HOPE is a ministry of
Jefferson Street Baptist Center
733 East Jefferson Street | Louisville, KY 40203
CONTACT US
Email: hope@jeffersonstreet.orgPhone: 502.584.6543
Fax: 502.584.4377
ALUMNI
ALUMNI PARENTS
JSBC RESIDENTS & GUESTS
coming soon.
Name: Matt Smith
Hometown: Bullet County, KY
Year Served: 2006-2007
What city you live in now: Louisville, KY
What made you decide to do HOPE - what was the draw for you?
I did HOPE because I was truly seeking God. I was working in the corporate world. I had no passion for what I was doing. I also knew that the job I was in wasn't where I wanted to make a career. I was really wanting some new direction and change in my life. A friend told me about the HOPE program and I knew from the moment I heard the details I wanted to be involved, if that was God's will.
I prayed hard and started talking to the folks at HOPE. Then a funny thing happened. I had recently been trying for a promotion and they offered me one. But I didn't feel the least bit anxious about not taking it.
The major draw to the program was working, not to make some company successful or make myself wealthy, but to love others with the love that Christ so freely gives all of us. I felt I could devote myself to something I believed in. I had never had a job for any reason other than a paycheck. Working for something that was worth while, pure and true really appealed to me.
Describe the types of service and outreach your were involved with during HOPE.
At Jeff Street we have three major programs; Permanent Supportive Housing Project (PSHP),
Fresh Start, and a Day Shelter. PSHP is for mentally ill men who need a little extra accountability. They live in efficiency apartments and have access to an on site life coach. The Fresh Start program is also for mentally ill men who have previously been incarcerated, homeless or were on the verge of being homeless. We provide a safe place for these men to live and we offer a caring environment for them to get back on their feet. With the cooperation of churches, donations and local food banks we provide free meals for all the men that live with us. We also provide a computer lab and activities such as bowling and other days out. Most importantly we provide Christian counsel and discipleship, prayer and a Christian staff and environment.
How are you different from having lived for a year in a homeless shelter in the inner-city?
.
I feel I am different in that I have more empathy and a greater understanding of God's love for
people. I have been humbled and become more patient. I am often frustrated and sometimes disgusted with the people we serve. This has made me realize that God has the right to feel this way about all of humanity, including myself. We are so wretched and deserve his wrath but when we trust in Jesus he takes away all the blame and we become righteous. I also have more focus. God has used this program to direct my mind, in what job I should do when I am done with the program. I have received focus and put much more trust in Jesus.
I also have a greater understanding of the human condition and am able to identify with people who before seemed so foreign to me.
How has your time with HOPE affected your future plans and goals?
The HOPE program has given me a deep love for community. It has helped me to realize that a family can take on many different forms. I would like to continue to live in some kind of Intentional Christian community when I am done with HOPE. I love waking up almost everyday and reading scripture and praying with the other people I live and work with. It is also great to have Christian brothers and sisters around all the time to encourage, receive encouragement and just simply discuss life with.
Before HOPE I knew I wanted to teach. Because of the HOPE program I have a greater affection for the mentally disabled and have realized my calling is to teach kids in this area.
Share some thoughts and words of wisdom to potential team members:
My major words of wisdom came to me from a girl who did another program similar to HOPE.
She told me, “Do not be discouraged if you don't see any change in the people you are trying to love. Remember that God has you there to change you.” I have held this close to my heart the whole time. Often I am discouraged and sometimes angry and disgusted but then I remember that God loves me no matter how sinful I am. I try to keep this on my mind when I find myself losing my cool. Through this experience I am becoming more Christ like. I find more patience, more humility and more love present in my heart than ever before.
Often I am discouraged and sometimes angry and disgusted but then I remember that God loves me no matter how sinful I am. I try to keep this on my mind when I find myself losing my cool. Through this experience I am becoming more Christ like. I find more patience, more humility and more love present in my heart than ever before. 
Name: Brandon Bowers
Hometown: Corydon, IN
Year Served: 2005-2006
What city you live in now: Corydon, IN
What made you decide to do HOPE - what was the draw for you?
I decide to be in HOPE because the Lord called me to the task. I was working at Jeff St for two years when the Director of Jeff St and the Director of HOPE, asked if I would be part of the first group. I was very hesitant about it so I asked some mentors of mine and prayed long and very hard about the decision. At the time my stepfather was dying, and I did not want to leave him and I used that as my rationale for not joining Hope. However, at the same time I was reading the Gospels and came across Luke Chapter 9 Verses 59-62
He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."The man was waiting for his father to die, so he could bury him. When I read this tears flowed from my face as I called Rick Brenny and said, "Rick, I'm in." I never looked back I followed Christ to HOPE.
Describe the types of service and outreach your were involved with during HOPE.
I was involved in several different kinds of services while in HOPE. I worked in the Day Shelter, which involved mail services, storage closet, cooking, and some other services.. I also helped the administrative team at Jeff St. I and the rest of the Hope Team were involved with daily outreach to the homeless, and to the residents at Jeff St.
How are you different from having lived for a year in a homeless shelter in the inner-city?
I am different from the experience in several different ways. It has made me want to continue to do missions work in an urban setting. I have come to believe through HOPE that God has called he to continue to work in the city. It has also changed many things that will affect my life forever, such as how I view material possessions, what money is intended for, and how temporary so many material things are.
How has your time with HOPE affected your future plans and goals?
My time with HOPE has affected my plans for the future, by wanting to plant churches in urban areas. My dream is to help plant a city of God in every city of man.
Share some thoughts and words of wisdom to potential team members:
The thoughts that I tell people are to walk close with Jesus and remember that he is the one who opens the hearts of sinners. Your job is to tell the Good News of Christ, and love with word and deed. Get rest because the mission will drain you. Enjoy the Sabbath. Pray daily for the Holy Spirit to rush through the walls of Jeff St, Remember that God is near when trails come. They will come - Christ said they would. And Preach the gospel to yourself daily - the gospel is for Christians too. When the world you witness to ignores you, laughs at you, hates you and mocks you - remember the words of our Christ. “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”
My heart's desire has been for my children to always be in God's will and to do as God wishes and to be pleasing to the Lord. It has been a prayer that I first remember praying one night when both children were very young. It was a prayer that was passed down to me from my mother.
When Matt came to me and stated that after prayer and careful consideration he had decided to spend the next year of his life in the Hope Ministry my first thought was "God is this what you thought I meant?" I tried to be positive but I admit I was a skeptic at first. What would the accommodations in a homeless shelter be like? Would he get enough to eat? Would he be in danger?
The year that Matt spent at Jefferson Street Mission in the Hope Ministry turned out to be a wonderful experience for him and for our family. None of my fears were realized and I came to know that God was answering my prayers for my child. Some people questioned, 'Why doesn't he "get on with his life"? In the eyes of some prestige and money are getting on with one's life but you know the Lord doesn't think that way. In Colossians 3:1-2 we are told to set our minds on eternal things, not earthly ones. Matt grew in a sweet spirit that is a blessing. It has opened him to the Lord's will in his life which is the only way to "get on with his life".
A year of serving in Hope Ministry is not to be taken lightly. It requires a dedication to serving others and to making sacrifices, but the Lord will abundantly bless the person He calls to this ministry. As a parent I can now see how much my son grew from this experience. I give God the praise and glory for His good works in my child's life.
Holistic is the nature of HOPE and life experienced through this program is de-compartmentalized. Work is service and service is everyday life. Co-workers and clients are hall mates, neighbors, and friends. The "office" is another room in your house and your kitchen and basement are places of sustenance and refuge for an entire community of people.
During my time spent in HOPE the walls of separation came down in a process of confession, repentance, and forgiveness. My perception of the Gospel grew beyond a story to be told or a task to be done and became a story to live in and out. The hurts, needs, and sin of the community were no longer news reports and statistics, but faces to wake up to, meals to be shared with, and burdens to be born in love.
I was taught in school, how the lives of people in a community, a city, a country and yes even the world are inextricable. Yet, I lived my life as though I were ignorant of this fact and more so, believing that my own life could be separated and the parts rendered unrelated to the others. In HOPE I experienced an environment which demonstrated the inextricable nature of our lives. HOPE revealed that the difference between the nature of the environment in Jeff St. and without was not. The only difference lay in how we lived our lives. HOPE taught and trained us to live purposefully and intentionally in this reality, as one who has not only heard, but is experiencing and living out the Gospel every day.
