This is where we are

I hate asking for things; for anything. Maybe it's a product of my own pride, but for some reason I have always refused to ask favors of others; except for the occasional request of those closest to me. However, a time has come that I need to get out of my own way, so I can be honest and open. There are a few needs that need to be met in order to maintain our little outreach; especially if we want to grow and make a bigger impact in our community. So with that, I am going to use this outlet to ask.

We are serving at minimum 150 hotdogs a week. We use good quality hotdogs, Oscar Meyer all beef, which is the standard that we want to keep. I wouldn’t feed anybody in my home anything less. Also, we go through about 80 individual bags of chips a week and about 5 gallons of tea. I had added fresh fruit and veggies to the mix for a while, and would like to begin to do that again. It takes a minimum of five volunteers to operate each week. Unfortunately that doesn’t leave anyone to talk and develop relationships with folks if we only have five people manning the food and drinks.

With all things considered it starts to be a hefty financial burden to carry. Our group is nearly 100% self-funded, and we love that, but we leave every week without feeding some folks simply because the resources are not there. We do have a couple generous people who have given to us, and right when we needed it as well, but we are hoping to be able to expand and need more consistency. Whether in monetary contributions or in the form hotdogs, buns, chips, veggies, or fruit, your help is greatly appreciated.

Just as important as food and fiscal capability is man power. We want to be able to develop relationships out on the street. Through forging real friendships we can help in creating a connection with those that have plenty and the needy people of our city. I am also a believer that true evangelization happens through friendship. Jesus spent time with drug addicts, the prostitutes, the tax collectors and the sick. He broke bread with them and sat in communion with the least of these. In order to do that, we need enough volunteers of the same heart and mind to come out with us. If you want to talk with folks, please come on out with us! If you would rather serve food than talk, we would love to have your help as well!

As I said before, I hate asking for things; but this has been on my heart since my last posting. My name is Brant Graves, and like our page on facebook @ God N' Dogs

We appreciate you,

Brant.

I am switching it up and writing before going out, what else did i switch?

I don't have any inspiring quotes or words for y’all today, only excitement! I'm writing this morning in eager anticipation for this evening's God N Dogs. For months now, we've had two groups coming out on the street with us on a regular basis. Foundations young adult group, and the youth group from Colonial Heights Assemblies of God. They've both have shown great enthusiasm to serve and love! There's also been several others who have jumped in and have been helping and contributing in great ways! Carla, Bethany, Philip, the brothers Steve and Ted, my grandparents and cousin Dacota, and of course there is Pastor Ron and whole crew who have been with us for years! I am forever grateful to First UMC for allowing us to use their parking lot all year as well. As I said in my first blog post, our humble effort at changing the world has truly been an act of Kingdom work. So many different people from different places have been coming out to help this vision that Doug, Jim and I had for God N Dogs.

Tonight, I am excited that Foundations will be with us, but we will also have a new group coming. They're from my religious camp and have a goal to branch out and work alongside others to spread the joy of a relationship with Our Lord Jesus. Church of the Resurrection’s youth group will be joining us for the first, of what I hope to be many times, out on the streets.  

As I've said before, I wish in some way we would be able to bridge the gap between the poor in our community, and those who have plenty. I would also like us to have to goal of closing the great divide between denominations. I have no desire to make a non-denominational movement, but instead help folks focus on the commonalities we have and learn how to love and respect each faith walk as we love the world around us.

like us on facebook! www.facebook.com/godndogs

Meditations and purposes.

All glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…..

    This is the first blog I have written in a long time. There is so much that I could report about, but this is not a place for me to simply state the happenings on the street. I is a place where I relate the work that is happening to the Kingdom of God.

    I have started a facebook page for God N Dogs and more and more people are wanting to help out with the ministry. I made a rough estimate last week of the amount of money that it takes to run our little outreach operation. I have thought about what happens if we lose some key folks that help out every week. We are involved with four different churches directly and indirectly involved with many more. We are pseudo-involved with two non-profit groups, though we are not non-profit ourselves. There is a lot of potential for growth.

    This ministry is not about me and it is not about Doug. It is not about numbers and it is not about notoriety. It is not even about feeding as many folks as we can. For me to even definitively say exactly what it is about would be to limit what God wants from all involved. So all I have to offer is ambiguity.

    This outreach is first of all about relationships. How ambiguous is that? Relationships with who? What kind of relationships? What is the point of the relationships? The questions could be endless. My hope, my prayer, and my conviction is to use this tailgate party to cultivate relationships that can bridge socio-economic gaps between people. Bring folks out of the burbs and into direct contact with urban poverty. I hope folks can become real friends. True friendship goes beyond just a weekly service of food or the occasional clothing donation. There is laughter shared and also help with bearing burdens. I want to take folks beyond talking about the homeless and poor and “them” or “they” and start referring to them as Angie and Ted. Humanize the poor and know them as a neighbor that needs to be loved as ourselves.

    I believe if this physical action of loving our neighbors comes to life, the spiritual relationships will begin to grow as well. It should always be a goal to grow in our own relationship with our God. Remembering that Jesus was real and the stories of Him come from Jesus being with the poor and the forgotten. Do we know what it's like to love someone who hates us? If you come out and get personal with folks, I promise you will have that opportunity. Do we know what it’s like to be friends with a drug dealer or drunkard? Jesus did, and if you come out and invest time, so can you.

This is what I believe ordinary evangelization is. Trying to purposely live out the gospel. The numbers, the promotion, the talking that goes on away from the streets is all…. just frivolous to me. I struggle with how organized we should or shouldn’t be.

And I am going to leave it at that.

Bigger Numbers and the Drama that comes with them.

April 30, 2015. God N' Dogs. Our humble attempt to change the world.

 

Last week (April 30) was a crazy week on the streets! The craziness that happened last week had to do with some irate folks but everything was handled without incident. Thank you to WPD for their assistance.

Things have been growing with our little hot dog tailgate party. When we started out again we were serving about 30-40 people a week, somewhere between 60-80 hotdogs total on the nights. Last Thursday, we served 250 hotdogs and had contact with around 100-125 people. The financial burden of this has obviously grown, but we have had new volunteers come out and help share the load. We have also had a few anonymous donations come from seemingly nowhere to help out! Thank you to all who have donated both time and money!   

Darrin Summers, from Sharon Springs KS, came and spent the evening with us. He was in town to line up things for the youth group service weekend in June. We will be doing some work with Inner Faith Ministries as well as doing our normal hotdog tailgate and then a special Saturday event with sloppy joes! Also, a big thank you has to go to First United Methodist Church and Leslie Coates for truly showing us what it means to be doing Kingdom work. They are opening up their doors to Darrin and his group for them to stay there at the church and save money on hotel fees! It is so huge, and the money saved will go to helping out those less fortunate than us. Our partnership with First UMC has been very uplifting and encouraging for me to be a part of and has helped show me that sometimes we can work within the systems of some establishments.

I know my posts have been sporadic at best, I hope to dedicate some more time and effort to these posts. It is great self reflection for me and helps me keep a certain ethos about my time out on the streets of Wichita.

I am looking forward to going out on the streets tonight! Prayers, volunteers, and donations are always welcome! Every Thursday evening at 6:30 on the corner of 3rd and Topeka.

No computer, so it's a phone post

A conversation that I really enjoyed was with a small and very kind man. He told me his name, but for the protection of his privacy, i am not going to mention it. He kept a good neat appearance, which is something noticeable on the streets. He was also so very approachable and pleasant to talk with because it was almost as though he had a permanent smile on his face. In conversation I found out many things about him. One of the first things he said to me came almost as a confession. He apologetically told me that he is an atheist. I was taken back a bit, not because of his beliefs, but because of his sheepish and apologetic way of telling me. As christians, we should be approachable and kind towards all people no matter their belief system or lifestyle. I am aware and have even experienced the harsh and judgemental ways of the bible belt, but it still baffles me when others expect the same behavior from me. Though it probably shouldn’t since sadly I have been a part of racism and homophobia before. It is something that saddens me to this day and I must admit to it so as to keep myself from becoming prideful, another one of my many vices.

The next thing that really stuck with me is that he will soon be homeless and is worried about the transition of life, as I am sure any of us would be. He has found himself financially behind due to the piling up of personal medical bills on top of the declining health of his mother. This is the new face of homelessness in america. People who cannot keep up with outrageously priced medical bills. The baby boomer generation is becoming elderly and we do not have the social structure to keep up with care. All of this while the cost of living is shooting through the roof. When talking about his upcoming homelessness, that was the only moment when the joy sank from his face. He was already feeling the effects of the loss of his dignity, which is the stigma that those of us who are more fortunate than our friends on the street place on them.  

I think I am going to start posting one week behind what's happening on the streets. This will hopefully produce, though probably a futile attempt, a more quality blog. The content will have a chance to set it more and perhaps give me a better perspective on the happening of the night out.

My evening started hectically with friends calling hours before needed help and one neighborhood friend in particular just needing someone to listen. This on top of Doug, one of our main team members, being gone for the week. That meant that I would be serving dogs myself instead of connecting with Cameron and his group from Colonial Heights and talking with the rest of the group. Needless to say, I arrived in a bit of a frazzle.

I enjoyed the service again. Getting to see everybody that came through the line was awesome! Normally I am talking with other team members and then in conversation with just a few individuals. It was the warmest night of the year, so we had double the usual numbers! Served up over 150 hot dogs to about 80-90 folks. As the weather warms up, we will be focusing less on warm clothes and more on socks and shoes. It will also allow for us to get more creative in our outdoor space! More music, longer nights! More games and more relational conversations! That is what I get excited for. We get to know folks more and that allows for more time for the Holy Spirit to work!

I don't have any abstract or inspirational thoughts this week. I only have bright hopes and high expectations for the little ways that God allows us to work!  

Confrontations and Love

God N Dogs: Our Humble Attempt to Change the World

March 5th

    “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was Made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (...) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar’ for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, That he who loves God should love his brother also.”

    “If i speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If i have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and if i have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all i have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

    I have spent this morning reading and meditating on love. What God N’ Dogs and what Let’s Rock and Roll and Change the World is doing, it all has come from a place of love. I think it is very important that we continue to meditate and question our actions and service against these aforementioned texts. I think it is very important to pause daily and reflect on ourselves as to the driving energy behind our lives.

• Is love at the center of everything we do?
• Is love for God what compels us to love our neighbor?
• Are we loving our neighbor as ourselves?
• Are we loving our neighbor as our neighbor needs to be loved?

I personally have lost these questions and the roots of love in the past. I never want to go down those roads again.

I had read the first text early in the day yesterday, and I needed it on the streets last night. A confrontation between me and and one of my homeless friends occurred and escalated quickly. Thankfully the Holy Spirit reminded me that I must show love to my brother if I want to love God. In the midst of the argument, I was reminded that showing love to this man is far more important than being right. It was also quite evident that nothing edifying would come from this due to the defensive and confronting approach that had been taken. I quickly withdrew with a reply of, “I love you brother, lets not argue.” Unfortunately that was not well received either. I hope to be able to mend ties and have good discussion with him later on down the road.

It was a warmer night and therefore, a busier night out on the streets. We were fortunate enough to have some candy and juices to give away on top of the usual Oscar Meyer all beef dogs and chips. I enjoyed time with friends while playing corn hole, and there are rematches scheduled for next week! 70 dogs were served to about 40 people, so the numbers are consistent. I am feeling like word is spreading that we are back out on the streets, and our new location and partnership with First United Methodist Church is going well! We are very thankful to Leslie Coates and all those on the homeless and outreach board there!

I am going to end these thought with some exciting news! John, aka Big John, is a good guy who I met a couple of years ago while doing street outreach. He has been homeless, but has always made it his goal to help the homeless community as much as possible. He founded a group called Absolutely Amazing People whose goal is to empower homeless and give them skills to enter the job market. He has also done a lot of work with Messiah’s Branch Outreach and Pastor Dan. Anyways, my good friend John is engaged to be married to Rachel, who I look forward to getting to know soon! I was humbled to be asked to be the best man at their ceremony!  I do not know how much information they want to be put out, so I will leave it at that.

Prayers this week:

• John and Rachel, for their upcoming marriage
• Our friend who will be going in for heart surgery on the 15th
• Donald, that he can be reconciled with his wife Tosha
• for warmth and care for the homeless on the cold nights

Classical music, freezing cold, and of course, hot dogs.

Feb 26, God N’ Dogs - Our Humble Attempt to Change the World

    To set the tone and allow you into my head a bit, not that anybody would want to be there, I am listening to Arvo Part’s Magnificat as I write this.

          I wrote a couple weeks ago about how cold of a night we had. Last night, Feb 26th, was much colder! The cold made for a short night out on the street, mostly because it was so cold that we only had about 30 folks show up to the feed. However, those who did make it out received a special treat! I made chilli from the deer that our friends from Sharron Springs gave us! We served it with cheese in a cup or as a great topping for the hot dogs! Even with the small turnout, we ran out of chili.

 

          Some old friends were out to see us last night. One is a guy that has been a part of our outreach for many years. Seeing him stirred up a lot of old memories and also a lot of emotion. He was intoxicated last night after 5 months or so of sobriety. There is no judgement here, and there never should be. Only sadness and hurt. Alcoholism has plagued our friend much of his life and our team has witnessed the back and forth struggle that he has gone through. The system has helped in detox and even placement off of the streets, but where the system fails him is in the lack of community surrounding him to give that vital support and stability that is needed in every addicts life to maintain sobriety.

 

I am excited to be working with Rock and Roll because that is a main goal of building this community. We want to surround people with what a government or any other kind of system cannot provide. We want to build what the church has failed to do in many respects. A place where people can live life together. I am happy that for the first time in the 7 years I have done street outreach, I am with folks and have a plan to offer real physical solutions to many of the problems that we face on the streets. I am a believer that in offering and working towards the restoration of human dignity to the “least of these”, we are pointing folks towards the Living Bread.

 

By now, most people I come in contact with know that I am involved in street outreach. So I do not hear all of the condescending and harsh talk about the homeless and less fortunate in our community. I do, however, remember where I came from. The preconceptions that I held and those of the crowd with which I ran. Thanks to the internet and local media, I also read a steady stream of the misconceptions and judgements. These things sadden me, and when it comes to the “christian” community, it angers me at the same time. Our american society has labeled everyone. If you are successful, you are a winner. If you are not successful, you are a loser. Even if no one has said so much, that title is still carried if you are on the margins of society. In medieval europe they had a different term that was used for those on the fringes of society. It was “unfortunates”. They recognized in that term that it usually isn’t the individual’s fault for their standing in society. Hard workers and people with great ideas often times fail because of reasons outside of their control. I know that this is an oversimplification, but I believe it is a mindset and language that we must spread.

 

I am going to leave you with this quote from the aforementioned composer:

 

“There is a good rule in spiritual life, which we all forget continually, that you must see more of your own sins than other people’s.(...) So I think everyone must say to himself, ‘We must change our thinking.’ We cannot see what is in the heart of another person. Maybe he is a holy man, and I can see only that he is wearing a wrong jacket.”

Feb 12 - Dogs, Care Bags and Confrontation.

On Feb 12, a bitterly cold Thursday night,  the group from Colonial Heights came out to serve with us. Outside of the nipping cold, it was a great night! The numbers were smaller than previous weeks. However, at the risk of sounding redundant, it was very cold. Perhaps the numbers seemed to be even fewer since the group From C.H. was so large. Regardless, 40+ folks were served food and even more benefitted from the clothing and care bags that were handed out! Even more exciting, the ending prayer was a great experience. Some of the homeless community joined right in with the circle. Donald shared about how he longed for a reunion with his wife Tosha. Several people prayed for the intentions of the night, then another homeless friend of ours asked for us to close with the Lord’s Prayer, in unison. This kind of organic, Spirit lead and filled communion with each other is the type of gathering that I have always hoped for. Please pray that we can continue to cultivate hearts, minds and bodies for Christ; that our simple hot dogs can be an avenue for pointing to True Bread.

Cameron Combs, the youth leader at Colonial Heights, had a small run in with one of our good friends out on the street, Anthony. The funny thing is that Cameron didn’t even realize he had a “Run in” or incident of any kind. (Enter “LOLz” into the text here.)  Anthony came to me upset and calling into question the heart of Cameron.
“He is a pastor and I need a place to stay. He said he won’t put me up in a hotel.” said Anthony.
Anthony, who was intoxicated, is a good friend whom I have known for several years.
I spoke to him and said: “man, I have been out here for years and I have never gotten you a room. Why are you being so hard on Cameron?”
By the end of the night Anthony was apologizing to Cameron and Cameron didn’t even know why Anthony was apologizing.

It was a entertaining thing for me to watch unfold. I barely know Cameron.I think I can safely say that it is in his heart to serve and love folks as Jesus did. The thing about the streets, especially in this bible belt state, is that there is no shortage of Christian folks who come out and serve for a night. The homeless are well acclimated to such short term come and go ministry. I am not saying anything negative about serving once a month, hell, I only serve once a week. These things are needed and are a great blessing to folks on the street, as well as to me in my little outreach. What I am saying, and some thanks are due to Breakfast Bob for helping bring these thoughts into focus, is that the homeless know the stereotyped weekend warrior Christian who will be there just for today. So the homeless push the server until they hear “No,” a word that is very, very important in street outreach. Cameron was gracious in his decline, and his testimony was not tarnished in any way with Anthony or anyone else. This is just part of reaching out on the street.

To be remembered in prayer this week:

1. One of our homeless friends, who has asked to remain nameless, is have bypass surgery on March 15th.
2. Jennifer Dowling is having hip problems and needs physical therapy.
3. Our friend Kenny broke his ankle.
4. Sandy’s father is in need of a kidney transplant.
5. Donald wishes to be reunited with his wife Tausha.

Please pray for healing and provision for our friends on the streets.

Jan 29th - the re opening of our little hot dog tailgate

God N' Dogs. Our humble efforts to help change the world.
Thursday, January 29th, 2015

The theme of the night seemed to be "Kingdom work". It's a phrase that First United Methodist Church used when we were first talking about partnering with them to do this feed. Tonight, being the first night at First UMC and the first night with Let's Rock&Roll and Change the World, really left me with a great collaborative feel to our work and efforts for unity amongst Christ's Body.

We came, we saw, we fed, we prayed and we played. 65 Oscar Meyer all beef hot dogs were served to around 35 people. Kimber, from Rock and Roll, brought out clothes and grocery items and passed them out to many others. Approximately 75 individuals came through the parking lot behind at First UMC on the corner of 3rd and Topeka.

We had live music and corn hole games! It really was a great time on this mild January evening. New friends were made and old friends came. It was a great time!

The first night was very successful night and we are excited to see this ministry grow and our new partnerships blossom!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated and especially to those who came out and experiences Jesus with us!

http://www.letsrockandrollandchangetheworld.org/



Feb 6 - I am posting some older posts.

GOD N’ DOGS: Our Humble Attempt to Change the World.

Doug and Jim are working away, serving up the hot dogs!

    Despite the cold, it was a great thursday out on the streets of Wichita! Relationships have always been a theme of our outreach, and this week has been a exciting week of relationship building. Bob and Kimber got to come out this week, as well as my old friend Ben Coon! Also, Cheryl George dropped off some awesome coats for us to give out! We served out 80 dogs to around 45 people who came to hang out with us! Kyle, Ben and I are in the pic below, just met Kyle last night, played some corn hole and goofed around!  

    I also love the pics because we are at the First UMC, and the catholic cathedral is in the background. It is a good depiction of the “Kingdom work” I wrote about last week, and every day seems to be more and more like this. Next week, Feb 12, Cameron Combs and his group from Colonial Heights Assemblies of God will be joining us! Then on Feb 19, Gracepoint Foundations will be coming out! All different churches and different people coming together to try and change the world!

We had a interesting little hitch, Adam, a member of First UMC staff, came out and met us. He didn’t know that we were supposed to be there, but he was really cool about it. Hopefully that will be cleared up for next week, and the rest of the year!

First Post

 

God N’ Dogs is the street outreach sect of Let’s Rock and Roll and Change the World. The hot dog tailgate party that we throw every week is the avenue that Doug, Jim and I have been using to try and glorify God and bring His “kingdom come” to this world. In God’s kingdom it is said that the lion will lay with the lamb,  so we make an effort to bring together some opposites in a harmonious way. Such as bringing middle class to be with the poor and trying to eliminate separations. There will be no barriers between us when we serve. No tables to stand behind and no isolated groups of people who came to serve but are circled up speaking amongst themselves. In fact, I would like to eliminate any idea of service at all, and create an environment and space that is simply for hanging out. Relationships do not usually  form in the forced and awkward manner that accompanies the idea of ministry or service. It has been my experience that real relationships come about organically.

I am excited to have this outdoor space that we can use each Thursday night so that we can build consistency and trust here. I think of it, as Mark Scandrette put it in the book “Practicing the Way of Jesus”, a Jesus dojo (a dojo is the practice used for martial arts development) or a space to actively and practically apply the practice of living life as Jesus lived. I am excited to have these partnerships with other christians so we can show to the homeless and to the world this idea of trying to realize, and hopefully one day fully realizing, God’s Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.  

All of that said, this blog will consist of updates about God N’ Dogs. However, it will not just be numbers and name dropping. This outreach is a personal and relational experience for me. I want each and every night out on the street to be just that for our group and folks our group come in contact with. We want to build relationships. Real relationships. We want to point to the Father as Jesus pointed to the Father; Loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Let's Rock & Roll and Change the World facebook