My wife and I moved to Virginia, and a good part of the reason for the move was to learn more about StreetLight Community Ministries and the founder of the ministry, Rose Powers. Our church in Salisbury, MA, had a God-given passion for the poor and elderly, but we had no directed effort. Rose Powers and StreetLight, on the other hand, had organized and influenced all of northern Virginia. Her story is amazing and worth reading.
She is publishing a book on the history of her journey with her ministry and the Lord. It is highly recommended. If you are lacking the sense of God and His love and power in your life, then this book is meant for you.
” I am Rose powers and I am the founder of Streetlight Community Outreach Ministries, and this is a ministry that was established to help the poor and homeless in the Prince William County area of Virginia. I have been working with the homeless for about thirty years. I became aware of the homeless situation in our area while working for the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church.
” I was the administrator, and we had just moved into one of the poorest sections of Woodbridge, and as soon as we opened our doors, we were inundated with families and individuals looking for help with food, with rent evictions, utility cutoffs, that kind of thing. We very quickly found out that there was a homeless campsite right behind our church, literally in our backyard. So, we began thinking, how can we reach this group of people, how can we most effectively help them?
” Since I manage the bills, the pastor asked me to interface with the people, interview them to see how we could best help in that capacity. We first formed a food pantry that seemed to be the biggest need initially, but then we quickly found out people were in dire need of financial assistance for crisis needs such as the rent, eviction and the utility cut offs. Also, we realized a lot of times families would be stranded, completely homeless, not able to get into the shelter. So, we began offering hotel rooms to bridge the gap so that the families would not have to stay in their cars with their children. Additionally, we wanted to do something meaningful for the people living in the woods, so we began assessing their needs, offering food first, then propane during the wintertime. Tents, sleeping bags, warm blankets, clothing, this kind of thing.
“As time went on, the crowds grew. One year it was getting very, very cold. We had the year before had been very icy, very, very cold. As winter approached again in nineteen ninety-seven the Lord just kept putting it on my heart. “Do something to invite them into the church.” Well, this was a two-step process. During the summer we started wondering how we can get them to join us in the church without making them feel pressured? You know, like they didn’t belong? I talked to my husband. I got this bright idea to start barbecues at my house. My husband was all for it.
“And so, I recruited a team from the church. We started hosting barbecues at my house for the literally homeless living behind our church. So, we picked them up. We brought them to the house. We bought food. We had great, great buffet. The volunteers came, they served, and it turned out beautifully. And I was just amazed. The very next day, after the first barbecue, literally all of the homeless people living behind our church arrived at the church on Sunday morning, and they all came in and came straight up to me and my husband and thanked us profusely for allowing us to come to their house.
” I was just struck because I hadn’t realized how meaningful that would be to them. I realized then how ostracized they must usually feel. And over the years, Ken and I have employed some of the homeless who have skills to help out doing small jobs, odd jobs around our house so that they can make money. I’m always amazed at how grateful they are that we would invite them to come into our house, even just to do work. They have a very hard time getting work while living in the woods. Most of them have lost their IDs. Some of them do have background records, some of it is drug related, some of it for other reasons. But, you know, God always was with us. He always protected us. You know, it had a profound impact on their lives that we would bring them to our home.
” There were just too many people we didn’t know anymore. And the crowd grew so much that that’s when I went to Jim Rob, our pastor, and said, can we do this at the church? This was the beginning of our weekly Harvest Banquet at the church.
” Years ago, I had a dream from the Lord, and I was worried about a particular situation between two of the groups of homeless folks that were attending our harvest banquet every week at the church. And I prayed about it. I said, “Lord God, what shall I do about this?” Because they weren’t getting along. So, the Lord gave me a dream. In the dream, I suddenly saw this book in front of me, and it had beautiful jewel tones on the cover of the book. And then in white letters were the words, “Will They See Jesus?” Then I saw the book fluttering open. And there inside of it I see the group of day laborers that stood at the 7-Eleven behind our church. They stood there every day looking for work. They were one of the groups that was not getting along with other people at our weekly harvest banquet. And I see on the opposite side of the page were the words, “Will They See Jesus Through You?” And right then and there, I knew my answer. I knew God was going to work it out.”