I was having a hard time separating these two issues so I decided to just write one article that would encapsulate both . . . John
I became a Christian in 1983 on a Tuesday night. By Wednesday evening I had written two gospel songs and on Thursday I went into the Oklahoma state prison where I sang my songs and Jack (the man that led me to the Lord) preached. Within two months I was preaching and sharing my testimony in several state facilities around Oklahoma.
I have known from day one that the lord was calling me as an Evangelist. It wasn’t until several years later that I realized the Pastoral call was also evident. A few months after coming to know Jesus as my Lord, I relocated (along with Jack and his wife Fonda) to Denver Colorado, where we opened Family Faith Center. Jack became Pastor and I lead worship.
By 1985 I became worship leader at International Gospel Fellowship and simultaneously ran a home church and hosted a men’s Bible Breakfast.
We started Cross & Clef Ministries as an evangelistic and music ministry in 1987. I began ministering in various churches and coffee houses sharing my testimony and singing the songs the Lord had given me.
In 1989 I wrote and developed a course on Evangelism, The Art of Evangelism for the Layman. I taught the course in various churches and in 1999 was invited to Strasbourg France where I taught it to the only Christian church in the area. Within a few days they reported their congregation had tripled in size as a result of implementing strategies learned from the course.
In 1990 I heard the Lord tell me to feed the homeless in Denver. This was confirmed by several ministry leaders whom I respected. I was told however I should “wait for Gods perfect timing”. In 1993 I recorded the album Crucified and began playing larger churches. At the next church I ministered in, I sold two hundred cassettes. God told me to take the two thousand dollars I made from the sales and begin feeding.
My family and I made 100 sack lunches and I handed them out the following morning in downtown Denver. I told the homeless men, women and children that if they would come back the next day I would return again. I started handing out 100 sack lunches every day.
In 1993 we applied for our 501(c) (3) and received it the following year. I applied for support from several churches in the area but was turned down by all. I sent a letter to everyone I knew asking for help and without direct support from any churches we launched Morning Manna. It grew to a ministry feeding about 200 to 250 of Denver's homeless everyday except Sunday when I would minister in churches and sell cassettes to support myself and my family. I always saw the ministry as an evangelistic tool for the purpose of winning the lost, loving the unlovable and sharing Jesus with the forgotten. The ministry grew to include a Food Bank and Bible Study. Within a few short years I began to see that I had become pastor to several hundred of Denver's homeless. Most of my days were filled with coffee and conversations with non-believers in need of the Lord, or believers struggling to find the path the Lord had laid out for them.
In 1994 shortly after starting Morning Manna, God gave me a vision of a coffeehouse where the homeless could receive hot meals, shower, do laundry, have a locker to store their clothes and receive help with locating housing, jobs and assistance.
In 2000 The Tollgate Coffeehouse became a reality. We grew to have three employees and over a hundred volunteers. We were open every day except Sunday. I began to pray that the Lord would send a church to use the building on Sunday as I had no desire to see the building idle on the one day I needed to be out ministering elsewhere.
I had known about Scum of the Earth Church through a couple of mutual friends Mike Sares and I shared. I has also met Mike a couple of times but didn’t quite put him and Scum together in my mind. I had heard that they were looking for a place to meet, but frankly I thought that with a name like Scum of the Earth, they couldn’t be a serious church and I was also already facing resistance in the neighborhood to just exist there as a homeless ministry. The last thing I needed was a sign out front that says Scum of the Earth. So really I hadn’t even given it a thought. One Sunday morning I was in a church service and a friend came to say he was going to go to Scum that evening and wanted to know if I would come. I thought I should at least attend a service, that way I could evidence my suspicions. A few minutes later the friend returned and handed me a note that read “You know, they are looking for a place to meet?” I thought “So? What’s that got to do with me?” Then as my wife joined me at our seats I told her we should go to Scum that evening she agreed and quickly added “you know, they are looking for a place to meet?” I quickly realized that my friend, my wife and God were all conspiring against me. But by the time we arrived at Scum, God had brought me 180°. I was on a mission… to move Scum of the Earth into The Tollgate Coffeehouse, a task that took a couple of months to complete. By then, Mike Sares had become my Pastor and Scum of the Earth had become my church.
The next two years were a time of bonding with some of the members and growing. Scum also became the supplier of many of our much needed volunteers staffing The Tollgate and Morning Manna (the food line).
In early 2001 we published Mercy Street, a book of my stories from the streets and Raylenes photos.
September 11th 2001 had an devastating effect on Cross & Clef Ministries. Almost immediately our donations dropped by 50%. We began struggling to keep the doors of The Tollgate opened. I began to question if God wasn’t taking the ministry away from me. Since the day I became a Christian I had strived to follow God and I wasn’t trying to fight him for the ministry I just didn’t want to let go of it until I knew for sure that it was God that was taking it away. I could see nothing else in the future and really couldn’t see myself doing anything but feeding the homeless. Then one evening a friend who didn’t know of my struggles read to me the account in Brendon Manning’s book Ruthless Trust where Mother Theresa spoke to John Kavanaugh about clarity. I realized that clarity says “God I will follow you, but show me the future, give me some guarantees”. However, trust simply says “I will follow you”. I knew immediately that God wanted me to close The Tollgate. I called my wife to meet me for coffee and by the time I arrived to meet her I knew God wanted us to move to Washington State. I told raylene what had happened and she confirmed my leading. We met with the board of Cross & Clef Ministries and they voted unanimously with us, again confirming the call of God to Washington. The next morning the Catholic Church that had allowed us to run the foodline for ten years from their garage notified me that they had decided to take the operation in-house, one more confirmation.
So in 2003 we closed The Tollgate and began the process of relocating to Washington.
Later that year we began serving food to the homeless on the streets and under bridges in Tacoma and Seattle.
Without realizing it, we had moved into the least churched state in the union and into the least churched county (Kitsap) in the state. But being the terminal optimist I was, I thought 'Great, that means the churches will be Evangelistic and Out-Focused.' But I was wrong. We found the messages watered down and churches withering away from religious spirits and their unwillingness to welcome youth.
My son was rebuked for wearing a baseball cap to church and a seventeen year old girl was told she had to leave the church and couldn’t return until she removed her piercings and the holes had grown closed. I talked to her and found that she wasn’t even a believer. We have seen churches who believe there is no longer a baptism, churches who do not believe in praying a prayer of salvation and even churches who believe God doesn’t speak to you.
While witnessing on the streets in Tacoma, my son was sharing the gospel with three punk kids. I stood nearby watching and it dawned on me that if he was to win them to the Lord, where would we put them? With their piercings, tattoos and strange clothing, no church in the area would welcome them. I started to cry. God told me to start a church that would focus on the condition of the heart and not the appearance of the packaging.
I flew to Denver to meet with Mike Sares and in 2005 I became pastor of Scum of the Earth Seattle. I didn’t know how to be a pastor but God does. I didn’t know how to run a church, but I serve an awesome God.
Scum of the Earth Seattle grew and soon we had eight volunteer staff members. We opened The Tollgate Coffeehouse Seattle in 2006 and began feeding the homeless in the University District. God began showing me that I was to train up my replacement. Then in 2007 a young man named Zack walked through the door. I knew that Zack was the man God wanted to take over Scum. I had no clue why at the time but I knew I was to obey and trust Him.
Near the end of 2008 God brought Raylene and I back to Denver. We came to take care of Raylene's ailing mother Maxine. We rented a small apartment and moved her in with us. Then just a month later she passed away. We believe once again God has directed us and we are once again serving the men, women and children of the streets and alleys of Denver.
We are handing out sack lunches in the parking lot behind Church in the City and are looking at starting a monthly chili feed. We hand out Care Kits and blankets when we can.
I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I know one thing only. I will follow God wherever he leads and I don’t need guarantees, I just need trust.
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