For our first episode of the MhAX Impact podcast recorded in the One North studio, Teddy & Xander had a very insightful & enlightening conversation with John Tumino, Abigail Tumino & Shaniyah Love about how to interact with homeless people and how we as Christians (especially the younger generation) can minister the love of Jesus Christ properly to the homeless community.
John, Abigail & Shaniyah work with In My Father’s Kitchen (IMFK), a faith-based organization offering non-denominational and non-discriminatory assistance to homeless people through direct street outreach & other programs. They provide food & basic necessitates to homeless individuals where they live on the streets, on a consistent and compassionate basis, until the homeless individual is comfortable accepting help and working with community agencies to secure housing.
To learn more about IMFK and the services they provide for the homeless, please check out their website: https://inmyfatherskitchen.org/
Chapters - (00:03:00) - Introducing John Tumino, Abigail Tumino and Shaniyah Love
- (00:05:13) - What is In My Father’s Kitchen & how was it born?
- (00:07:23) - How Abigail & Shaniyah got involved with In My Father’s Kitchen
- (00:13:33) - The 3 branches of In My Father’s Kitchen
- (00:15:15) - Things they’ve learned serving the homeless community
- (00:19:43) - The trauma behind homelessness
- (00:22:49) - The Holy Spirit showing up in the ministry work
- (00:25:01) - Generational trauma leading to homelessness
- (00:25:52) - Counseling & ministering to the homeless at In My Father’s Kitchen
- (00:32:26) - What to do when encountering a homeless person on the street and they ask you for money
- (00:45:52) - Why many homeless people won’t go to shelters
- (00:51:41) - Finding comfort in helping a homeless person in other ways
- (00:54:22) - Being “armored up” when hitting the streets to serve the homeless
- (00:55:32) - Other advice to young people on how to minister to the homeless community
- (00:58:06) - How an encounter with a random homeless man showed John the importance of being led by the Spirit in ministry
- (01:01:41) - An important perspective on how we view the homeless & minister to them
- (01:07:12) - Closing thoughts on the conversation