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Seattle's Urban Missionary
Pastor Rick Reynolds has an all-consuming passion to help Seattle’s homeless population. He first got involved in urban ministry while attending Seattle Pacific University, and worked with inner-city youth. He and his wife, Lorri, intentionally moved into the rough neighborhood where they serve. Reynolds, nicknamed the “Urban Missionary” by his pastor, Mark Abbott at Seattle First Free Methodist Church, is executive director of Operation Nightwatch, an outreach to homeless men, women and families. Now married 30 years (and running marathons in his “spare” time), Reynolds lives only minutes from where he supervises the serving of some 4,200 dinners a month and finds sleeping places for some 140 people nightly, a number that grows at month’s end as those living on government subsidies run out of money. “Preach the gospel and take care of the poor — this was the earliest Free Methodist objective,” Reynolds says compassionately. “If faith doesn’t make a difference in the darkest places, it doesn’t matter how often you go to church.” Q: How do you find shelter for people?
A: We are a dispatch point. The police department brings people to us who live on the streets all day. Come nightfall, we give them a good dinner and find them overnight space at various locations. It’s increasingly difficult to find enough beds when winter shelters are closed. We also have an apartment building that houses up to 22 people. They must be over 62 years old, permanently disabled, on Social Security and have income to pay $250 monthly rent. Q: What are some special challenges in this type of ministry? A: Working in this environment is difficult for our staff and volunteers, and they’d be hard to replace. Evening workers must be here until midnight. Since those we serve are often drug- and alcohol-dependent or mentally challenged, it can be a volatile situation. Also, reaching single women is hard. They tend to stay off the streets by using their bodies for money. We currently pay a Salvation Army to safely sleep about 15 women, most with mental health problems. And the number of whole homeless families is multiplying. A: Although there is opportunity for faith-based conversation at Nightwatch, and we distribute Bibles, we don’t require anyone to attend religious activities in exchange for services. I provide pastoral care through a ministry of going into bars, and those who frequent these bars have even called me to preside over occasions like funerals or administer last rites, even though I’m not Catholic! I do wear a collar everywhere, because it generates great street conversations. There are a lot of people who won’t walk into a church. Q: How do the hours you devote to your ministry affect the Reynolds family, and what fuels your passion for ministry? A: Our son is 20 now — we have no small children — and actually, I have more time at home than when pastoring a church! What keeps me passionate about this ministry is that I see the impact it has on people. I’ve seen dead lives resurrected! Our mission is to help people get as self-reliant as possible. ________________________________________________________________________________
Q: What are some of the miracles that have helped Nightwatch? A: In 1999 we bought and renovated our current building with donations that came from a simple black-and-white flyer campaign. We even had money left over! We once received a $200,000 anonymous donation to use on anything we wanted. We’ve seen many miracles with food. The owner of a local burger chain gives us 125 burgers three nights a week and takes donations for us at his service windows. And one day, an employee was shouting, “ I need chocolate!” and out of the blue, someone pulled up to the building offering whole boxes of chocolates!
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