Request from Good Shepherd Shelter Project
I’m super pleased to report that our shower project is moving forward quickly. We have a bid under review from a contractor and may begin work as soon as February.
As a reminder, our church is converting an under-utilized space attached to our community center into (an ADA accessible) three showers and a bathroom. It will be a facility available for use by all and perhaps especially for those who shelter at our church.
A generous donor has designated a matching grant toward the completion of the showers. All donations between now and March 31st will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $30,000. If this match is fulfilled, we will have raised the full amount needed for the project.
I think some of you may enjoy giving toward the project in order to help get it across the finish line (we are so close!). Others may be happy to give now because we have an actual timeline for completing the project (it’s more reality than dream).
Or maybe you want to give because you know the showers will be used. By many. For all sorts of reasons.
This past Sunday we hosted testimonials during worship. One of those offering testimony was a resident at our church for about one year. They know first-hand through direct experience what it is like to not have access to a shower, and what a gift it will be to those staying with us to have access to one. I hope their testimony inspires you to donate and match the $30,000 challenge.
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Hello! I am Brynhildre Underwood, Bryn for short.
So to start, I’d like to share a little about myself. I didn’t have a great childhood. I have a lot of religious trauma because, growing up, God was a mascot for pain, judgment, hatred, and fear.
Love, acceptance, kindness…these were all gifts only to be given out based on how willing you were to give up your authenticity and personal power.
The biggest gift God could grant you is to eventually be in heaven where you finally didn’t have to deal with all the “filth” of the world, such as queer people, the poor, the sick, and the powerless.
After all, they wouldn’t be like that if they truly believed in God…..right?
The bible wasn’t a source of hope, but was instead a shield against judgment, its words to be used as a salve to numb yourself to thought when the incongruence of your actions didn’t line up with what you claimed to believe and what you, as a human being, knew to be kind, loving, and just.
Before Good Shepherd, I hadn’t stepped inside of a church without fear and without having many exit strategies.
With Good Shepherd though, I found something different. I came here during one of the most vulnerable times of my life. I had left an abusive relationship, one I had been in for over 10 years. I had heard of GSLC through a wonderful community member who I was lucky enough to get to assist at the time.
I came here, I met Clint, and I was offered sanctuary. I had intended to stay for a week or so at most. I had used some of what little savings I had to buy a tent and sleeping bag, precautionary items to be used when I would eventually need to flee this church.
I scrutinized everything I saw for the first few weeks, waiting for the pin to drop. Waiting to see abuse, to see people have their vulnerability taken advantage of. With time, I was only proven more and more wrong with Good Shepherd.
Instead I saw something else. I saw a community who fiercely loves others. A community who looks for excuses to do good with reckless abandon, powered by a sense of compassion rather than fear.
I found a beautiful community of such amazing vibrancy!
With time I was able to lay down my fear and let myself hurt. To feel my anger that the church I had as a kid wasn’t like this. In other words, with time, I was able to feel safe and to start healing wounds that had never before started to close.
I consider myself to be a member of this church, and I am proud of it. Something I wouldn’t have ever expected to say if you had asked me only a year ago.
This church has helped me heal, and given me so much encouragement when it comes to helping others. Here, I feel empowered! I know I’m not the only one like that in this room, and I know several atheist’s who feel safe inside this church and who would defend it. I cannot name any other church I’ve heard of that’s like this one.
The church is currently working on the shower project. This church is looking, yet again, for a way to help the community without expectation. Because here, helping and loving someone else is a gift you get to give yourself.
It’s an act of exalting yourself in the one greatest blessing that God has given us. Love!
Here, the vibrancy and beauty of the world God has made are not shied away from, but are instead celebrated and reveled in!
I’m so proud of GSLC. I thank each of you for giving me the space to heal and practice radical kindness, for offering me sanctuary and offering that same sanctuary to others, and for continuing to help others.
I love each of you, thank you for letting me speak, and thank God for Good Shepherd Lutheran church, and this beautiful and wonderful community!
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Brynhildre Underwood
He / They / She
“Inspired by Bryn, we can say, “What a gift that we get to be a part of
making these showers happen.” “
In Christ, Pastor Clint
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
2925 N Old Missouri Rd, Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 521-2113