I can't imagine what God is going to do with
what took place that week or with the doors that have been opened for years to
come, but He had and has a plan and many, many, many people were faithful to
His call on their lives and He alone is responsible for the results!
Also while in NY and busy working, we didn't have much contact with anyone
outside of the Bowery to do ministry with, that was left to the remnant who live
and minister there on a regular basis. God called us to support them and in doing
so, He opened up many doors of ministry for us with those we were supporting and
working alongside. The ministry that He allowed us to do in this capacity was
unimaginable to us before we went and still blows our minds now that we're home!
We were in the right place at the right time and faithfully did what God had
wanted us to do so that His kingdom can be forever changed as He works out all
the details!
I had asked for some input from those who traveled with us and here are a couple
of the responses:
From Melissa:
This trip to NYC has changed my life, and even in ways I haven’t seen yet. People
can be in need no matter what their financial situation is, if they are homeless or
not, and no matter whom they are. It all amounts to everyone that doesn’t know
God as their personal savior and doesn’t have a relationship with him are truly in
need. It was awesome to see the “house” guys be a living example of that. A lot of
them have really messed up their lives; some even came right off the streets, but
in the midst of all that, they praise the Lord with all their heart, and are no longer
“in need.” Looking back only a few days later, the highlight of my trip would have
to be meeting all sorts of people, and hearing their stories.
From Jon:
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" -
Ps. 133:1
Praise God for His faithfulness, love, and provision! Our trip to NYC was truly
blessed. As we approached Thanksgiving week and anticipated the mission ahead
of us I wasn't sure what to expect. When I consider the vast number of people
suffering from poverty, homelessness, and addiction in a city as large as NY, I
often tend to become overwhelmed by the insurmountable need, and I wonder
what difference I could possibly make. What a blessing it was to see over the
course of the week how the church, serving together in oneness of mind and
heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to make an impact far greater than
any lone Christian could. I was so encouraged to see the amazing work being done
at the Bowery Mission on a daily basis, specifically in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and was blessed to take part in the work of doubling their impact this
Thanksgiving. Also, it was quite a faith-builder to see how God provided for every
need that arose during the week ... from the smallest details, to the biggest
setbacks.
Beyond this, my spirit was truly lifted up by the fellowship and building of
relationships with our brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel of Sarasota, as
well as the new relationships formed with our fellow servants from the Bowery and
Mercy Chefs. I'm still gleaning much insight for my own life from what I've seen
in their walks with the Lord during our time together.
Many of the staff and residents at the Bowery expressed deep gratitude to God for
our service, and a sincere appreciation of our love for the Lord. As Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians chapter 9, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the
needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their
approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing
from your confession of the gospel of Christ". What a joyful thought, that our
Father is receiving thanksgiving and praise as a result of our humble service! The
mere fact that we could live and work together in such close quarters, and serve
on such a vigorous and continuous schedule with so little quarreling and discord is
truly a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's presence with us, and a testimony of the
love of Christ to those around us. May they know we're His disciples by our love
for one another, and may our gracious Savior and Lord Jesus Christ cause every
seed that was planted to bear much fruit ... for His glory!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the NYC
Thanksgiving Outreach 2008 Newsletters.
the Bowery's Thanksgiving Outreach. They were already feeding over two
thousand Thanksgiving meals, some in house, some at outreaches and some that
were dropped off to other churches and ministries to heat and serve themselves.
But with a mobile kitchen, even more outreaches could be done.
We left in May and prayed and talked about what we could do. Finally it was
decided that we would do it. Gary had just purchased Mercy 2 and we would go
wanted to go along and help. Gary said he would try to get some of the Mercy
Chefs to help out and we decided to do a short term mission trip from CC Sarasota.
We started planning and getting things moving in July. There was a lot of upfront
work to do, including raising some funds to offset expenses and help the Bowery.
We ended up with 8 from our church, Mary Jo and our kids, Nick and Melissa,
Kevin and his son Jesse, John and Jon. Mercy Chefs had Dave, Walter and Gary.
MJ's cousins Ken & Barb in New York joined us as well. Paul and Mandy and
their daughter Nicole were also in town and Termite and Suzanne, our friends
from Sarasota joined us as well.
I made a scouting trip and Tom took me around to look at several potential spots
for outreaches and we went over several logistical items. God was clear to us as to
where He wanted us to be on Thanksgiving and we chose two outreaches on Staten
Island and two in the Bronx. We had no idea what to expect, so we set our
expectations high. The Bowery got busy printing fliers for the churches to pass
out. Everyone was getting excited with what God was going to do. I made a return
trip two weeks before Thanksgiving to ensure that things were moving in the right
direction and to help out in any way I could. Things were going great!
In the past The Bowery served around 2400 Thanksgiving meals. The official
count this year was over 3400 meals, praise God! This count however doesn't
accurately reflect the meals that we helped prepare that week. There were five
other outreaches during the week where full Thanksgiving meals were served,
they amounted to over 1100 meals, which included our last outing where we fed
almost 500, but more on that later. And while these meals were being prepared,
the Bowery still feeds breakfast, lunch and dinner on a regular basis. This week
we saw over 250 people come in to eat for each meal and yes our crew also helped
prepare and serve these meals as well. Someone asked me how many turkeys did
we use, we seem to have lost count after 500 and its anybodies guess after that!
We had no idea as to what all we were getting ourselves into, but nonetheless, we
knew that this was what God wanted us to do! Our work began Sunday morning
cooking breakfast for the house. It quickly was brought to our attention that
there was a lot of work to be done and that in order to get it done, we'd need to be
working 24/7 until we were finished on Thanksgiving evening.
We quickly figured out a schedule that would allow sleep for all! The crew that we
had was great and no one complained a bit about all the long hours and hard work.
We did our first outreach at a small Russian community. Being a proud people,
many of them had a problem with taking a handout, but we still managed to feed
quite a large amount of people. We spent the rest of the week preparing for
Thanksgiving and cooking and serving the normal house meals.
The Thanksgiving day outreaches were awesome, though we didn't feed the
amount of people that we had planned on feeding, we did exactly what God planned
to do all along! The ministry that was done and continues to be done as a result of
the outreaches will not be known until we get to heaven.
Friday some of our crew headed home and the rest of us headed to do our last
outreach. We were tired but we pressed on. We had only expected around 125,
but prepared enough food for 300. God provided the people and miraculously
provided enough food to feed almost 500 people, which by the way was how many
people came were in line, no one left without food that wanted it!
I'd have to say that this was the most exciting trip that I've ever been apart of
from the planning to the conclusion, but it was also the one with the most spiritual
warfare that I've ever experienced. I can't imagine what God is going to do with
what took place that week or with the doors that have been opened for years to
come, but He had and has a plan and many, many, many people were faithful to
His call on their lives and He alone is responsible for the results!
Also while in NY and busy working, we didn't have much contact with anyone
outside of the Bowery to do ministry with, that was left to the remnant who live
and minister there on a regular basis. God called us to support them and in doing
so, He opened up many doors of ministry for us with those we were supporting and
working alongside. The ministry that He allowed us to do in this capacity was
unimaginable to us before we went and still blows our minds now that we're home!
We were in the right place at the right time and faithfully did what God had
wanted us to do so that His kingdom can be forever changed as He works out all
the details!
I had asked for some input from those who traveled with us and here are a couple
of the responses:
From Melissa:
This trip to NYC has changed my life, and even in ways I haven’t seen yet. People
can be in need no matter what their financial situation is, if they are homeless or
not, and no matter whom they are. It all amounts to everyone that doesn’t know
God as their personal savior and doesn’t have a relationship with him are truly in
need. It was awesome to see the “house” guys be a living example of that. A lot of
them have really messed up their lives; some even came right off the streets, but
in the midst of all that, they praise the Lord with all their heart, and are no longer
“in need.” Looking back only a few days later, the highlight of my trip would have
to be meeting all sorts of people, and hearing their stories.
From Jon:
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" -
Ps. 133:1
Praise God for His faithfulness, love, and provision! Our trip to NYC was truly
blessed. As we approached Thanksgiving week and anticipated the mission ahead
of us I wasn't sure what to expect. When I consider the vast number of people
suffering from poverty, homelessness, and addiction in a city as large as NY, I
often tend to become overwhelmed by the insurmountable need, and I wonder
what difference I could possibly make. What a blessing it was to see over the
course of the week how the church, serving together in oneness of mind and
heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to make an impact far greater than
any lone Christian could. I was so encouraged to see the amazing work being done
at the Bowery Mission on a daily basis, specifically in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and was blessed to take part in the work of doubling their impact this
Thanksgiving. Also, it was quite a faith-builder to see how God provided for every
need that arose during the week ... from the smallest details, to the biggest
setbacks.
Beyond this, my spirit was truly lifted up by the fellowship and building of
relationships with our brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel of Sarasota, as
well as the new relationships formed with our fellow servants from the Bowery and
Mercy Chefs. I'm still gleaning much insight for my own life from what I've seen
in their walks with the Lord during our time together.
Many of the staff and residents at the Bowery expressed deep gratitude to God for
our service, and a sincere appreciation of our love for the Lord. As Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians chapter 9, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the
needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their
approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing
from your confession of the gospel of Christ". What a joyful thought, that our
Father is receiving thanksgiving and praise as a result of our humble service! The
mere fact that we could live and work together in such close quarters, and serve
on such a vigorous and continuous schedule with so little quarreling and discord is
truly a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's presence with us, and a testimony of the
love of Christ to those around us. May they know we're His disciples by our love
for one another, and may our gracious Savior and Lord Jesus Christ cause every
seed that was planted to bear much fruit ... for His glory!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the NYC
Thanksgiving Outreach 2008 Newsletters.
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
