Our team also does a lot of work outside of the Vickery community. We have been working in a lower-income apartment complex. This was a new experience for me to say the least. I truly didn’t understand the “poor” in Dallas. There is an apartment complex that is one of the worst crime infested communities in Dallas. That is why we went there. We felt like God wanted us to love these people and learn about them and from them. It was actually a shock to me. It was full of drug and alcohol addiction, and a mentality I just didn’t understand. It was a people that didn’t have hope. They just lived day by day with no hope in site, and I think that they have bought into the lie that that is what life is about and there is no moving forward.
To meet people, we just started walking around and meeting people. It was that simple. We did not have to plan a huge outreach to meet people. We just went up to people and talked to them! We made lots of friends immediately and we were invited into many homes. I think these people were just so excited that people would take the time to talk to them and love on them. They didn’t reject us. Most people would not reject love. Again, it is easy to connect with people. Just love.
Sometimes we would go into people’s homes because they wanted to learn more about God. But for this to happen, their guard needed to be down. We were okay with people bringing their beer, their cigs, and even their drugs. Why? Because they were not going to let us have a gathering to talk about God if we didn’t. Better to have a bible study with drugs and alcohol than no bible study at all. Right? These people equate Christians with rules and judgment, so we made it real clear that we were there to love them and not judge them. Being in those atmospheres reminded me that Jesus would be right there with us. He was always with the broken.
We made it simple too. In fact, we always try to make learning about God simple, wherever we go and whoever we work with. We do not teach them. We empower them to learn for themselves. I love to give this example because it shows how simple learning about God together can be. It does not need to be complicated. We started a bible study for mentally ill people. They would gather and THEY would lead it! It was so beautiful too. They were so loving and kind. They love to serve people. They love to care for their neighbors. They love to invite their neighbors to learn. We can learn so much from them.
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