Are you still Christian? If so, go fuck yourself.

Tuckerfan · Jun 18, 2023

Former OC pastor sentenced to 186 years to life for molesting 2 girls

And trust me, you don't need to read the details.

tafkats · Jun 18, 2023

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Former OC pastor sentenced to 186 years to life for molesting 2 girls

And trust me, you don't need to read the details.
Click to expand...

Annnnnnd it does indeed look like the churches he pastored at were conservative evangelical ones.

Tererune · Jun 18, 2023

tafkats said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Former OC pastor sentenced to 186 years to life for molesting 2 girls

And trust me, you don't need to read the details.
Click to expand...

Annnnnnd it does indeed look like the churches he pastored at were conservative evangelical ones.
Click to expand...

Yes, but really he was a drag queen right? Oh, he was performatively masculine? Must be fake news because the only reason you molest children is because you once wore women's clothing as a man.

Tuckerfan · Jul 7, 2023

Police arrest pastor for allegedly impregnating minor in Rivers

The surname of the person who reported the abuse is Thankgod.

Demiurge · Jul 18, 2023

Far right Christofascists include provision in the Defense Authorization Act which bans any military personnel from contacting the MRFF - the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Blatantly against the 1st Amendment in order to prevent people in the military from accessing resources when they are discriminated against by Christians.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...icating-with-civil-rights-group-clears-house/

Demiurge · Aug 18, 2023

Well, not a sex scandal, so I guess that's a step forward.

But the current acting chair of the Southern Baptist Executive council had to resign when he was caught on multiple lies on his resume about schools he did not attend and programs he did not actually take.

The previous two were forced out over sex scandals, so that's three in a row.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/n...-willie-mclaurin-resign-resume-sbc-presi.html

shootER · Aug 18, 2023

Video at the link.

https://twitter.com/waltermasterson/status/1692518852746265002?s=20

Tuckerfan · Aug 28, 2023

She’s on fire, she's on fire, Spokane.

MAGA Preacher Prays for a Jesus ‘Fire’ to ‘Consume Spokane’
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN you combine a Christian nationalist musician and a disgraced former state representative-turned-pastor accused of domestic terrorism? According to local lawmakers and faith leaders in Washington state, it’s a recipe for “bigotry” cloaked “in religious language.”

Controversy has erupted in Spokane after Mayor Nadine Woodward appeared at a “Let Us Worship” event on Aug. 20, hosted by Christian singer Sean Feucht with special guest Matt Shea, a former state representative in Washington accused of domestic terrorism. The mayor’s appearance alongside Shea, as well as comments made by Feuch about a religious “wildfire” ravaging Spokane — while actual fires destroyed parts of the county — has angered members of the community.

Feucht rose to prominence during the pandemic, hosting anti-lockdown concerts that drew thousands of attendees. In 2023, he partnered with the right-wing group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) for a religious revival tour. The organization was present at the event in Spokane.

Feucht has made millions capitalizing on the overlap between the religious right’s reverence for Donald Trump and the rapidly growing influence of Christian Nationalism. Much like other celebrity evangelists, Feucht is living large on the financial contributions of his devout flock, purchasing millions in property and indulging in lavish vacations. But, as previously reported by Rolling Stone, the financials of Sean Feucht Ministry Inc. are raising eyebrows. Despite constantly soliciting donations, and raking in more than $5.3 million in 2020, the organization claimed it had received $0 in contributions that same year.

Shea was ousted from the state’s House Republican Caucus in 2019 after an FBI investigation and House report found that he had “planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government” between 2014 and 2016.

The investigation had been prompted by revelations that Shea had distributed a manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War,’ which called for “warriors” to “kill all males” should their opponents not surrender to their demands. Shea has since become a pastor, founding On Fire Ministries in 2021.

During the “Let Us Worship” event with Feucht, Shea appeared on stage to lead prayer over Mayor Woodward. “We’ve got an enemy we need to fight, his name is Satan,” Shea said. “We pray a blessing over the leaders you have chosen for this time. …That you would give them supernatural discernment. You would increase their faith, you would increase their joy. That they could laugh in the middle of crisis Lord God, because you are with them. Not laughing at the crisis, but knowing that you are still on the throne.”

Spokane was in crisis at the time of the event. Wildfires had ravaged the county, killing at least three people and destroying dozens of homes. At one point, Feucht told the crowd “we don’t care about the smoke. Let’s pray for a fire that would consume Spokane” and “sweep our city like a fire sweeps through the woods.”

“Jesus, we know that you are in control of the fires. And we are on fire for you,” said Feucht.

But leaving it to Jesus was not enough for members of the Spokane City Council, who denounced Mayor Woodward’s participation in the event. In a statement, members Betsy Wilkerson, Zack Zappone, and Karen Stratton wrote that they “strongly denounce Mayor Woodward’s appearance with a domestic terrorist, former Representative Matt Shea, and extremist Sean Feucht over the weekend.”

“This pre-planned appearance by Mayor Woodward is alarming and makes clear that she is comfortable embracing dangerous and hateful individuals,” Zappone wrote. “Minutes before calling Woodward on stage, Shea stated the problems he believes the country is facing, specifically naming wildfires, homosexual marriage, and transgender issues. As a member of the LGTBQ community, I feel the hatred and violence that is being directed towards families like mine. Elected officials must be leaders that make it clear that hatred and extremism have no place in Spokane.”

According to Woodward, she attended the event to “join with fellow citizens to begin the healing process” after the wildfires. But her claim was contradicted by Shea, who said the mayor had agreed to participate in the event months before the fires.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Feucht said that his events “routinely have pastors, elected officials, community leaders, along with addicts, the lost, the hurting, and the forgotten onstage praying, praising, and worshiping Jesus.”

“Not all of them agree with each other on every issue, but we all agree that there is only ONE WAY under heaven to be saved, and that’s by the blood of Jesus Christ,” he added.
Click to expand...

Tuckerfan · Aug 30, 2023

Record $100 Million Settlement Reached in Lawsuits Alleging Torture, Rape, Starvation at Christian School

Tuckerfan · Sep 5, 2023

https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/...licit-images-to-child-he-met-on-mission-trip/

Tuckerfan · Sep 6, 2023

Now, this is a shitty source, I will admit that but it points out problems we have with how we handle sex offenders after they've been released (and let's remember that with the way our justice system works, probably at least 3% of all convictions are wrong, not to mention in some places an 18-year-old who has sex with a 17-year-old can be convicted of being a child molester). Sticking a bunch of ex-cons (of any stripe) in the same place, strikes me as a bit of a bad idea.

Florida's booming pedophile community Miracle Village leaves residents of neighboring Pahokee too terrified to let their kids walk alone

tafkats · Sep 6, 2023

Sex offender residency requirements are pretty absurd, and really amount to a piece of performance art rather than anything that actually increases anyone's safety.

But everyone wants to think that the biggest risk to their kids comes from some random person who lives a block away from their school, because that's far easier to face than the reality -- that nearly all sex crimes against children are committed not by somebody who just happens to live near the schoolhouse, but rather by a family member, family friend, pastor, or other trusted adult.

Tuckerfan · Sep 10, 2023

https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/former-american-family-association

Tererune · Sep 11, 2023

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Now, this is a shitty source, I will admit that but it points out problems we have with how we handle sex offenders after they've been released (and let's remember that with the way our justice system works, probably at least 3% of all convictions are wrong, not to mention in some places an 18-year-old who has sex with a 17-year-old can be convicted of being a child molester). Sticking a bunch of ex-cons (of any stripe) in the same place, strikes me as a bit of a bad idea.

Florida's booming pedophile community Miracle Village leaves residents of neighboring Pahokee too terrified to let their kids walk alone
Click to expand...

Think this through. If you made a child free area where it was known these people were, then that is where they can live. Don't bring your children there, or if you are visiting a person there you watch them extra close.

I am not a fan of chomos, nor do I agree with ever letting them act on their desires. However, if they chose to live away from people so they can not be tempted, or not deal with the hateful looks, then ok.

What do you want them to do? Do you want them near kids and living next door to them?

The problem here is either one of two things. I think I know the area so it may be thaty some people with kids have to be near this community because they are poor and cannot move. I am pretty sure that area is fucked with crime over all. I have heard not to drive over there from where I am. So maybe some people are trapped near them because of poverty and that is a real problem considering what poverty can lead to with children. There also might be parents who just think they should be able to bring their kids everywhere and we all need to be G rated because they have to prance about with their crotch droppings. I like my adult fun and I would like some adult spaces. Keep the kids away because you have other areas to go.

However, if the chomos are trying to find some peace in an area of their own without molesting children then I am cool with it. That is also to say the authorities need to watch that area very closely for children as they should not be there.

Tererune · Sep 11, 2023

tafkats said: ↑

Sex offender residency requirements are pretty absurd, and really amount to a piece of performance art rather than anything that actually increases anyone's safety.

But everyone wants to think that the biggest risk to their kids comes from some random person who lives a block away from their school, because that's far easier to face than the reality -- that nearly all sex crimes against children are committed not by somebody who just happens to live near the schoolhouse, but rather by a family member, family friend, pastor, or other trusted adult.
Click to expand...

don'f forget the most trusted adults of all, drag queens. I don't know why people were just handing their children to drag queens, and letting them sleep in their beds at night, but it happens because I hear it does from some of the most honest liars I have ever seen.

Tuckerfan · Sep 14, 2023

https://x.com/antifaoperative/status/1702337545512562851?s=46&t=iYW3foyqIA6Tn8VWwn3nwQ

Tuckerfan · Oct 14, 2023

https://wreg.com/news/local/mid-sou...ors-charged-in-covid-19-relief-fraud-schemes/

Tuckerfan · Oct 28, 2023

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article281136673.html

Tuckerfan · Jan 1, 2024

[To the tune of "He Tried to Kill Me With a Forklift"] He tried to kill him with a deep fryer!

Pastor accused of trying to throw a cook into a deep fryer at McDonald's for 'disrespecting' his wife

Police have accused a North Carolina pastor of attacking a McDonald's cook and trying to push him into a deep fryer.

Dwayne Waden, 57, was arrested on Thursday and charged with assault after police were called to a McDonald's branch on S Main Street in High Point, North Carolina.

Waden is a pastor at the Elevated Life International Ministries and works as a semi truck driver, according to his Facebook page.

He turned up at the fast food joint to assist his wife, Latoya Gladney, who is a manager-in-training at the branch, per police investigation records that Business Insider has seen.

Gladney, 44, had called her husband to help handle employees who she told police were "disrespecting" her.

On entering the restaurant, police say Waden walked straight around the counter and launched an assault on a 34-year-old cook.

"The offender came into the McDonalds on S Main Street, walked around the counter and placed his hands around the neck of the victim pushing his head toward the deep fryer," the police investigation found.

He is then accused of punching the cook several times, leaving him with scratches down his neck and "a large contusion" to his forehead and right eye.

Emergency services were called to the scene, but his family took him to a hospital for treatment.

Waden did not stop the assault until several employees pulled him off of the victim and restrained him until police arrived, police said.

After viewing security camera footage of the incident, the pastor arrested the pastor and charged him with assault.

A trial has been scheduled for 22 January, and a $1,000 bail bond has been set.

McDonald's has previously faced several lawsuits from employees over a failure to protect them from violence in the workplace.

The complaints include instances of customers pulling guns on workers, throwing items at workers, and physically attacking workers.

"The incidents described in this complaint are not random or unforeseeable," the workers claimed in the 2019 suit. "Rather, they are part of a citywide and nationwide pattern at McDonald's restaurants.

McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, made outside normal working hours.
Click to expand...

For those of you who are so uncultured as to not know the song

Bickendan · Jan 1, 2024

After viewing security camera footage of the incident, the pastor arrested the pastor and charged him with assault.

Tuckerfan · Jan 1, 2024

Bickendan said: ↑

After viewing security camera footage of the incident, the pastor arrested the pastor and charged him with assault.

Click to expand...

Hey, copy editors cost money.

Tererune · Jan 1, 2024

Tuckerfan said: ↑

[To the tune of "He Tried to Kill Me With a Forklift"] He tried to kill him with a deep fryer!

Pastor accused of trying to throw a cook into a deep fryer at McDonald's for 'disrespecting' his wife

Police have accused a North Carolina pastor of attacking a McDonald's cook and trying to push him into a deep fryer.

Dwayne Waden, 57, was arrested on Thursday and charged with assault after police were called to a McDonald's branch on S Main Street in High Point, North Carolina.

Waden is a pastor at the Elevated Life International Ministries and works as a semi truck driver, according to his Facebook page.

He turned up at the fast food joint to assist his wife, Latoya Gladney, who is a manager-in-training at the branch, per police investigation records that Business Insider has seen.

Gladney, 44, had called her husband to help handle employees who she told police were "disrespecting" her.

On entering the restaurant, police say Waden walked straight around the counter and launched an assault on a 34-year-old cook.

"The offender came into the McDonalds on S Main Street, walked around the counter and placed his hands around the neck of the victim pushing his head toward the deep fryer," the police investigation found.

He is then accused of punching the cook several times, leaving him with scratches down his neck and "a large contusion" to his forehead and right eye.

Emergency services were called to the scene, but his family took him to a hospital for treatment.

Waden did not stop the assault until several employees pulled him off of the victim and restrained him until police arrived, police said.

After viewing security camera footage of the incident, the pastor arrested the pastor and charged him with assault.

A trial has been scheduled for 22 January, and a $1,000 bail bond has been set.

McDonald's has previously faced several lawsuits from employees over a failure to protect them from violence in the workplace.

The complaints include instances of customers pulling guns on workers, throwing items at workers, and physically attacking workers.

"The incidents described in this complaint are not random or unforeseeable," the workers claimed in the 2019 suit. "Rather, they are part of a citywide and nationwide pattern at McDonald's restaurants.

McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, made outside normal working hours.
Click to expand...

For those of you who are so uncultured as to not know the song

Click to expand...

I am not sure why the articvle seems to blame McDonalds for this. I would hope McDonalds investigates the manager who seems to have instigated the assault by gaslighting their husband who is obviously a violent ill tempered animal who needs time in a cage, but I am not really sure how this is a huge problem which McDonalds could remedy unless there were signs of a problem they ignored.

Certain large chains that are everywhere are going to have trouble in certain areas due to lack of police response and violent customers. This seems to be a different sort of incident with a manager who felt the need to get her husband involved. That does not seem to be violent customers, but rather a workplace problem between employees that got out of hand. The article mentions nothing about a lack of response to reports of the problem, or if there were reports of the problem that could have been acted upon.

shootER · Jan 3, 2024

Tuckerfan said: ↑

[To the tune of "He Tried to Kill Me With a Forklift"] He tried to kill him with a deep fryer!

Pastor accused of trying to throw a cook into a deep fryer at McDonald's for 'disrespecting' his wife

Police have accused a North Carolina pastor of attacking a McDonald's cook and trying to push him into a deep fryer.

Dwayne Waden, 57, was arrested on Thursday and charged with assault after police were called to a McDonald's branch on S Main Street in High Point, North Carolina.

Waden is a pastor at the Elevated Life International Ministries and works as a semi truck driver, according to his Facebook page.

He turned up at the fast food joint to assist his wife, Latoya Gladney, who is a manager-in-training at the branch, per police investigation records that Business Insider has seen.

Gladney, 44, had called her husband to help handle employees who she told police were "disrespecting" her.

On entering the restaurant, police say Waden walked straight around the counter and launched an assault on a 34-year-old cook.

"The offender came into the McDonalds on S Main Street, walked around the counter and placed his hands around the neck of the victim pushing his head toward the deep fryer," the police investigation found.

He is then accused of punching the cook several times, leaving him with scratches down his neck and "a large contusion" to his forehead and right eye.

Emergency services were called to the scene, but his family took him to a hospital for treatment.

Waden did not stop the assault until several employees pulled him off of the victim and restrained him until police arrived, police said.

After viewing security camera footage of the incident, the pastor arrested the pastor and charged him with assault.

A trial has been scheduled for 22 January, and a $1,000 bail bond has been set.

McDonald's has previously faced several lawsuits from employees over a failure to protect them from violence in the workplace.

The complaints include instances of customers pulling guns on workers, throwing items at workers, and physically attacking workers.

"The incidents described in this complaint are not random or unforeseeable," the workers claimed in the 2019 suit. "Rather, they are part of a citywide and nationwide pattern at McDonald's restaurants.

McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, made outside normal working hours.
Click to expand...

For those of you who are so uncultured as to not know the song

Click to expand...

So the pastor tried to become a friar.

Tuckerfan · Jan 16, 2024

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Kenya pastor arrested after 39 bodies dug up in cult investigation

He starved them to death.
Click to expand...

Nearly 200 bodies have been found now.

https://www.reuters.com/world/afric...odies-search-death-cult-followers-2023-05-12/
Click to expand...

https://apnews.com/article/kenya-cult-deaths-pastor-cf128414776dac04a5fd8950a54e00e5

shootER · Jan 16, 2024

Sounds like God was sending a message.

Pastor Greg Locke's Wilson County Global Vision church tent sustains 'massive' snow damage

Tererune · Jan 17, 2024

shootER said: ↑

Sounds like God was sending a message.

Pastor Greg Locke's Wilson County Global Vision church tent sustains 'massive' snow damage
Click to expand...

The obvious message being that the world is not sending enough money to destroy the evil gays so people need to donate more.

Nyx · Jan 19, 2024

Jesus: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: . . . to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
Modern Christian churches: "Ew, homeless people! Get away!"

More than 200 Spokane churches were asked to open their doors to homeless people during dangerously cold weather — four agreed

Inlander said:

It's the same every year.
A dangerous cold snap is forecast. Hundreds of unhoused people are in danger of freezing to death, and there isn't a clear plan to keep them warm. With the clock ticking, the city scrambles.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown criticized the city's perpetual lack of planning during her run for office last year, and pledged to put a better system in place. But when a blast of arctic air descended on Spokane and brought temperatures below zero during her second week in office, she, too, was forced to scramble at the last minute.

"The system my administration inherited is not as coordinated as we would like it to be," Brown said during a Thursday meeting to discuss emergency warming plans with City Council members.

Brown declared a state of emergency and said 183 additional beds would be available during the dangerously cold weather. The city's Trent Resource and Assistance Center and other local shelters squeezed in more beds. Compassionate Addiction Treatment also opened its South Division Street location as an emergency shelter. On Friday, the city reopened the Cannon Street Shelter, which closed last May because of funding issues.

The city's efforts this year were also aided by a small group of volunteers and homeless service providers who had spent months working behind the scenes on an ambitious project to keep people from freezing.

The plan was simple: Open the churches.

The idea of using churches to house homeless people during cold weather has been long in the making. In theory, it makes sense: Hundreds of Spokane churches sit empty every night. With city shelter space consistently below what's needed, why not ask the faith community to help?

But making that vision a reality has been an uphill battle.

Past efforts haven't always gone smoothly, and many churches are wary of what could go wrong. In 2021, Jewels Helping Hands — a nonprofit that recently managed the East Central Camp Hope homeless encampment — partnered with the City Church Spokane on West Garland Avenue to operate it as a warming shelter on a first-come, first-served basis. Some people ended up sleeping in the neighborhood, and nearby businesses complained about significant disruptions.

"We noticed the impact on the neighborhood," says Julie Garcia, director of Jewels Helping Hands. "This has been trial and error for us."

Despite trepidation over past incidents, a group of volunteers was able to convince four churches to let Jewels use their buildings as warming centers during this year's cold snap — this time with a new model designed to minimize disruption.

"It was a big step for us," says Deb Conklin, the pastor of Liberty Park United Methodist Church. "But it is simply living out our mission."

The volunteers say it was a huge success and hope that other churches will see how things are going and agree to get on board in the future. Garcia says the goal is for each of the four churches participating in the program to continue hosting people through the end of February.

"There's always going to be some risk," says Christian McKinney, a project assistant with the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium. "But at some point, you just have to think, 'What are we called to do?'"

THURSDAY AFTERNOON: 29 DEGREES

As the arctic air crosses the Cascades and rips toward Spokane, Garcia is at the New Apostolic Church — a small building in Spokane's Garland District with boarded up windows that's been unoccupied for some time.

Garcia says the owner, who lives out of state and is trying to sell the building, was happy to help when the volunteers asked about using it as a shelter. Because it's unoccupied, Jewels staff members are able to operate it 24/7 as a shelter specifically set aside for women and people with intensive medical needs. The other churches need the space during the day, and are open as shelters from 8 pm to 8 am.

There are 20 beds set up inside New Apostolic, each paired with a storage crate for people's belongings. On Thursday afternoon, only one bed was occupied. The woman sleeping there came in that morning and told Garcia she had spent the night before sleeping near Second Avenue and Division Street — a notorious intersection that's long struggled with drugs and crime.

"It was the scariest thing she'd ever been through," Garcia says. "She was just so thrilled to come here. She was freezing cold, she'd been wearing the same pants for four months."

Today is the first test of a program that Garcia and a group of volunteers — called "Love Spokane" — have spent months pitching to local churches.

The basic idea is this: Each participating church will host about 20 people per night. Jewels will provide two paid staff members at each church to stay awake through the night and keep an eye on things. People staying at the churches also have to sign good neighbor agreements that outline expectations regarding behavior and substance use.

Garcia says her organization initially planned to use its own budget to cover staff costs, but last week Brown indicated that the city would reimburse some of Jewels' expenses during the cold snap. (Garcia estimates that the total cost to operate five churches for two months would be $162,000.)

The volunteers want to make sure people don't congregate in the neighborhoods and create issues for the churches, so instead of operating on a first come, first-served basis, Jewels and the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium are using a referral system to screen guests and transport people to the churches from a pickup spot at the downtown Central Library. They're also trying to avoid publicizing the addresses to prevent people from showing up unannounced.

"It doesn't have to be chaotic and crazy," Garcia says. "This is 20, 25 people at each place in the middle of neighborhoods. It's more calm."

THURSDAY EVENING: 19 DEGREES

On the other side of town, Ken Crary, an outreach supervisor with Jewels, is in the basement of Liberty Park United Methodist Church in the Perry District. He's settling in for an evening shift and training a new Jewels employee on how to manage the shelter and maintain order for the night.

"They can't go outside that gate after they come in," Crary says. "This is a nice warm spot to go to sleep, charge phones... but you can't go out in the neighborhood and run around."

Crary has seen the consequences of the cold firsthand. When Jewels was managing the City Church shelter in 2021, he recalls walking to work one morning and finding an unhoused person lying motionless on the street.

"He was laying right there, frozen to death," Crary says. "Nobody wants to find something like that."

Crary hopes the new model of partnering with churches will help stop that from happening again.

"It's a big deal — this could be groundbreaking," Crary says.

Johnny Edmondson, the family ministry director at Shadle Park Presbyterian Church, helped organize this year's efforts to open up churches. Over the course of about three months, Edmondson says the group of volunteers and service providers contacted 227 local churches.

He says almost every church said they were interested in supporting the effort. But many expressed concern about potential liability, damage to their buildings and other things that could go wrong.

The biggest hurdle, Edmondson says, was fear.

By late December, a few churches were considering the idea, but none had officially committed. McKinney with the Low Income Housing Consortium says there were moments when he worried the project would fizzle.

"As Christians, we're called to help and love and serve people, and this is such a tangible way [to do it]," McKinney says. "Our buildings are one of the biggest things we have to offer."

But then news of this year's cold snap started to spread, and things got moving quickly. Conklin sent out a poll to board members of her church explaining the plan, and she was able to get unanimous agreement.

"It certainly was an incentive for my church to say, 'Go with it,' to make that choice to jump," Conklin says.

By Thursday, three churches had committed. Several others were on the fence.

Garcia says she's grateful to see the support but disappointed that more churches didn't step up.

"In talking with some of these churches, I think people forget who Jesus was," Garcia says. "We've gotten away from 'What would Jesus do?'"

Jesus, Garcia says, would open his doors.

FRIDAY EVENING: NEGATIVE 2 DEGREES

The cold is here in full force. The grass outside New Apostolic Church is coated in a thin layer of diamond-like frost, and the air is thin and aggressive. A few minutes outside is all it takes for a stinging numbness to start climbing up your fingers.

Inside the church, Garcia is eating lasagna with a group of volunteers and overnight guests. More people are asleep inside the main chapel, which is closed off with blackout curtains. The atmosphere cozy — like a rustic cabin in the woods.

Chris Bell, 51, arrived that morning. She says she's been homeless for much of her life and knows all too well what it's like to survive out in the cold.

"It's unbearable," Bell says. "You freeze and your hands shake."

Bell says she's had bad experiences at local shelters and spent recent weeks sleeping outside. She says she was able to escape the cold on Thursday by sleeping in the laundry room of an apartment complex. ("It was open so I went in," she says.)

On Friday morning, a Jewels van picked up Bell and a few others and brought them to New Apostolic. Bell says the church has been a welcome relief — especially compared to some of the larger city shelters where she's previously stayed.

"I've been really accepted," Bell says. "That means everything to me."

Garcia says she's considering purchasing the church for use as a permanent respite space for Jewels.

Sharyl Brown, a Jewels employee, worked the day shift at New Apostolic on Friday. She says it's been "shockingly chill" — especially compared to Camp Hope, where Brown previously worked.

"It was just work, work, work," she says. "I didn't have time to breathe."

But Brown says the small size of the church warming shelters has made things easier to manage — and given her time to give individual guests the attention they need. She says, proudly, that she's already been able to connect one couple who came in with low-barrier housing. Another man agreed to start detox once treatment centers open on Monday.

"If it were a larger scale, if we were packed, I wouldn't have any time to do that," Brown says.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: 7 DEGREES

Getting neighborhood buy-in for homeless shelters is a notoriously difficult process.

Conklin says the volunteers were wary that news of the plans could create a "brouhaha," and ended up waiting until after the shelters were up and running to reach out to neighbors.

"If we just quietly start it, and neighbors see how it's going to work, then they're not as likely to have issues with it," Conklin says.

It's Sunday afternoon, and Suzi Hokonson, a local textile artist who volunteered to help the effort, is going door to door in the Emerson Garfield neighborhood to let people who live near Knox Presbyterian Church know that the church is hosting about 20 unhoused people per night.

"I just want to let neighbors know that Jewels Helping Hands is working with the congregation," she says to one neighbor, who seems unfazed by the news.

Overall, Hokonson says the reaction from people who live near the churches has been "just so wonderful." A few neighbors were "a little leery" at first, but Hokonson says volunteers were able to assuage their concerns by showing them the space in person and explaining how it works. Some neighbors even joined the dozens of other volunteers who signed up for shifts to help Jewels staff manage operations.

"Neighbor response has been really great," Edmondson says. "Some neighbors noticed and stopped by to offer their support. Some are bringing food and dropping off blankets."

Each of the three churches was at full capacity on Saturday and Sunday night. On Monday, Jewels staff opened a fourth church: Morning Star Baptist Church in northwest Spokane.

"We're hoping maybe next year there will be 15, and maybe the following year there will be 30," Edmondson says.

Garcia says several more churches have expressed interest, but that her organization is limited by a lack of staff resources. She says plans for additional church warming shelters are dependent on what costs the city ends up agreeing to cover.

Garcia says the first few days of the operation went "smoother than I ever thought it would be." No calls to the police or fire departments. No major incidents or complaints from neighbors.

"The community has shown up in ways I've never seen," Garcia says. "I've never been prouder of my community than I have been this last week." ♦
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.inlander.com/news/more-...dangerously-cold-weather-four-agreed-27303574

tafkats · Jan 19, 2024

Let's see ...

Shadle Park Presbyterian: Mainline Protestant, affiliated with Presbyterian Church USA, the liberal arm of the Presbyterian denomination
Knox Presbyterian: Mainline Protestant, also affiliated with Presbyterian Church USA
Liberty Park United Methodist: Mainline Protestant, and most UMC's I'm familiar with are left-leaning
Morning Star Baptist: A Black church

Not one conservative or white evangelical protestant church in the bunch.

Surprise, surprise!

Tuckerfan · Jan 21, 2024

https://x.com/jennycohn1/status/1748792129013653799?s=46&t=iYW3foyqIA6Tn8VWwn3nwQ

Nyx · Jan 21, 2024

Tuckerfan said: ↑

View attachment 74059

https://x.com/jennycohn1/status/1748792129013653799?s=46&t=iYW3foyqIA6Tn8VWwn3nwQ
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