Monday, November 23, 2009

It was good for us to have been here

Two weeks ago, I went to a meeting at Trinity’s student center for those interested in participating in a poverty simulation/homeless weekend experience in Chicago. A girl named Ella was organizing this event to give Trinity students a glimpse of what it may feel like to “walk in the shoes” of someone who is homeless. Hopefully the weekend would promote greater awareness of the struggles of the homeless and develop a better understanding of how to minister to someone in that context. As a part of this introductory meeting Ella brought Qualin (pronounced Quail-lynn), a sixty two year old Christian man, who had lived most of his life on the streets.

Though he was asked to share a brief testimony, Qualin spoke for 50 minutes about his life. His thoughts were jumbled and his timeline wasn’t linear, but his words were filled with grace and passion for God. He told stories of seeing friends beat to death (literally) in front of his eyes, a kind pastor who let him live with his family in their basement, learning how to read after becoming a Christian as an adult and a difficult cycle of alcohol and drug abuse/addiction. His honest stories kept coming and coming... and I realized that was part of the homeless culture. He had no strict sense that the meeting was only supposed to go from 7-8 and he was only alloted 20 minutes.

After Qualin’s life story, as Ella was explaining the format of the evening, Qualin interrupted her, saying that he felt God telling him to do something. Saying that he saw her doing mighty things for God, he pulled out a hundred dollar bill from his pocket and gave it to this college Senior for her ministries. She tried to refuse, but he said, “You need to say yes. It is from God.”

After the meeting, I thanked Qualin for coming and sharing his story with us. Though he did not know the exact wording or reference he replied, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1:27) I left the meeting saying to my friend Danny, “It was good for us to have been here.”

A few observations/questions:

Though his grammar was poor, he stuttered, he was missing a few front teeth, he misquoted Scripture passages, he went deep on rabbit trails, and spoke slowly...
I never heard someone testify to God’s goodness so much in a short period than Qualin.

Have I ever seen a man or women like Qualin (i.e. homeless person) speak in a Sunday morning church service or Christian college/seminary chapel service? In my 24 years of going to church and my 7 years of attending Christian chapel... No.

All of the other speakers I have heard have been very polished, articulate, clean, dressed up, well-groomed, and intelligent. Is it bad or wrong that I have never seen anyone even close to Qualin’s caliber in these services? Why do we not have people like Qualin speak to our churches and ministries? I agree, it may be a bit awkward for the audience, but what in fact may we be depriving ourselves of in ignoring the input from the community of homeless and poor?

by Mark Hershey

1 comment:

Heather said...

Qualin sounds a lot like my friend, Dennis. I met Dennis at "Beautiful Feet Ministries" in Fort Worth, TX when I was attending Southwestern Seminary. Dennis was homeless and not a follower of Christ a few years back but when I met him, He was a Christ follower. He spoke of the Lord constantly and eventhough he didn't have material possessions to give anyone, his spirit was rich. I live in NC now and haven't seen him in almost a year. He is definitely someone who is dearly missed. Thanks for listening to my story. I enjoyed yours. God Bless.