Experience the new SPRING ISSUE of the

Galloway Family Urban Missionary Update

VIDEO EDITION!

Dear Friends of The Galloway Family,

This month I am emailing our SPRING VIDEO NEWSLETTER for our Galloway Urban Missionary Update.

It’s only two minutes long and recorded live on the streets during an outreach. Just click on the graphic below to view. We hope you enjoy it!

To support us in our work to help the poor and homeless just click on the link below.

Write “Juan and Tracy” in the designation field. THANKS!

These Things We Do…That Others May Live,

Juan and Tracy Galloway

Juan@reliefbus.org

Facebook.com/juangalloway

Twitter.com/juangalloway

Thisisyourbrainonjuan.com

NEW PODCAST! Reliefbusstreetcast.com

What defines a society, a culture and even a person is the law. The written or unwritten law that governs a society, a culture or an individual is the framework or boundaries that dictate who we really are.

Some people love the law and some hate it. Some find security in the law while others find their identity in being lawless. Humanity tends to swing from one extreme to another. Some embrace rules and find that following them can give a feeling of control over their lives. Others shirk rules and find excitement in breaking them, indulging in the forbidden. Most of us have probably tried both. I know I have.

Old Testament law had rules covering just about everything: hygiene, sex, murder, food, animal husbandry, you name it. The Bible details how rule-by-rule the people of God, including kings and prophets broke them all.

Why did God create the Old Testament law knowing that it would be impossible for us to obey it? It can seem like kind of a long pointless exercise if you know the result in advance. Was He trying to just torment us? Just the opposite actually- He was trying to keep us from tormenting ourselves.

God knew that all people have an inner compulsion to create their own law. After creating this list of rules in their minds, they then use this law to justify themselves. Our flawed sin nature creates a built-in belief that says, “I am acceptable IF…I am hard working, IF I am good looking, IF I am successful, IF am responsible, if I am nice.” The problem of course comes when we try to follow our own rules. We mess those up too. With all of these “if’s”, we neurotically push ourselves to work harder to “be somebody” or at the very least to just “be okay”.

I’m not speaking in generalities. I am talking specifically about myself. I have found that much of my activity and striving can make me miserable because I operate out of fear instead of out of faith. Fear that I won’t measure up. Fear that others will look down on me. Fear that I will let people down. Following my own rules is stressful, because I am never good enough.

I don’t know why, but I am perfectly able to give grace to the people we work with on The Relief Bus: the homeless, drug addicts, ex-cons, but end up raking myself over the coals. No one is a harsher judge of me than me. For some reason, I am a cruel taskmaster to myself. I treat myself like a slave. God began to speak to me. I wrote the words He was whispering in my heart in my journal, “Stop doing things in your own strength and walking in the flesh. Why act like a slave, when you are a son? Don’t be a slave to fear, a slave to performance and a slave to success.”

We either make these self-imposed rules our religion, and feel superior to others because of our moral achievements, or we feel like a demoralized failure for our lack of will power and self control. Either way, our self-made law doesn’t lead to what we really want: to be like God, the only one who is truly good, to be so close and intimate with God that we become one. This is the only place of true peace and satisfaction.

Psalm 73:28 (MSG)
You’re all I want in heaven!
You’re all I want on earth!
When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
God is rock-firm and faithful.
Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.
But I’m in the very presence of God—
oh, how refreshing it is!

God’s exhaustive law shines a spotlight on the fact that we are powerless to justify ourselves. We can never perform well enough to be secure. That’s why He sent Jesus to come and through the cross justify us through his grace.

Galatians 5:1 CEV
Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.

God knows that even after we make Christ Lord, that we will still slip into our old tendencies of trying to be a good enough Christians by reading the Bible enough, praying enough, thinking enough holy thoughts, etc.

v.4 And if you try to please God by obeying the Law, you have cut yourself off from Christ and his wonderful kindness.

In other words He is saying, “Stop it!”

Galatians 5:6 NIV

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

Evidently the only thing that counts is trusting God and out of that security, freely giving grace, affirmation, expressing value, affection and approval to others.

v.22,23 CEV

God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.

In other words, you have to let God love your flawed, messed up self when you know you don’t deserve it. Only then will you have the power to love others in their flawed, messed up condition.

There is a truth that supersedes all law: God loved us, now we can love others, even ourselves.

1 John 4:19 NIV

We love because he first loved us.

This is what I am finding to be my salvation. This is the light that guides me home.

Psalm 73:28 (MSG)
I’ve made Lord God my home.
God, I’m telling the world what you do!

We should get ahold of this because IT’S THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS.

Experience the new SPRING ISSUE of the

Galloway Family Urban Missionary Update

VIDEO EDITION!

Dear Friends of The Galloway Family,

This month I am emailing our WINTER VIDEO NEWSLETTER for our Galloway Urban Missionary Update.

It’s only FIVE minutes long and recorded live on the streets during an outreach. Just click on the graphic below to view. We hope you enjoy it!

To support us in our work to help the poor and homeless just click on the link below.

Write “Juan and Tracy” in the designation field. THANKS!

These Things We Do…That Others May Live,

Juan and Tracy Galloway

Juan@reliefbus.org

Facebook.com/juangalloway

Twitter.com/juangalloway

Thisisyourbrainonjuan.com

NEW PODCAST! Reliefbusstreetcast.com

What you and the public probably know about The Relief Bus for is our service to the poor and homeless. In 2011, we fed 339,778 servings of food and beverage. Our staff and volunteers gave away 12,469 items of clothing or hygiene products to the needy. 19,449 people received one-on-one personal care, and opportunity to connect to vital resources like shelter, job info, detox, and drug/alcohol rehabilitation.

This is the external expression of what our true core is: a spiritual community. Not a church, cult or commune, but a group of people of different ages, ethnicities, and church backgrounds who have come together for something greater than ourselves. Our mission is to help the addicted, the broken and the hopeless find life transformation. We have quite a task on our hands and have definitely bitten off more than we can chew.

In October 2011, the largest homeless population ever recorded in the New York City Public Shelter System was recorded. 41,000 people were counted as being homeless and 17,000 of that number were children.

Will poverty or homeless ever be ended? I don’t think so. Anyone who has ever worked with the homeless knows that it is complicated. Yet we have hope.

Our staff of twelve live as urban missionaries and actually fundraise so that they can even do this work. We don’t look like your average missionaries. The average staff age is around 28. Many of the staff are pierced, tattooed and even a little scruffy. You might think they are just young and idealistic, but you would be wrong. Idealism goes out the window after the first week. There is a quiet depth and an enthusiastic air about them. So many times people who work with the poor burn out and become jaded because of the mountains of need they are exposed to every day. It can be overwhelming. The Relief Bus goes on eleven outreaches a week to the most impoverished, drug addicted, crime infested neighborhoods in America. What stokes the fire of the furnace to keep our team going? It looks something like this:

“God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are.”

Ephesians 2:10 CEV

The more we engage with the hurting of this world, the more God changes us and shapes us into what He always destined us to be. The more we intentionally draw close to Him, the more we gain courage and strength to keep going. There is simply no substitute for the presence of God in our lives. He is our life and the more we give up control to him, the more alive and free we become. This certainly does not pan out like a bed of roses. We walk through our own pain and the pain of others on the streets, but with hope.

We want to share with the public the core of who we are, what makes us tick and how it plays out in our daily lives. We have found a few new ways to share that. We have launched a new podcast and a new quarterly interactive worship experience that we invite you to use to journey with us.

THE RELIEF BUS STREETCAST

This podcast is a mishmash of sermons, stories and messages given by our staff, given to our staff by friends, music and worship that we sing together and whatever else we find significant to us. Please subscribe and let it feed your soul as you workout, commute or just take a break. Click here to listen now!

WORSHIP WITH THE RELIEFERS

Four times this year our staff will be leading a time of worship and prayer at the Eastern Gate International House of Prayer at 950 Raritan Road, Cranford, NJ 07016. Not only can locals join us, but it will be broadcast live online here: www.ihopeg.org. Our staff will lead live worship and lead the attendees in times of prayer and intercession for the poor and the city. From 6pm to 8pm we invite you to experience God’s presence together with us. Here are the upcoming dates:

• March 22
• June 14
• September 27
• November 15

Finally, many of Relief Bus staff write blogs or post newsletters online that detail the ups and downs of living this peculiar urban missionary life. They humbly tell the story of what they are learning from the poor. I heartily encourage you to check them out and consider subscribing as well.

Lance Farrell: happeningsofthesimplefool.blogspot.com/

Juan Galloway: thisisyourbrainonjuan.com/

Josiah Haken: thereliefbus-teamhaken.org/

Bill Hoffman: www.scribd.com/bhoffman@nycrorg/

Katrina Monta: montasaurusrex.wordpress.com/

Katie Morris: katiemorrisurbanmissionary.weebly.com/

Johanna Soukka: www.scribd.com/jsoukka/

Caitlin Stiefel: caitlinstiefelphoto.com/

Imagine trying to pick out a present for the guy who really has everything. I’m talking about God. What kind of gift could you give God that He would really want? You won’t find it shopping online. The gift I’m thinking of is the perfect fit, and you won’t need a warranty either, because it’s already broken. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17 NIV

Jesus could have come the first time as a powerful warrior, but he chose to be born into poverty and political oppression. God chose to enter the brokenness of the world, up close and personal. Jesus experienced the pain of those around him firsthand. The Bible calls Jesus, “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” Is. 53:3.

Look at who is struggling around us: For the first time in recorded history, New York City has recorded over
40,000 people staying in the public shelter system during the month of October. This record number includes
17,000 children. The broken are all around us.

I have met some of these homeless children on the streets. I have four children of my own and I wonder what all these homeless kids will be going through over the Christmas holidays. I wonder what I can do to help?

Many times we look at the plight of the poor and although we want to do something to help, we feel so overwhelmed that we do nothing. We feel inadequate so we disqualify ourselves. The gift that God really wants from us is action governed by a humble and broken heart. From this perspective, others can receive God’s love from us without feeling condescended to or looked down upon.

Children stopping by the bus in W. Harlem for some soup & bread

Brokenness allows us to connect with people the way Jesus did, humbly. It validates us in people’s eyes. Now that you’ve got the method, let me introduce you to a great delivery system that beats Santa’s sleigh any day:

For 22 years, The Relief Bus has been a vehicle of life transformation in the inner city. The Relief Bus is a mobile soup kitchen and resource center. It feeds thousands of gallons of delicious soup every year to the hungry. More importantly it delivers volunteers into the most needy areas of New York City and New Jersey. These volunteers are on a mission to give away the greatest gift they have: grace. The gift of grace allows us to not come as one with all the answers, but to journey with others who are struggling.

As relationships are built during outreaches with The Relief Bus, connections are made to vital resources: shelter, detox, rehab, food, clothing, job training and local churches. These gifts keep on giving for those desperately in need.

This Christmas, consider giving to the poor through The Relief Bus. Also consider volunteering and giving your time. Mail checks to “The Relief Bus”, 295 Walnut Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201. Give online at www.reliefbus.org. To volunteer contact us at volunteer@reliefbus.org.

These Things We Do…That Others May Live,

Juan and Tracy Galloway

Juan@reliefbus.org

Facebook.com/juangalloway

Twitter.com/juangalloway

JUAN’S NEW BLOG! Thisisyourbrainonjuan.com

You may remember the groovy 1970’s style van from the classic cartoon series, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Scooby and the gang rode around in this van solving mysteries. It was aptly named The Mystery Machine. Most of these mysteries were of the supernatural kind, or at least appeared to be. As a little kid, I was so scared of the ghosts and monsters that I would change the channel whenever they appeared and quickly flip back to see if they were gone so I could enjoy the rest of the cartoon.

As an adult, I have had the chance many times to ride around in another mystery machine. This vehicle transports thousands of people every year into God’s mysteries, also of the supernatural kind. We explore strange phenomena where the last are first and the powerless represent the One who is all-powerful. We call this groovy vehicle The Relief Bus.

The people we meet on the streets are many times ghosts of their former selves. In former lives they were pilots, soldiers, nurses or even preachers. Along the way something happened to alter their course.

This week I stood in the pouring rain in New York City talking to a woman named Deborah. She is an incredibly sweet woman who is mentally ill. Deborah lives in an artist community near our Chelsea Park outreach location. It is a free Section 8 apartment. She comes to eat our delicious soup twice a week. She also dumpster-dives for her food. I was amazed to hear how she described the great finds she had made of squash and cheese in the garbage. Deborah explained that if she lived in lower Manhattan she would be fighting 30 other people for food of that quality.

Deborah and Juan on a rainy day in Chelsea Park

Deborah was formerly an art teacher. At one time, her school was going to close the art department, because they couldn’t afford art supplies. She volunteered to buy them herself so that the kids could continue to enjoy the gift of art.

Deborah told me an amazing story about a team of female Relief Bus volunteers from Ohio that impacted her life. She was very ill, but too afraid of doctors to get help. The women who heard her story offered her prayer and she accepted. As they lifted their voices up to heaven for her healing that day, Deborah felt very uplifted, but nothing appeared to happen physically. Over the next two weeks, the painful bony arthritic nodules on her fingers disappeared. She was amazed.

Deborah attends a church of mostly wealthy people in Manhattan and sings in the choir every week, next to some people who arrive in limousines. She continues to sketch and paint, showing her pieces at art shows in her building. Deborah is not on SSI, because she doesn’t want to be officially classified as mentally ill. She doesn’t want that label because that isn’t how she sees herself. I can’t say I blame her.

In A Long Obedience In The Same Direction, Eugene Peterson states,

“We have picked up the bad habit of reducing what we find in the Bible to ideas or slogans or principles or out-of-context ‘verses.’ Forget the details; skip the mystery; we want a definition we can grasp and be comfortable with. We depersonalize the Bible into abstractions or “truths” that we can reconfigure and then fit into the plots that we make up for our lives… Imagination is the capacity we have of crossing boundaries of space and time, with all our senses intact and entering into other God-revealed conversations and actions, finding ourselves at home in Bible country.”

The church as a team, a community, a body, must enter the mysteries of God to grasp the deeper truths of God. Like sleuths following clues, we must follow the footsteps of Jesus, studying everything we find his fingerprints on. Like most successful detectives, we must get out of the lab and get out on the field. No amount of analysis can replace good old-fashioned footwork.

The quest I have entered to find God in the city, to find him amongst the poor and broken has taken new sight. The magnifying glass of imagination has allowed me to “see” God in surprising places.

These “ghosts” we meet on the streets are sometimes called the invisible people. Sometimes we have the privilege of leading these “ghosts” from the world of the dead back to the world of the living. Other times, they lead us out of the illusions we are living in to enter the world of humility and faith that we are blind to. They make the mysteries of God clear to us in a way that no one else could.

Like Shaggy and Scooby, we stumble and bumble into these mysteries more than we brilliantly deduce them. We are as scripture describes, “fools for Christ”, the “foolish, weak and despised.” However, collectively we have the amazing ability together to connect with and enter into, even become one with the mysteries of God. Climb on the “mystery machine” and let’s hit the road. We were made for this kind of adventure.

Zoinks! Now we have a new way for you to join the gang here at The Relief Bus. Introducing…THE RELIEF BASE! This is an urban missions training center that volunteer teams can come and stay at for as long as a week. Teams will receive training in the evenings and do outreach on The Relief Bus in New York City during the day with our staff. This facility is brand new with comfy bunk beds, hot showers and decorated with a New York City theme. Click here for pricing and details.

There are whole books full of famous people’s last words before they died. They are quite interesting. Here are a few good ones:

“How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?”
P. T. Barnum, entrepreneur, d. 1891

“That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.”
Lou Costello, comedian, d. March 3, 1959

“Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.”
John Barrymore, actor, d. May 29, 1942

“It is very beautiful over there.”
Thomas Alva Edison, inventor, d. October 18, 1931

The Apostle Paul was one of the most influential men in history. His writings have literally changed the world. In Acts Chapter 20, Paul gave his farewell speech to the Christian leaders in the city of Ephesus. He was on his way to Jerusalem where he knew he would probably be arrested, thrown in prison, and maybe killed. He wanted his last words to the Ephesians to be important ones.

In verse 35 he states that,

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

These are words from a formerly aggressive religious leader who would stop at nothing to succeed. His goal had been to wipe out Christianity. He didn’t let anyone stand in his way when he was on a mission, until God got in his way. Paul was a man who had been transformed, humbled, and he felt compelled to pass on the most important lessons that he had learned:

1. We must help the weak.
2. Giving is even better than receiving.

There is something about giving that satisfies us to the very core of our being. The reality of being an American is that even in the midst of a recession, we can have it all and still feel empty.  We are inundated with entertainment, media, and instant information. Yet the more we receive, the less satisfied we are.

Even Christians who have accepted the priceless gift of salvation can find themselves feeling emotionally impoverished and unsatisfied. Without a lifestyle of giving, we become black holes that simply swallow up life instead of giving life. A body of water that only has an inlet becomes murky, stagnant and dead. A body of water with an outlet on the other hand is clear, refreshing, and full of life.

The reason I believe that it really is a blessing to give is that it centers us. It realigns our priorities and pulls us into our core, God-given purposes like nothing else can. Ironically, the more we empty ourselves, the more full we become.

Who are we supposed to give to? Paul says it pretty clearly, “Help the weak.” But what if they don’t deserve help?

Volunteers making new friends while serving on the streets with The Relief Bus

We have many people come to serve on The Relief Bus who have never been involved in anything like this in their lives. Some come with preconceived notions about the poor or the homeless. Some may even have a mentality that the poor should just “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” Once they spend time with the poor however, their outlook changes and they start to see that God is moving them to be part of the life transformation process with that person. The closer they get to the needy, the more they can identify and sympathize with them. Hearts mingle and the volunteer finds their own heart being changed.

A fellow follower of Christ put it this way,

“Love of neighbor is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend…Seeing with the eyes of Christ I can give to others much more than their outward necessities: I can give them the look of love which they crave…”

-Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter: On Christian Love (accessed 28, Feb., 2006)

How much should we give? Probably no more than Jesus gives to us. We are the weak ones that He still helps every day.

Fill out a volunteer application to serve on The Relief Bus by clicking HERE. Call 1-800-736-2773 or email volunteer@reliefbus.org to sign up today.

“Worry wears you out more than work, yet people still choose worry over work. Work wears you out more than worship, yet people choose work over worship.”  Pastor Anthony Does, Lindsay Ontario

Many people think of worship as a “Sunday morning thing.” Not everyone knows this, but worship plays a major role in the weekly outreaches to the homeless by The Relief Bus. As volunteers ride in on the bus to serve in the Bronx, Harlem or Manhattan, they sing songs of hope, faith and victory. They know that the answer for the broken and hurting is not just more charity. It is a move of God.

The Relief Bus fights the war against poverty, addiction and hopelessness every week. Staff and volunteers aren’t fighting with guns and knives, they brandish the weapons mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10:4. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Sometimes the people we feed and serve in the inner city literally break out in praise on the streets in Spanish or in English. They have found the answer. They can’t trust in money, the economy or their earning power. Despite their circumstances, they look beyond the immediate into the eternal and acknowledge God’s provision through worship. We have a lot to learn from the poor. “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” James 2:5

A woman singing along with some volunteers at The Relief Bus in the Bronx

Some people look at the problems facing the poor and homeless and worry that change is impossible. This worry, anxiety or fear discourages them so much that they just give up hope. Others get to work trying to make a difference, but find that there is so much work to do that they exhaust themselves through overworking. People can become jaded or even burned out this way. There is better way.

In 2 Chronicles 20:12, Jehoshaphat prays, “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Scripture goes on to say that as the people of Israel worshipped God, their enemies turned against one another and were destroyed. They turned their eyes from the overwhelming challenge and focused instead on God as the answer.

Worship plays a major role in my life, because it is the way that I can tap directly into the source of life. When I come to the end of myself, which doesn’t take long, I can go to a well that never runs dry. When the battle seems too hard, the challenge too daunting, I get my eyes, my hope and my faith focused back on Jesus through worship. One of the ways I do this is by spending time with The Relief Bus staff weekly on Tuesday mornings, worshipping God and praying together.

Another way we are engaging in worship warfare is by hosting a worship event on August 21 called Concert For The Homeless, featuring Jason Upton and his band. This is a fundraiser for The Relief Bus, but it is also an acknowledgment of God as the answer for the city, the ultimate solution for the poor and homeless. Please join us for this amazing night in the presence of God and focus your eyes on God as the source for your own breakthrough as well.

Jason Upton is one of the most prolific Christian musicians and songwriters of the 21st century. Not known simply as a contemporary or pop artist, Jason is a worship leader that crafts powerful worship songs. For the last eleven years, his concerts have led listeners to encounter God in a fresh way that draws them deeper into the heart of God. See a video of Jason performing live from a past concert in the same venue we are using here.

This special event takes place August 21, at Calvary Tabernacle in Cranford, New Jersey at 6pm. Address: 69 Myrtle Street, Cranford, NJ. Tickets are $12 at the door. An offering will be taken for the homeless. For more info: info@reliefbus.org , 1.800.736.2773, or www.reliefbus.org.