I had the wonderful privileged of meeting Andrew Baker in Frankfort, KY this week at the Access Soup Kitchen and Men’s Shelter. Andrew is the shelter’s director and it was awesome to see someone with such a passion for serving the community he grew up in. God is at work in at this shelter and He is using Andrew’s leadership and big heart to impact lives in significant ways. Andrew, who is also a Boy Scout leader, has enlisted the help of many local scouts to help work on the facility. They even constructed the gazebo pictured below. The shelter is also in the middle of a renovation project that will continue throughout the next year as local churches and businesses have increased their support for the people affected by the shelter in recent years. Andrew shared amazing stories of generosity including a massive sugar donation from one of the local distilleries that now is stashed away in a board member’s basement. “We will never need sugar again… ever!” said Andrew.
Recently, Andrew contacted me to let me know that he, along with some of the residents there, had started a simple church and that they were meeting on Friday afternoons. It was wonderful to hear about the ministry already happening and to discus the very real disciple-making and church planting possibilities for the residents and patrons of the soup kitchen through simple church.
I strongly believe that if our method for making disciples and meeting as the church cannot be replicated by the very people the soup kitchen serves then I am think that we have made following Jesus and “church” way too complicated. I look forward to watching God give direction to Andrew and some of the leaders already emerging at the shelter as they begin leading their infant simple church community!
Please pray for Andrew as he sets on the Spirit led course of making disciples and multiplying simple church communities among the homeless and economically challenged in our region! If you are ever in the area, stop by for lunch. Also, contact Andrew if you have questions or would like to help.
Andrew’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BookerBaker
Access Soup Kitchen and Men’s Shelter on Twitter @SoupKitchFrank: https://twitter.com/soupkitchfrank
