The Showers Saga - 8 (originally posted Jan 8/08)

Wow ... 9 days since the last post! Now, THAT's restraint! Just back from the CBC, and a radio interview with Rick Cluff on "Early Edition". Praise the Lord for the air time, for a nice, laid-back interview, and for the courage to point out, when Rick implied that I was a "Bright Light" -- which is the name of that Monday 6:50 AM segment, on People Who Make A Difference -- that the real "bright light" is Christ, motivating those of us who work on the DTES. Also for remembering to mention Andrew Sheret and Pastor Barry and The Oasis etc. etc. Let's pray for a flood (shower) of donations from people who heard this.

The Vancouver Courier ran a very good feature in its Jan. 11 issue; Cheryl Rossi even checked through this blog to get some background I didn't provide her (like, that there was prophecy involved).

(Text): A Downtown Eastside mission that aims to immerse visitors in love and hope will so
on be providing "the Lord's Rain" to the needy.
When Drew Snider started ministry work at a Downtown Eastside mission in 2004, he noticed how dirty its visitors were. When he moved to the Gospel (not Union) Mission last year, he saw visitors flock to its laundry tubs to clean up. Some washed their matted hair with hand soap and dried their locks with paper towels.
Their predicament weighed on him.
In September, a guest speaker--whom he referred to as a prophet, at his church, Westpointe Christian Centre, informed him God would send him on a journey and that he would gain new ideas about ministering.
Shortly after, while visiting an old friend in New York, Snider, who's usually in the news for his role as spokesperson for TransLink, visited that city's second oldest mission, saw its shower program and was inspired to set something similar up in Vancouver.
The Gospel Mission, also known as the Carrall Street Church, has run from the second floor of a two-storey walkup on Carrall Street next to Pigeon Park since the 1940s, and has operated since the '20s.
The Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Canada funds the mission, which serves dinner to visitors four nights a week after a period of prayer, worship music and a sermon. "There are missions in the area that serve food primarily," Snider said. "Our main function is as a church... so a lot of what we do is feed the soul."
When Gospel Mission's senior pastor, Barry Babcook, told Snider in November that the Anti-Poverty Committee was moving out of a ground floor space in the same building, Snider told Babcook about his shower idea.
Babcook talked to the landlord, the son of the man the mission first rented from 60 years ago, who agreed to give them until Nov. 22 to devise a plan and come up with the money to back it.
Two days before the deadline, the Oasis Church in Duncan, which Snider once attended, made a large one-time donation to the project and pledged monthly contributions.
A man who attends his West Point Grey church pledged an even larger upfront donation and promised more to come.
The mission will establish four portable shower stalls so it doesn't have to alter the historic building. The facility, dubbed The Lord's Rain, will be in the back with a sitting room in the front.
The mission plans to open the showers to the general public from 7 to 8:30 a.m. three days a week with three volunteers on site.
The facility will be co-ed with a female volunteer in attendance.
Visitors can take a shower and stay for a cup of coffee.
Andrew Sheret Ltd. has agreed to donate four showers. Two plumbers who were "saved" off the street will install them. The mission hopes to have the showers running in February.
It's seeking donations for operations. Snider said 30 donations of $50 a month would suffice.
For information, visit www.gospelmission.net or call 604-737-7337.

We also going to be featured on "The Standard" on OMNI 10, Tuesday (Jan. 15) night at 9. That's in the broader context of What To Do About The Downtown East Side, and it gave me a bit of a chance to do my "Emperor Has No Clothes" rant about "safe" injection sites. Now, we'll wait for other media to get with this.