It seems so strange to arrive each morning and not see the Atrium full of overnight guests, because from December 15 through March 15, there were about two dozen here each morning: getting coffee, eating breakfast and preparing for another day on the streets of Lynchburg. It was the latest chapter in a two-year journey, as we have been praying for God to continue to grow us in Gospel-centered compassion.
The Local Missions Team led the effort and helped organize almost 300 people who signed up to serve those much less fortunate than themselves. To say that it wasn’t messy or that it always ran without a hitch would be a dubious understatement. At times, it looked like there wouldn’t be enough people to serve the 200+ hours needed each week. But each time God provided, and each time He gave us a chance to be the hands and feet of Christ.
The people He let us serve came in all types and shapes and sizes. Some were as young as 18 and others in their late 60s. They were men and women, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. They were black, white and Hispanic. They were educated and uneducated; some were healthy while others struggled physically.
During the course of the three months, exactly 100 stayed with us at least one night. God allowed us to provide more than 2,000 nights of care during the course of the season.
Why did we do it? Because we felt that God was calling us to it. We knew from last year that sheltering people here at night and shuttling them back and forth each morning and evening was a lot of work. But it was never about just a warm bed and some food.
It was a chance to build relationships and treat others with love and dignity and give them a chance to see and hear about a Savior who loved them enough to give His life for them.
However, as many of us learned, it’s easy to lose sight of that in the midst of the chaos. It’s easy to see the tasks in front and the people as just part of the task. It’s easy to see this as something to get through and miss it as the opportunity to not only show Christ’s love but to be shaped out of our own brokenness into the image of Him.
The truth is that discipleship happens best while we are on mission. Many of our servers would tell you that God used this time to do some major work on their hearts. God also was working in the hearts of our guests, as we saw many of them soften to the Gospel and in fact six individuals became followers of Jesus during this time.
Some might ask if the Winter Shelter was successful, or if we are planning to do it again next year. That’s a valid question and one that we asked as well. It made us examine what is success? Was it the number who stayed or those who are now off the street? Or maybe it is the number of new servers who got involved or even the number of people who made professions of faith. All of those things are positive, however, it’s not the standard we should use for measuring success.
Because all of those are outcomes or results, and when we focus on results, we are missing what real success is, and that’s obedience. You see, the only true measure that each of us should be evaluating is: “Am I doing what God is asking me to do?” When I can say “yes” to that question, then I can leave the results up to Him. As a servant of His, that’s what each of us is called to do.
The same thing is true in our families, our jobs, our serving in ministry and in every part of our everyday lives.
Obedience is the only true measure of success. And not only that, but we have a promise that comes with this in John 14:21: Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. In fact a couple chapters past this in John 17, when Jesus evaluates his own ministry on earth He basically tells the Father that He has done all that the Father asked of Him. So, how could we use any other standard?
We are thankful for what God allowed us to be part of through the shelter. Will we do it next year or will God be calling us to something else? We are not sure, but what we do know is that it will need to begin by getting on our knees and asking Him to show us what He wants and then saying “yes” and trusting that He will build his Church in and through us and with us in a way that brings Him the glory that He deserves.