How does the saying go?
"Be careful what you pray for, you may get it." The saying sounds like a warning but as we have found out God "is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think."

In November of 2008 two churches from Mount Vernon, Washington (New Life Lutheran Brethren Church and The Well) met to discuss serving the Lord together. Our question was, "What might happen if two churches came together around the common mission of bringing the love of Jesus to our community?"

As we made plans, we believed God was using our churches to join together in mission. Since part of that mission is to demonstrate the love and unity of the body of Christ, why not do something crazy like begin worshipping together too? We had no idea how this would go, but both groups felt a strong leading of the Spirit and a desire to share the love of Jesus in concrete ways. As for those plans, we knew that if we waited until we thought we had all the details figured out we would never act on God's leading. We trusted that if God were calling us together he would give us the patience and direction to make it happen. His calling to serve the Lord together in mission was clear. On Thanksgiving Day we served dinner for the working poor in our community and began worshipping together the following Sunday. The dinner went well and our first worship service together was very exciting.

A week before Thanksgiving I received a phone call from another pastor in town wondering if our churches would like the opportunity to host a "Below-Twenty-Five Ministry" on behalf of the community churches. The idea was to provide temporary shelter to the homeless when the temperature hits below twenty-five degrees (not a frequent thing here but it does happen several times a year). Our church building is in a unique location, situated near some of the homeless camps. As hosts, our responsibility would be to provide a warm space, and other churches would provide staffing, food, etc. Amazing: another opportunity for mission.

The idea of a Below-Twenty-Five Ministry is pretty simple. When the local paper's low temp forecast for the day is 25 degrees or colder we will open our church doors from 5:30 PM - 7:30 AM as a cold weather emergency shelter. We would provide a safe and warm environment for anyone desiring to get out of the cold. In addition, they would receive a hot supper and breakfast, a blanket or two, and access to our free clothing store. We would be part of a network of four churches in the county working together to provide emergency shelter. Last year the network involved seven churches and 110 volunteers. In that time all the shelters received only two guests.

We entered into this cold-weather emergency shelter ministry thinking we would have a few weeks to get ready and even then we might be open only for a day or two at a time. With a volunteer base of 110 from other churches we figured our main task would be to keep the building open and warm and provide a few staff; so much for our prophetic gifts. Only days after agreeing to be part of the network, a cold snap hit the Northwest. Let me share some details, and some of our challenges.

On December 13 we quickly opened the shelter and a mad scramble ensued. Upon activation we pulled our resources together. The volunteers were contacted for scheduling purposes; it requires about 10 people to cover the 14 hours that we are open. After calls were made, we discovered that our 110 volunteers were now down to 11. It turns out that most of the volunteers were unwilling to help if the shelter was not hosted in their building. We pulled our material resources together and we had a few meager canned goods and about 15 blankets. Policies and procedures for the shelter were still in draft form, but the temperature was forecast to hit 22 degrees so we opened.

Registration is from 5:30-7:30 PM. If nobody shows we close and contact the rest of the staff to keep them from coming in. On night one nobody showed. It turns out there was confusion: the emergency phone number was down and the temperature didn't go below 25 until early morning so people thought we were closed. As we prepared for night two we wondered if anyone would show. That night four men came by for shelter. This was a very manageable group and we asked them to spread the word as the forecast called for 10-plus days of cold weather, sometimes dipping into the low teens.

The word spread and in the following days more guests arrived averaging about 15 a night with a few more coming by for breakfast and supper, or to get some warm clothes or a blanket. Those we served were mostly men who normally live under bridges or in wooded areas; many struggle with addiction to alcohol and drugs. Our initial supplies were quickly gone, but as the word went out, other churches and individuals brought dozens of blankets and supplies, and began helping with food. Volunteers trickled in-enough to keep things staffed but not enough to give us a comfortable cushion in our scheduling. The newspaper carried articles, the radio made announcements, and social agencies spread the word to let the community know about the shelter. As the cold snap continued, the three other shelters closed their doors due to no one coming.

When it finally warmed up we were open from December 13-26.

• Number of guests registered-27
• Number of volunteers serving-47
• Number of churches involved-8
• Total hours of volunteer service-350+
• Blankets provided-60+
• Individual receiving clothing-40+
• Nights of lodging provided-130
• Meals served-280+

It has been exciting to see God's hand at work in touching the lives of many people. The homeless are very appreciative of having a warm and safe place to go. Churches have been grateful to lend a hand in terms of resources and volunteers. More and more I am running into people who want to be involved in meaningful hands-on ministry.

When our churches came together, this is where we were praying that God would lead us; we just didn't think we would get here so quickly. Our ideas involved a gradual build up with lots of time to plan and gather resources before we would begin this ministry. God seems to prefer just throwing us into the river at flood stage so that we might trust Him.

We have had to adapt to a lack of resources and staff. We have had to learn how to relate to the homeless and how to deal with guests who want to use alcohol and drugs on the property; and how to send some back out into the cold night when they are unable to follow the rules. This is by far the hardest ministry work I have been involved in and, quite honestly, I am not hoping for too many cold days. In the end, our resources were stretched but God showed Himself to be faithful.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. Jesus calls us to have compassion and to demonstrate his love. A cold weather emergency shelter is a ministry of compassion; most likely those we serve will continue in their lifestyle. Our guests experienced God's love as they received compassion from those volunteering at the shelter. Those volunteering experienced the joy of serving with compassion. Those watching from the outside - our church neighbors, my co-workers who upon hearing what was happening with tearful eyes donated money, other churches who came responded to our pleas for resources - were thankful as they witnessed compassion. I think the lives of everyone involved were impacted and the testimony of the church in the community benefited as churches set aside their "differences" and came together for the sake of mission. As I write, those two churches that met in November of last year continue to serve in mission and worship together. Legally we remain two separate churches but we have come together around the common mission of bringing the love of Jesus to our community and serve and worship together under the name New Life @ The Well.

In the middle of the cold snap I pulled into our snow-covered parking lot, cleared the snow and ice off the cold weather shelter sign and then noticed one of our neighbors waving me over. She told me she had been watching what we were doing and wanted to help. She had just made two large pots of homemade chicken noodle soup and wanted us to have them. I wasn't sure what to do-we already had a church committed to bringing in a "Thanksgiving dinner" for the night. They were having a mission celebration dinner and wanted to provide our guests with a meal. I, myself, was hungry and looking forward to it. I thanked her but explained that we already had supper planned and since we have limited storage space would she mind storing it in her refrigerator for another day or two. She was agreeable and as I left I was thinking how a number of times people have come forward wanting to help but haven't checked to find out what we need. Our supper is at 7:00 PM. At 6:40 PM the church promising the dinner called to inform us they would not be able to provide dinner but had some desserts for us. Thank God that He knows what we need even before we ask. Thanks to our neighbor, everyone had a great supper and dessert.

Pastor Keith Luna serves at New Life Lutheran Brethren Church in Mount Vernon, WA