Banquet at People's Park 5/2/2010

Jesus threw an amazing banquet for the poor at People’s Park this past month. It was a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and the body of Christ united in serving the community! There was an abundance of catered food and rich desserts and beverages for 250 people with food to spare. The presence of His Spirit was tangible in the peace and joy of the atmosphere: people praying for each other, worship going on, people washing each other’s feet, people opening up, people blessed!

Quotes and things that were seen and heard:

“A 14 month baby, Scarlet ate a full meal there with her mother and father. Scarlet had serious sunburns.. and Thanks to some of the people serving, Scarlet got some baby sunscreen, she got tons of baby wipes, and boxes of diapers!! I got the honor of changing her diaper.. feeding her, holding her.. playing with her.. and washing her and drenching her in sunscreen. She was very loved by her mom and dad :) After the father told his story about his family.. I thanked him for sharing.. he said it was nice to hear someone not say, shut the f*** up. :)” –Christina Hisel

o At the prayer station, students commissioned Paul as a light of God on the street.

o A non-Christian student from the Afro house co-op stayed afterwards for a long time to talk with a homeless community member about the Bible.

o Jamie Tan met a peer who grew up in a more violent neighborhood in Richmond, took a tour of the Berkeley campus and encouraged him in his education, gave him her Bible and prayed with him. He wants to go to her church =)

o A non-Christian student with a huge heart for social justice was involved, and saw this as an act of faith.

o A community member received prayer for grief over the death of a friend.

o “I was surprised at the people who were open to God. I spoke with one girl who wanted me to pray for healed relationships and a restored identity.” –Marisa Whitchurch

Church in action! “we felt alive! it was like air.. just finally being out there together with the body of Christ, loving and serving people, it felt so right to just see His body move with Him outside of the four walls of our church buildings! ahhhhhhhhhh! thank you, Jesus!!!” – Isaac Kim. “It was so much FUN to be a part of the Body of Christ coming together from all different churches and places, and seeing how He is working in places I have never been to. And then seeing the Body of Christ not just coming together but going out to the poor—that is something I guess I have seen before, but I have been longing for it to happen here and it did! Thank you Jesus! It was just great to be not of the world, but definitely in it. I want to do it again!” –Marisa Whitchurch

People in the park community had advised us not to set up tables and just dish out food in lines, as the custom is at the park, but as we sat down to share a meal on decorated tables, the Lord showed His value for people. Even an hour before it started someone advised, “Don’t waste your time setting up tables, it’ll be easier for you if you have people get in lines for the food and then you can just leave...that’s how it’s always done here at the park.” Afterwards, a man who has lived on the street in Berkeley for 30 years said to me, “Hahah you went against my advice, but this was the 1st time in People’s Park history, [people have been seated at decorated tables to be served food]!” – Mark Hawthorne (known as Hate Man). It was revolutionary, like Jesus =D

Reconciliation: Beautiful interactions between people across class boundaries. Beautiful interactions across church/fellowship/denominational boundaries (e.g. Christians praying for or with Christians from other ministries, working together to serve). “Today i chatted with an 18 year old for a good half-hour. we exchanged thoughts that inspired us both because we came from such different lifestyles. he shared about his favorite places, his travels, his hopes when he goes back to school again. and i got to share even about what faith means to me. and because of this context that we were in, allowed me to express with evidence that faith meant more than a thing to talked about, or philosophize about. it was something meant to be lived.” – Sarah Lee

The Spirit of the Lord Jesus brought an atmosphere of freedom, peace, and love. People in the community had warned us of things like potential knife fights over the food, but there was such peace/grace in people’s interactions. “This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in People’s Park,” said one community member. At the park, people often said that they were just soaking it in, basking in it. Indeed, a beautiful scene.

- “Why are you doing this?” – people shared about Jesus, or directed this question to an event program that spoke of Jesus’ heart and invitation to the poor in Isaiah 55 and the beatitudes.

- “There was a couple moments when i got to stop, when i stopped serving or running around, and i got a good glimpse at the whole scene, that i realized...that i was witnessing God's kingdom here on earth. and i felt absolutely honored, blessed, privileged to have witness a bit of that reality.” – Sarah Lee

- “This was an amazing example for the freshmen in IV. I met Florence and others who really saw this outreach as an Act of faith.” –Vincent Lui

- “You inspire us older people,” said Paul. “There is so much joy.”

- “Now when I pass by the park it doesn’t seem as scary – the people are human!” –1st year student

- “One of the things that I saw that really touched me was the willingness for some of the volunteers to buy diapers and baby wipes for baby Scarlet who is just 13 months old. The family has a tough family background. On top of that the little girl's uncle and grandfather passed away on a boat accident back in November. It was such a blessing for the family to receive that gift and to have Scarlet taken care of. Her parents, Erin and Nanook are in people's park (from what I understand) about 3-5 times a week in the daytime during public school hours. They will be continuing visits to People's Park until 2011, when Scarlet's aunt graduates from highschool and they move to an area with lower living costs. Acts of love towards this family would do wonders.” – Kevin Tsui of YWAM

Foot-washing Station testimony: “The morning of the banquet, I was overcome with a great desire to wash the feet of the homeless. Prior to this, it was the last thing on my mind to even be near dirty feet. But after that morning, I was so excited to do it! At the banquet, I walked around the entire park asking anybody if they would like their feet washed. So many of them responded, "No, thank you, kind sister....but I can wash your feet if you like." Wow! And one homeless man named Matthias walked around with me and wanted to carry my tub of water for me every time I went to fill it up. Dang, who's helping who out, again? There was one man whose feet I was washing who commented on how he saw the generous, humble hearts of all the volunteers at the banquet. I distinctly remember him saying: "Sweetie, if you continue to have a kind and loving heart, you are going to do great things in the future. God bless all of you." Amen, amen, amen. Through God and His love, we are equipped to do such powerful, influential things! I honestly felt like they blessed me so much more than I blessed them. The day after the banquet, I was walking down Telegraph Avenue when I passed a group of homeless people who shouted, "Hey, you're the nice girl that wanted to wash my feet!" May we continue to ask the Lord to pour out His abundant love to the homeless and teach US how to love on them :)”

Prayer Station testimony: “As people wash their feet, serve food, talk to them, I saw them opening up to us, and not only homeless people, but also people who walked by, they wondered what was happening and walked toward us. It was the one lady that we prayed for her shoulder, (Naria?) So after giving them the program sheet and telling them to eat food, she saw bunch of us laying hands on a homeless man and praying at the table, and asked, 'oh, what are they doing?' So I simply said that they are praying, and asked her if she wants to receive prayer as well. and she said yes. I think it was because she was very open for all the things that we were doing. She was willing to open herself up and trust us, trust that we will not do any harm to her, but bless her. and me and brian, we prayed for stephan, who we talked before, and it was outside of the pray camp. and after that, another one was waiting to get prayed for, sitting at the pray camp. PTL :) I think everyone wants to get prayed for.”


// Behind-the-scenes

How it budded: Last year I was dreaming with God, and one of the dreams I wrote down was to throw a lavish banquet at People’s Park, because I was sick of seeing people who live on the street scavenging and begging for food and I just wanted to see them eat something that reflected their identity as God’s beloved. The Lord kept expanding this vision: from honoring the homeless who are devalued by society, to also feeding students who are spiritually poor, to also feeding Christians who pick at crumbs under the Lord’s table without realizing their Father is the Richest King!

As I started talking to people about this idea, I realized that it was truly on God’s heart. The day I wrote down this dream, Grace Kim gave me a prophetic word, “Go for it – He believes in the dreams in your heart and He wants to make them a reality by doing it together!” Christina and Ryan had both felt like God wanted to throw an event like this in years past, and Joe Oh also felt He’d been waiting to do it for a long time.

How did it come together? The Lord used this event to unite the Body of Christ in serving the community! At this banquet for the poor, I felt rich in community. I felt so blessed and thankful for all the various people and groups who were present or helping out. It especially struck me at two moments: 1) The day I realized I was witnessing a picture of unity in Christ, I was full of thanks, and that weekend the Lord doubled the funds TWICE in two days! 2) During the set-up time at the park, we circled up and held hands to pray for the event – it was an even blend of people from InterVarsity, the Ark, and ministries from the South Bay. The International House cooked 150 portions of catered food for us for free! Champa Garden restaurant cooked another 150 portions for a major discount. People brought over 40 bottles of Martinelli’s Apple Cider and baked an amazing amount of pies and desserts with love, including a wedding cake for Jesus! One group baked TWENTY beautiful pies. There were so many helping and willing hands at the event that I didn’t even have to ask anyone to do anything. Aside from moving through the Body of Christ, the Father carried this to completion by His grace. I am an INFP personality type and I neither like nor excel at logistical planning. There were key pieces missing all the way up until the start of the dinner! But the Father carried me, and it was like a dream come true!

The Lord has already been opening doors for future ongoing gatherings like this! Many people have been expressing interest in helping to make them happen.

Thank you all so much for being a part of this. Praise the Lord, His heart is so beautiful and His love is so abundant!

Pictures =D