I Visited Re:Center Ministries
In this series, we're visiting Southeast's Mission Partners to understand their vision and how God is using them in the community.
By Carla Williams
The Coldest Day of the Year
I absently watched my warm puffs of breath swirl and vanish into the cold morning air. I wrapped my scarf around my neck another loop and continued scraping the snow off my car. It was the coldest day we’d seen in years, and I was in a hurry to get out of the wind.
Even as I traipsed back inside my warm house to switch my snow-covered shoes and coat out for a fresh, dry set, I recognized the irony. I was in a warm home with plenty of Winter provisions to spare, and I was preparing to spend my day with a ministry dedicated to serving the homeless and hurting. On the coldest day of the year.
Re:Center Ministries, formerly Louisville Rescue Mission, exists “to reconcile homeless and hurting people to God, family, and community by the power of Christ in partnership with the local church.” Because they’re one of Southeast’s Mission Partners, I had arranged to shadow the ministry weeks before the cold swooped in, and I knew even before I made it to my car that this day was going to be memorable.
I wasn’t altogether unfamiliar with this ministry. Nine years ago, I was looking for ways to get involved in my new city, and I stumbled across a downtown homeless ministry, then called Jefferson Street Baptist Center. Every Saturday morning for a couple years, I’d sit in the front office and check in homeless guests as they dropped in for breakfast, a shower, laundry, and relief from the outside elements. It was a worthy and valuable ministry then, but I had no idea what I would experience now.
Re:Center’s Indiana Campus
My car slid through empty, frozen streets until I crossed the bridge and ended in Indiana. I drove through cute neighborhoods with covered porches and churches on every corner. It was not the downtown, urban setting I was expecting.
The Indiana campus of Re:Center is a huge, beautiful old building. Half of it used to be a school, and half remains a glorious, vaulted-ceiling church with exposed beams and delightful acoustics. I met with Alexa, their Program Manager, who explained what they’re currently able to offer. The campus just launched in Fall 2018 with case management, life skills classes, Biblical counseling, and ministry partnerships.
When we got to her hopes about the future, Alexa’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she described the dreams they have for the ministry. The need for care in Southern Indiana is great, and the possibilities of what God can do through the ministry seem endless. Before I left, we prayed together that each room in that huge building would witness lives being transformed by the Gospel, and that God’s healing and light would radiate through the community.
Thrift ‘n’ Thrive
From Indiana, my trusty Re:Center tour guide, Hillary, and I slipped and slid through the frozen tundra back into the heart of Louisville, to the Re:Center store, Thrift ‘n’ Thrive. I’ve casually shopped at Thrift ‘n’ Thrive a couple times, and my family dropped off a few bags of donations once. So I had a very cursory knowledge of the store. But that did little to prepare me for the impact I’d experience there.
Thrift ‘n’ Thrive serves several purposes, but the most notable was the opportunity it provides for men going through Re:Center’s LifeChange Program. Each workday, men who are actively working to restore their sobriety, their standing, their relationships, and their understanding of God’s grace in their lives show up from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and they work hard at the store. We arrived right before the men did, and soon they filed in and circled up for a quick devotion and prayer together before the work began.
Stephanie, the manager at Thrift ‘n’ Thrive, spent more than 25 years in accounting before finding her place at the store. She runs a tight ship—training the guys, overseeing the work, and maintaining high standards—but the room is full of laughter, joy, and genuine affection.
It’s easy to see how much Stephanie really loves the men who serve there, and they love her. As we talked, there were frequent interruptions as guys stopped in to ask her questions, share their victories, or apologize for ways they’d let her down. She sees herself as a kind of mom to the men, and she takes joy in that role. Even though each resident serves in the store only about 90 days before they move on to the next phase of the LifeChange Program, she remembers them all.
Thrift ‘n’ Thrive serves as a way for these men to gain job skills, keep busy during recovery, give back to the ministry, and take pride in a job well done. They also have vouchers that get them clothes and other goods from the store, as most of their worldly possessions vanished long before they got to the program. Other ministries in town have similar voucher programs through Thrift ‘n’ Thrive, and one clean little store in the middle of town is directly impacting the homeless and hurting throughout the community.
The warmth I felt as I left was a stark contrast to the polar vortex around me.
Good News to the Poor
Next I grabbed a quick lunch with Hillary and Cory, Re:Center Ministry’s Executive Director, while I asked them endless questions about their journey, heart, hopes, and concerns. They have passion, excitement, experience, wisdom, and humility a’plenty, and I walked away full of gratitude that God has placed them in this ministry.
After lunch, we skated on down to the original campus on Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville. Re:Center’s Louisville campus is in the heart of NuLu, and all around are hip new shops and clever, niche restaurants. Re:Center stands in direct contrast. On all sides, the healthy and vibrant come to gather, but at Re:Center, the broken and weary come together. It was a living image of the Gospel.
As I walked toward the front doors, I thought about what Jesus said (quoting Isaiah) in Luke 4:18-19.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
I knew that I was walking into a ministry where Jesus really was good news to the poor, the prisoner, the blind, and the oppressed. The realization was overwhelming.
Drop-In Program
I got a basic tour of the building, which had changed dramatically since my long-ago Saturday mornings there. Now, it serves as a Drop-In Program for women and children for several hours each weekday. The women can receive mail there, shower, do laundry, eat a little something, store a bag or two, and stay warm and safe.
I sat in the Drop-In Program with Miss Joanie. Miss Joanie has been serving in that role for about 20 years, and she knows and loves every person who walks in the door. As we talked, her eyes bounced from woman to woman warming themselves in the open room. “Oh, that baby girl, Cassie, she came in and I thought for sure her feet were frostbit. We almost had to call the hospital for her. She’s sleeping out.”
She used the language casually, as someone completely accustomed to treating homeless women and their concerns as valuable and valid. I came to learn “sleeping out” means truly outside, under a bridge or in a tent somewhere. Another woman had secured a bed at a Salvation Army facility. A couple were sleeping in their cars nearby. In these sub-zero temps, all of their lives are at risk right now, and I could see the burden in Miss Joanie’s eyes. “But you can’t drag a body inside,” she sighed. I got the feeling she had tried that before.
Soon, it was 2:00 p.m. and the Drop-In Program was closing. The women gathered their things automatically, as if this was a normal part of their day. No one had to tell them it was time to go. They stopped by and cheerfully wished Miss Joanie a good night. They’ll see her tomorrow. I hoped that was true.
LifeChange Program
Re:Center is honored to provide the Drop-In Program for homeless and hurting women. It’s a real need in the community, and one they’re looking to expand into a residential program. But in this season, the greatest ministry is for men in recovery. They speak of their men’s LifeChange Program fondly, proudly. It’s the greatest chance they have to see lives transformed and restored. It’s the source of their highest hopes, but it comes with a cost.
The LifeChange Program begins when a man determines that he’s ready to fight whatever addictions and sins might be entangling him, get his life back on track, and restore his value of himself, and his relationships with his friends and family and with his Creator. During the program, men have counseling, accountability, spiritual and practical classes, responsibility, and a dedicated staff who genuinely cares and loves them. It’s a well-planned and executed process, but it’s hard work for both the resident and the staff. The Gospel sustains it all.
Most of the men who join the program have had extensive childhood trauma, addictions, broken relationships, and a damaged view of who they are in light of God’s grace. It’s not easy to work through those things, and men sometimes give up before the work is finished. But when they succeed—when a man walks through the 18-month program and learns not just how to stay sober or keep a job, but how to love and pursue God—that makes everything worthwhile!
Jason, the LifeChange Program Manager, talked about men who had been transformed and restored through the process, his face lighting up with the joy of God’s victory in the midst of broken, messy lives. He feels the ache when men aren’t ready for true change in their lives, but he recognizes that he cannot do the work of the Holy Spirit. He can only be present, faithful, and persistent. And celebrate every single victory.
Reflection & Application
Driving home, I thought about each person I’d met that day, and the many people I didn’t meet whose lives have been profoundly impacted with the Gospel through Re:Center Ministries. I thought of the countless volunteers it takes to help Re:Center thrive, and what a privilege it is for Southeast to partner with them.
At the end of the day, the ministry is one of reconciliation. People reconciling with themselves. People reconciling with other people. And most importantly, people reconciling with their Creator.
And really, that’s a pretty good way to spend the coldest day of the year.
Want more? Read about Jason, a resident at Re:Center Ministries or visit recenterministries.org.