I went downtown in Houston to interview homeless people today. That's what this video was supposed to be. But before I really got started, I ran into a group of people doing outreach under the freeway. They were handing out food and hygiene supplies, praying with people, and more importantly actually talking to them. And then I started hearing their stories. Some of the people doing the helping had dealt with addiction, incarceration, homelessness, and some very dark places themselves. So, I changed the plan. I stopped looking for the interview I came for and started talking to them.
The first person I met was Gary, one of the leaders with Sheepfold.
Gary: When I was in jail, just three and a half years ago, I was in jail and God told me, "You know what? It's time for you to start following me." And I didn't really know what that meant. But as I went to the streets, I found myself leaving all my old friends, leaving all my old drug habits, leaving everything about this world that was in me. The only thing I knew as a child, I went through 19 foster homes and five years of incarceration before I turned 16. I was a functional addict. I knew how to get my way. I wasn't very into the world. I didn't like nobody. I hated a lot of people, you know, through the foster home system, you learn you feel isolated, you feel rejected, you feel all these things that the devil keeps you suppressed in. So, I just kind of lived in the world in my own selfish ways, and my own selfish desires, and ultimately God stripped me from everything I had.
Brad: Terry, how long were you homeless before you found the Lord and joined the ministry?
Gary: I was homeless actually all my life. I was homeless. I lived under a bridge and this is how it happened. I got out of jail and I had everything stripped from me. I had a good job. I had a good — everything was — I had everything and God told me to stay, just to trust me. So I walked out of the jail. At this point I went under a bridge and I said, "You know what? Lord, I'm the son of the most high God. I don't think that you really want me living under this bridge, but if you do, I'm gonna clean it up and I'm gonna make the best of it because you know what? You give it to me." And I didn't have to spend but a week walking around the streets of Rosenberg, you know, trusting in him. It took a week of trial, trusting in him and today I can tell you, I'm not bragging about this, but I got a job that I'm getting ready to start and being able to, you know, be part of the ministry. It's a $14 million project as a superintendent navigating different contractors. It's on 14 acres and it's in town where I can be off work in time to be involved in the ministry. He's given me everything the devil took. I've gotten back 100 fold and it's not stopped. It's not stopped. His blessings never stopped.
Gary: So all these people you see here, they all come from God. They all matter. It's just they've been beat down. They've been told they weren't this and they weren't that. They all had lives. They all had moms. They all had dads. They all had children, you know, so we come down here and we show them love. We tell them that they matter. We pray for them. And then we walk away. A lot of them know that they love it when we pull up in here. It's not about the food. It's about the relationship that we have with them because they know that we don't just give food and burn off. We come down here and we tell them about the Lord. We tell them that they matter. We sit them down and we ask them questions. We communicate. We fellowship with them. And a lot of people, they just drive through here and just don't even look, roll up their windows and reject them.
Gary told me he'd been through 19 foster homes, years of incarceration, addiction, and eventually living under a bridge. But the line that stayed with me was what he said about the people they were helping. It's not about the food. It's about the relationship. The next person I spoke with explained exactly what he meant.
Brad: So, we're here with a volunteer from Sheepfold Ministry and they're serving a cause that's really beneficial. Let me ask her about it. Tell me, what do you do? What kind of services do you perform for these people?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: So, we're actually here with a bigger ministry today. We're with Colors of Fire, which is they're serving the homeless community in different areas. So, we start out at church in the morning and we put the bags together and then we're dispatched to different pockets of poverty around the Houston area and we hand out bags of food and bags of hygiene and then we pray for the individuals and for families.
Brad: Do you find that people who you're offering assistance to refuse help and how do you treat that? Are some of them just reluctant and they prefer the streets?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: I think homelessness — well, we know that there's chronic homelessness and then there's situational homelessness and then there are people who choose that lifestyle and people that life happens to. We've seen families and then we see people who there is drug usage but overall I don't think anybody loves being out here in the streets, especially in the Texas heat in the elements.
Brad: What kind of resources do you provide? Do you give them beds or food, shelter?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: No. So we're out here just providing the food and the hygiene and prayer.
Brad: The prayer. What is the name of the ministry?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: So this is the Sheepfold Ministry which is out in Wallis, Texas, which I can't speak too much on it because I don't want to say it the wrong way, but the Sheepfold Ministry is absolutely amazing. I've served alongside them for a couple years now. And they are a men's chemical dependency discipleship program. It's nothing to be scared of. They're people just like us. Everybody goes through things in their life and it's really nothing big that separates us from somebody living on the street. Maybe they couldn't make ends meet, they got sick, or they lost their job, something happened and hopefully it's not forever, but I've heard so many stories of, "if I just had X, Y, or Z, I wouldn't be out here." And then, you know, also just to see the families out here, it's heartbreaking. It's really nothing to be scared of because it could be me or you.
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: And I will say the homeless community, my heart is for the homeless community because they're the kindest and gentlest people that you'll ever meet. I know in the in-between there's some, they're walking through something. But they will literally give you the shirt off their back.
Brad: How did you get involved with this?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: I actually work for a nonprofit which I was called to, which I worked my way from the bottom to the top. Now I'm a director over two community centers in the greater Houston area. But I, you know, have lived my own life, lots of trauma, lots of abuse, lots of not knowing how I was going to make ends meet. And it wasn't until I truly learned to lean on the Lord that it just started flowing.
Brad: Do you volunteer part-time or do you do this full-time?
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: I do it full-time.
Brad: That's amazing.
Sheepfold Ministry Volunteer: But this is aside from that. This is for me honestly. Because like I was sharing with my brothers this week completely depleted me and I needed something to fill me. So coming out and doing God's work is what fills my cup.
Something she said hit me. There really isn't that much separating the person driving past from the person living underneath that freeway. I've talked before about how prison changed the way I see homeless people. I used to drive past them. Now I notice them.
Then I met Christian. He'd only been at Sheepfold for about 5 months. And when I asked where he'd been before he got there, the conversation got a lot more serious.
Christian: So I've been in this program in the Sheepfold for about 5 months now, going on 5 months. And before I got in here, you know, I was a victim of addiction, anxiety, depression. Most of all, I was a victim of the isolation that comes from living without the Lord. And you know, whenever I was at my lowest point, I entered into the Sheepfold, you know, seeking the freedom from that isolation, seeking the Lord, seeking Jesus. And it's done wonders in these past five months. I've come to be a part of a great ministry, a marvelous ministry. It's been life-changing for me, for all those involved. I've got to bear firsthand witness to how it's changed many, many, many lives around me. And first and foremost, Jesus Christ has been the Lord, the Savior. He's been front and center and I've seen that everything else has fallen into place. I've got to volunteer in a community that I've been a part of my entire life, and it's been so fulfilling and so wholesome and you get to see the things around us that are happening right now. I've got to be a part of that, be an impact, whereas I went from having nothing, having no one, being fully isolated, fully victimized to being a part of something greater than myself.
Brad: You're so together and helping so many people. If it's not too personal, if you can just shed some light on where you were before you began this mission in life and took this road.
Christian: I was in pure darkness. I was just ready to give it all up, you know, just to finally just say the big goodbye, if you will. I was ready to give it all up, but I decided to give, you know, for whatever reason, God chose us. We didn't choose it. Just for some reason, I just decided to give ministry one more try. I entered into the Sheepfold and it ended up being exactly what I needed because like I said, I was as low as you can get. I didn't have any hope for the future at all. I didn't really care for anyone, let alone myself. And it's completely turned around. I can speak volumes about it. I can go on forever about what the Lord has done in my life. Me personally, I know I can speak that the enemy really works in your mind. And like I said, that isolation is our biggest enemy. It's his biggest tool because it makes you feel like you're not wanted. It makes you feel, you know, makes you lose all your confidence. It makes you lose your sense of fellowship, community, and love for each other. And that's probably the biggest obstacle I had to overcome. I really didn't think it was worth it. I didn't think this world was worth it. I didn't think I was worth it. And so, I think that's the biggest obstacle to overcome for sure, that isolation that the enemy brings.
Christian: So, I believe that community is everything. I believe that's the tool that Jesus uses to reach out to those that are down and desolate and destitute. It's that community. It's that fellowship. It's that love that we have for each other that brings us together that makes us want to find the ones who are low and down and out because we've, speaking for myself, I've been there before. That's what it comes down to. We all know what it feels like to feel unloved, to feel down. No matter to what degree that is, everyone. It's a universal experience. If we can recognize that and we can just come together as a community, that's our strongest tool is defeating that isolation, defeating the enemy.
I went downtown expecting to hear stories from people who were still homeless. Instead, I met people who had already been through some version of the darkness I came there to document, and they'd come back to help somebody else through it. Gary said it's not really about the food, it's about the relationship. She told me there isn't much separating us from somebody living on the streets. And Christian said community is what defeats isolation. Whatever your religious beliefs are, I think there's something powerful about that. When somebody manages to climb out of a hole, one of the most meaningful things that they can do is to turn around, reach back, and help the next person. I'll put information about Sheepfold and the outreach organizations in the description below.
I'm Brad and as usual, thank you for listening. Have a good night.
Learn More About The Sheepfold Ministry
- Website: https://colw.info
- Email: sheepfoldministry@colw.info
The Sheepfold Ministry is a men's chemical dependency discipleship program based in Wallis, Texas. They serve the homeless community through outreach, prayer, and relationship-building — handing out food and hygiene supplies, praying with people, and taking the time to sit down and talk with them.