Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you." That sounds pretty hopeless. But Jesus' audience would have known the rest of the passage He was referring to in Deuteronomy 15:11, which adds, "Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'" Homelessness is an issue in almost every community, including McKinney. While we may want to avoid or look away from those who are homeless, they are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with love and dignity.
Our guest, Lance Olinski, had a life-changing encounter in a restroom with a man who was homeless and was washing off in a sink. This stirred a holy discontent in Lance and eventually led him to found Streetside Showers. The mission of Streetside Showers is "to offer hope and help restore human dignity to the homeless community in the form of a hot shower and personal hygiene care." Streetside Showers currently serves 13 locations in Texas and Florida and has been the inspiration for a number of similar ministries throughout the United States.
Lance is a native of New York and received his bachelor's degree from Oral Roberts University. He served over 30 years in church ministry before heeding the call of God to serve the homeless community. He and his wife Sharon have been married for over 30 years.
Lance can be reached at lance@streetsideshowers.com (or through Streetside Shower's Ministry Assistant Hannah Bradford at hannah@streetsideshowers.com).
Links:
Community North Baptist Church website: communitynorthbc.org
Streetside Showers website: streetsideshowers.com
Streetside Showers Facebook page: facebook.com/streetsideshower
Streetside Showers Instagram account: instagram.com/streetsideshowers
Streetside Showers Twitter account: twitter.com/StSideShowers
Streetside Showers YouTube account: youtube.com/channel/UCr34lNK97UDH4mXbXQLqmEA
Music: Lookin' Up by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
