Oftentimes in life, those who have experienced hardships are uniquely positioned to help others who are facing similar struggles. Bob Dancz, the lead pastor at Trinity Assembly of God in Carmi, shared both his testimony at Carmi Kiwanis Thursday, and also the launch of a new vision the tabernacle is tackling to help lift others in the community. Before being saved in 2002, Dancz says he spent more than a decade addicted to drugs and was homeless for more than seven years. Dancz’s journey eventually brought him and his wife Mindy to Carmi about 4 and a half years ago. On May 30th, the church will host a banquet for the newest outreach “The Refuge” described as a Christ-centered mission dedicated to providing shelter, hope, and support for individuals experiencing homelessness in the community. It’s planned at TAG, 1600 Saunders Avenue in Carmi.
The shelter is the first of its kind in the community and a sorely needed resource. Dancz describes how it was identified as a direction for his church family.
We got together at the beginning of this year as a church. We came up with a new mission statement which is ‘Be about it’ and came up with a new vision statement, core values and decided as a church we have all this empty space, how are we going to utilize it. And our church unanimously said let’s do a homeless mission. We felt like the Lord put that on our heart.
He says most of the feedback so far has been positive, though some have questions and concerns which makes the banquet an opportune time to come learn more. While statistics are hard to come by for a specific town such as Carmi on homelessness, it does exist. Dancz hopes having a resource like The Refuge will help those struggling gather a new lease on life.
The statistics of somebody getting out of poverty and out of homelessness if they have a stable place to live increases dramatically…the odds of them coming out of that state. What we have mostly in Carmi are transient homelessness. We have people passing through, they end up here a couple days on a bench or something. So instead of them being on a bench and people wandering, wondering, hoping, and wanting to be able to help them, we’ll have a place for them to go and the community can actually help them.
The banquet is planned for 6pm on May 30th and your $10 ticket gets you a meal, an inside look at the vision and heart behind The Refuge, and opportunities to partner and help make a difference. Doors will open at 5:30pm. If you have questions or want to purchase a ticket, call 405-255-2662. You can also learn more about the church by finding them online at TAG Church Carmi.