Week Two: Serving the Homeless - Gandalf's Cafe

There are so many great people out on the streets working with the homeless, and just like me, they each have a different reason as to why they are out there.  

For our week in Austin, we got connected to an incredible organization called Mission Possible Austin   www.mpaustin.org   They have so many incredible ways they work with the homeless, from very large venues like Church Under the Bridge, to a free medical clinic and even a coffee shop.

The people that work with Mission Possible all have to raise their own support to work there, true missionaries, all with their own unique stories.

One of the coolest things they do is run a coffee shop called Gandalf's Prayer Cafe'.  This is a place where the homeless and needy can go for free coffee and donuts in the mornings and three nights a week, a hot dinner is served by area churches and volunteers.  What's so beautiful about Gandalf's is that it's small and intimate.  Not that those very large venues like Church Under the Bridge aren't important, but for the time that a guest at Gandalf's Prayer Cafe' is there, they are just that, guests.  They can sit down, relax, and enjoy the simple pleasure of a hot cup of coffee, a donut, and some friendly conversation.

Gandalf's Cafe was started by a man named Tim Pinson, Sr. as an outpouring and overflow of an incredible ministry to the homeless run by he and his wife, Cindy.  They are still very active in this ministry as they oversee the bigger scope of Mission Possible, Austin.  They leave the direct operations of Gandalf's Cafe up to a couple of their staff members, Beau Hamner and Alissa Lewis.

Beau is the Director of Street Ministry and Community Outreach for Mission Possible Austin.

He lives by this motto:  “If you aren’t giving God everything, you’re not really giving him anything.”

Beau’s been a Christian since he was 18, and served for many years on the staff of various churches, as well as a volunteer in his home state of North Carolina.  He got his degree in Christian Ministry and was working with homeless and inner city young people in North Carolina when the Lord told him to “go” away from being a youth pastor and make the homeless his life’s work.  He left North Carolina for his position with Mission Possible Austin.  He actually found the job on the Internet and packed up his beautiful family and moved to Austin.  He lives in the under-franchised community he serves.

He’s a soft spoken young man with strong Christian faith and values.  He’s passionate about the homeless.  He prays “for warmth for (his) friends on the street.”

Alissa is the Event Coordinator at MPAustin, and also oversees Community Relations.  Alissa's story is a bit different than most of the staff at MPAustin.  She grew up in a non-Christian, alcoholic and drug using family.  She lost her brother and father to drugs and alcohol.  She also had a drug and alcohol problem.  Now 37, and clean for over 5 years, her life is the best yet.  Alissa, by most's standards, had it all.  She worked for a law firm over 11 years, was married and were stock market millionaires, but she was lost and not happy.  Because of her drug addiction, her husband left her, leaving her alone and devastated.  With God’s grace and mercy, her life has never been better.  She now lives “simplified” in an RV by the river and owns her car.   “Less is more” she said.  She’s now in charge of the volunteers at the Gandalf’s Prayer Café, and says she’s rich in love with God and the community.  When she spoke of simplifying her life it spoke to me because I had everything, like her, and lost it all and was forced to simplify my life as well.  But the best for both of us is that we are the best yet in our lives; serving others and serving God.

In addition to these great staff members, is a core of regular volunteers.  I'd love to share all their stories with you, but instead I'll leave you with the words of one of them.  "People, no matter who they are, no matter the condition of their home life, need two things in their lives that they can verbalize. They need some sense of normalcy, and they need community.  Here at Gandalf's Cafe' we offer those two things, but we also offer them something they may not know they need; the love of Jesus.  We are their community.  We are their sense of normal.  And we are Jesus to them, a beautiful reflection of Jesus."

If you'd like to donate to Mission Possible, Austin, or serve in any of their many ministries, click on over to here and check them out.