Chaplain Street Corps

Thank you to Mathew Vangel from Lamb of God Christian Church for your donation of breakfast packages and female hygiene products. Also thank you to Bob Bloom for your donation of chips. All of your donations helps us bless others.

"Lazarus" is an unsheltered friend that we met early on in the ministry. We all developed a friendship with him and we talk to him on a regular basis.

He recently lost his tent, so he requested a new one. We were able to get one for him, but we were unable to find Lazarus during our usual Saturday outreach yesterday.

I live near a lot of the neighborhoods that we go into, so the decision was made to keep the tent in my car in case I see Lazarus in my travels.

This morning I took in an early service. After church got out, I went to look for him and he was at his usual spot and I gave him his tent. He was very thankful and quite emotional. It was a cool, rainy morning in SE Massachusetts. We must have hugged three or four times.

There is no bigger privilege to be used by God to do His work.

The primary mission here at Chaplain Street Corps. Seeking the lost, rejected and broken.

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." - Luke 19:10

This morning upon arriving at one of the encampments that we regularly visit, we had these waiting for us. Wooden crosses and hearts made by one of our unsheltered friends.

We at Chaplain Street Corps have always been big on building relationships with the people that we minister to. This morning, one of them chose to gift us.

"Why do the homeless have phones?"

This week a video filmed by an unsheltered man of his encampment was posted on a Fall River FB page. The video received many views and comments. We're not posting the video, because it gives away the location of the encampment. But I would like to address a question asked by some of the commenters. People asking why homeless people have phones.

Unsheltered people have phones because they need them. Many of them have family that they are in regular contact with. The resources that they need are much more easily accessible if they have phones. Phones are vital for contact with case workers- people who help get unsheltered people off the streets.

I'm not interested in a debate. I'm just posting this to tell people why many of the unsheltered have phones. It's literally their lifelines.

It's a trend that we see every year. While the winter is usually quiet for us, once the spring arrives, the amount of unsheltered people that we see on the streets start to increase.

This year is no different. These past two weeks, we've seen several new tents on one of the encampments that we visit regularly and we expect the numbers to go up quickly throughout the spring and summer months. We pray that we are ready for whatever God has in store for us.

We want to give them more than food. We want to give them hope - be God's Hope Dealers. We want them to be all off the streets, live clean and sober lives and most importantly be followers of Jesus Christ. This is our mission.

"Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." - Matthew 4:19

We depend on your donations, so we are appreciative of all of them. A few months back, a friend of the ministry donated 15 sleeping bags. Thank you once again to the Shining Light Children's Ministry at Hope Evangelical Community Church in Dartmouth.

We have been giving away the sleeping bags. The spring nights are still pretty cold, so over the weekend, we gave away four more.

Your donations helps us bless others. Thank you.