Homeless ministry feeds, bodies souls

Homeless ministry feeds bodies, souls: Hundreds find Jesus at River City (reporting from North Little Rock, Ark.). Page 1 lead.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Get right, church, and let’s go home …
You better get right, church, and let’s go home …

It’s a weekday morning, about 30 minutes before lunch, but the homeless men and women assembled in the River City Ministry dining room sing like it’s Sunday.

As the smell of donated fried chicken wafts from the kitchen, the ramshackle congregation turns from playing dominoes and flipping newspaper pages to praising the Lord.

During this daily devotional, these street people pray, read Scriptures, recite faith-based poetry, share personal testimonies and — of course — sing.

“You may fall. You may have some scars,” a transient tells his downtrodden peers, reflecting on Hebrews 12. “But get up and finish the race.”

Physical needs draw upward of 200 clients a day to the River City Ministry, which grew out of a Vacation Bible School organized by the Little Rock-area Levy Church of Christ at a subsidized housing project in 1989.

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