from AG News and Info

4/4/05

Vision to start church for homeless a decade ago leads to the
"Homeless Church" being named Church of the Year in 2004 by
Northern California-Nevada District AG. Church not a building,
but a "gutted" bus with folding chairs and pulpit. Most of 30
official members at one time homeless -- offers testimony of a
person saved through ministry of Evan Prosser and the Homeless
Church. Prosser currently planning to acquire 36,000-square-foot
warehouse as a multipurpose center for homeless people.

While driving down Interstate 5 in Northern California, Evan Prosser
felt the Lord calling him to start a church for homeless people, a
place where the poorest of the poor could feel at ease even if they
were unkempt and unwashed.
 
A decade later, that idea has developed into a San Francisco
ministry that the Northern California-Nevada District of the
Assemblies of God named Church of the Year in 2004. The district
granted official church status to the Homeless Church in 2002.
 
"What they're doing is evidence of the commitment they have," says
John Gavin, formerly of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Service.
"They've been doing it for years." Gavin adds he is impressed by
Prosser's passion in a city where on any given night there may be
around 9,500 homeless people.
 
The Homeless Church is so called in part because most members have
experienced homelessness. No building serves as the place of
worship. Instead, services are held in a gutted bus with a cross and
the words "Homeless Church" painted on the sides. Inside, there are
folding chairs, a pulpit and a congregation wearing jeans and
T-shirts.
 
Members of the church are a mix of races and from various
socio-economic backgrounds. What most have in common is a history of
homelessness and drug addiction. There are about 30 official
members, some of whom live in church-run houses for men and women
located in the city.
 
Agustin Garcia, who attends Bible school and ministers regularly at
services, is a church success story. A native of Mexico, Garcia
credits God and the Homeless Church with changing his life. He has
been drug-free for four years and plans to become a pastor.
 
"I don't drink. I don't smoke. I fought for 30-something years to be
free," says Garcia, noting he once went six months without taking a
shower while homeless. He says the tide turned when someone
approached him on the street and told him God had something better
in store.
 
Sunday after Sunday, Prosser stands behind the makeshift pulpit at
the back of the church bus, his flock of homeless people gathered
within and milling outside the sanctuary. After the service his
wife, April, serves food to the congregation and one-on-one ministry
is offered.
 
Both Harvard University graduates now in their 60s, the Prossers
moved to San Francisco from a small California town where Evan
served as pastor of a traditional church. Unable to afford rent in
the city, they bought a bus for $1,500 and still live in it today.
The church bus for Sunday services has been used nearly since the
beginning.
 
According to Prosser, the church has been molding leaders more than
evangelizing large numbers of homeless people. He sees himself as
taking a lesser role in the organization and handing the reigns over
to his members, people who will take the church into a growth phase.
 
"We're really going to the next step," says Prosser, who plans to
acquire a 36,000-square-foot warehouse that will serve as a
multipurpose center for homeless people. "We're raising up
ministers."

-- Will Emerson in San Francisco, Today's Pentecostal Evangel