DALLAS—With the number of homeless in Dallas hitting almost 6,000 in 2008, a pastor felt called to not only meet their spiritually needs but their physical needs, as well.

Micah Phillips, pastor of Holy Communion Baptist Church, has a heart for the people in his community, especially the ones who do not have a home.

On a public transit train, Micah Phillips, pastor of Holy Communion Baptist Church in Dallas, talks to Jaime, a homeless alcoholic who recently was released from jail.

When in California, he saw people from all different backgrounds come together. He wants to see this happen in Texas.

“Dallas will be restored depending on how we treat the homeless,” Phillips said.

The church provides food and lodging for each homeless person for up to six months to help them get on track. Residents can attend transitional-living classes three days a week, and the church will soon offer classes every day, Phillips said.

“It’s part of God’s vision,” he said. “He needs someone who’s going to go to the uttermost. You must go to the guttermost to go to the uttermost.”

About 100 homeless people a month contact the church looking for assistance. More than half of Holy Communion’s membership consists of homeless people who attend the church, said Eloisa Mariscal, Phillips’s executive assistant.

“We’re getting people to get reconnected with the source, which is God,” Phillips said. “We don’t do hand outs. We do hand ups.”

Robert Brown, former evangelism coordinator with Holy Communion Baptist Church in Dallas, helps a man looking for spiritual guidance.

Phillips named one success story after another of people who have gone from being homeless with drug problems to having jobs and being a part of the church. The program has an 80 percent success rate.

“They’re changing,” Phillips said. “I can see the change in them.”

This ministry opened his mind and gave him more respect for people who end up in this predicament, he said.

Phillips and members from his church also ride public transit trains and witness to the riders. “It’s one of the most fertile grounds I’ve ever seen for evangelism,” Phillips said. “Everyone we asked accepted Christ,” he said. “Most of the people on trains are struggling.”

About 22 people began a relationship with Christ in the few hours the church members ministered on the trains. The members rode as regular customers.

Phillips’s other job helps him be even more involved with his community. He works with the Dallas Fire Department where he sees life-and-death situations.

“It gives you a chance to see for yourself,” Phillips explained. “A pastor gets the people in the church and sees them there. When you’re hands on, you’re able to be in the community.”

“It feels like I’ve put out physical fires and spiritual fires,” Phillips said while assisting a person over the phone with an emergency.

On a public transit train, Micah Phillips, pastor of Holy Communion Baptist Church in Dallas, prays with a single, homeless mother of three.

Phillips wants to be more than a preacher and firefighter, though. He wants to film a reality show, which will portray the people in the program, so people will see the transformation and how successful residents become.

He also wants to publish a book about the ministry.

“I enjoy getting the message out,” Phillips said. He recently met with the pastors in the city. “If we collectively came together, we could really change the community.”

Holy Communion has received a van and other support from Inner Faith, a housing coalition that provides transitional housing, services and programs to the homeless in Dallas, said Linda Hall, executive director of Inner Faith.

“We see the tossed away people,” Hall said. “It’s through our service we show our Christian love.”

Hall and Inner Faith work to help homeless people learn how to support themselves, and working with these people has made her faith stronger, she said.

“Ministry to the homeless strengthens any community,” she said.

---

No comments for this article yet...

Subscribe to this comment's feed