WELCOME FROM HAYWOOD STREET:
UPDATES:
Thanks for stopping by, WMYA! More…
We’ve re-stocked our Haywood Street merchandise! Click here to view shirts, patches, hats and more. Online ordering available! (all proceeds benefit our core programs)
The Downtown Welcome Table is supported by more than 50 local restaurants, many of which continue to provide take-out and/or are beginning to offer dining-in options. Click here to learn more!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. This week’s online service is available here. Worship happens LIVE every Wednesday at 1:30 via the Haywood Street Congregation YouTube channel.
2. A reminder that whenever shopping via Amazon, you can can support Haywood Street! More…
3. We’ve come so far in just a few months! Click here to read our mid-year appeal.
CURRENT WAYS TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY & OUR FRIENDS:
1. Make a meal for Friends staying in Respite. Click here to sign up!
2. Donation needs:
– Shoes, underwear, and socks
– Cleaning products: Lysol spray, hand sanitizer, etc.
– Tampons, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes/combs, sunscreen
* All donations can be dropped off on Thursdays from 9 am – 11 am. Drive around back to the single, white door.
A HAYWOOD STREET REFLECTION BY: STEVE
“And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying ‘This is the way; walk in it’.”
Isaiah 30:21
My name is Steve Wheeler and my wife and I moved to Asheville a year and a half ago. I currently work as a Missions Coordinator for Munsey UMC in Johnson City, driving back over the mountain a couple of times a week.
The words of the prophet Isaiah have had a profound influence in my life, especially when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone. They led me to become involved in prison ministry. It was those same words that first guided me to “volunteer” to work with the homeless community when we were living in Jackson, Mississippi thirteen years ago. When we moved back to Tennessee I continued to “volunteer” with a homeless ministry through our church in Johnson City.
Moving to Asheville I wanted to find a way to continue in this ministry and discovered Haywood Street, intrigued, and wanting to learn what holy chaos was all about. To say that my association with Haywood has changed my outlook and led to a greater understanding of Isaiah’s words would be an understatement. I was no longer a “volunteer”, someone who gave time to homeless ministry to when it was convenient but now was a “companion”. I saw my brothers and sisters at the Downtown Welcome Table on Sunday mornings in a new light. No longer was there a separation of “me and them” as it had been so easy to do in the past, but it was now “us” sitting at round tables, we were equals. And as I listened to their stories, I realized I was not just serving a meal, but I was sharing life with them, united in a common bond as children of God. What I was engaging in was mutual discipleship.
I am now able to fully appreciate and understand what Isaiah meant when he said, “this is the way walk in it.” I was called to not just do. Being a companion necessitated that I live into the authentic life that Christ requires of me. To give selflessly.
