If you read last month’s column, you may remember meeting Pastor Carline and the volunteers of Team Jesus, who lovingly refer to the people they serve as the “Beloveds.” If you’re joining us for the first time, Team Jesus is a local ministry dedicated to meting people where they are—providing food, clothing, encouragement and practical help to those in need.

On the day I visited one of their outreach events, I quickly realized there was something happening that I hadn’t expected. The volunteers weren’t just distributing clothing, toiletries and household necessities. They were also providing showers.

Parked nearby was a self-contained, portable shower trailer that allowed people experiencing homelessness to enjoy something many of us take for granted—a hot shower, clean towels, and a chance to put on fresh clothing.

But before he arranged to let me see inside the mobile shower facility, Pastor Carline wanted me to understand how it came to be. Like so many other parts of Team Jesus’ ministry, this mobile shower was provided through a remarkable series events.

A Mobile Shower Setup

“When we started this work, we knew we wanted to do things the way Jesus did,” Pastor Carline told me. “Jesus went to where the people were, and He blessed them with what they needed. We try to do the same. To go to them.”

This is a vastly different approach to the way most community, government, and faith-based organizations work. Usually those in need must go to an office, make application, and see if they qualify for help based on need and on income. Then in cases such as food pantries, soup kitchens, and clothing ministries they must go to where those resources are. This model is normal in our day and age, but if you think about it, Pastor Carline is right. Jesus went where the people in need are, and He met their needs right there.

As we continued visiting, more of the story began to come out. “There was one man who told me he hadn’t had a shower in six months and after he was able to take a shower in our trailer and put on fresh underclothing, he wept.” Pastor Carline paused, remembering that moment and then continued. “I thought, ‘How does someone in America, the most prosperous country, go without a shower for six months?’ Surely the churches should be able to help with that.”

But as we talked further, I learned that the reality was that the churches weren’t helping with that. Which was precisely why Team Jesus decided that they needed to be the ones to come up with a way for people to shower.

Now there are all kinds of ways that showers could have been provided. The Team Jesus headquarters located at the Unity Center does have showers, and they also have available washers and dryers so people can wash their clothing. But Pastor Carline explained, “Not everyone can get to the Unity Center. So, we come to them.”

I thought about the distance between the church parking lot where we were that afternoon and the Unity Center. Later, I looked it up online. The two locations were nearly 4 miles apart. I tried to imagine any distance in 100° heat, and then to walk back. So much for the cooling calming effects of a shower!

Miracle After Miracle

The story of how Team Jesus was blessed with a mobile shower was fascinating to hear.

Pastor Carline was the one who had a vision of creating a mobile shower. This would allow them to take it wherever it was needed whether it was a parking lot like today, the middle of a refugee camp, or the heart of a natural disaster.

Having the shower setup be self-contained was important because it would need to go places where they could not hook up to a water source. Carrying the water needed with them would be essential.

After contemplating these challenges, Pastor Carline knew he needed to share his vision with other people.

So, he did. They counseled together and they prayed.

The first obstacle in creating the mobile shower was to obtain a trailer. After some searching, a flat-bed trailer that would work for this purpose was located and once the owner understood why they needed it, the trailer was donated to them!

The base of the trailer was sturdy enough to carry an enclosure with a shower as well as the weight of a full water tank. However, the question was how to enclose it? A flat-bed trailer has no sides, and they wanted it to be like a small dressing room (for privacy) which included the shower facility.

So, the members of Team Jesus counseled together. Drawings of what they were hoping to create were made and taken to a fabrication specialist. After looking at the drawings and the trailer, the specialist suggested a different approach. Perhaps it would be easier and better to find a box from a delivery truck that would fit the trailer and attach it.

Now that was not going to be an easy task either. This is because the dimensions of the trailer were odd. It would hold a standard box from a delivery truck. But Team Jesus was undaunted. Pastor Carline told me they prayed for what they needed. And in time the Lord provided a truck box which was the exact size they needed.

The next obstacle to overcome was to find a 200-gallon water tank. Tanks this size are easy to find. However, in this case the tank had to fit on the front of the trailer in the odd-sized leftover space. They were able to find many available tanks but none that fit the space they had to hold it.

Again, Team Jesus prayed for what they specifically needed. Not long after, they discovered online an odd-looking water tank. In looking at it further, they discovered it was the exact dimensions they needed it to be. And you guessed it–-the tank held 200 gallons of water!

Once the mobile shower was completed to this point, the inside of the trailer (the attached truck box) needed to be redone to create the dressing room and shower facility. A man who was a plumber and a mechanical engineer asked if he could take it for several months and work on it. When he returned the trailer to Team Jesus, the inside looked like a nice master bathroom. It had a full-sized shower, a dressing area, interior lighting, and even a wall-mounted TV to play inspirational movies! Not only this, but he made it so that the shower is now fed by the 200-gallon water tank, and that water is heated by an on-demand water heater! A generator is carried in the truck that tows the mobile shower, and this generator also powers the interior lights as well as the TV.

“There are not many who can provide showers free of charge,” Pastor Carline told me. “Fortunately, community organizations like Community Services League are out there serving, and they know where the people are who need this shower. We have found that community organizations are willing to partner with us – to have us bring our shower to their events, rather than them trying to get their own shower trailer.”

Why is this so? Why aren’t others creating mobile showers?  Well, simply put, to purchase a shower trailer like Team Jesus has would have been about $30,000. “You can build them for much less yourself,” Pastor Carline said. He then added, “Any church that asks . . . we would help them build one.”

The Mobile Jesus Store

While several people came and showered, I was given the opportunity to see the Mobile Jesus Store. At the Unity Center here in Independence is the main Jesus Store. That is where donated clothing, toiletries, and other items are organized and made available to those who need them. Pastor Carline explained to me that it is called “The Jesus Store” because everything in it was donated by someone who was inspired to do so by Jesus. And everything there is made available free of charge.

The Mobile Jesus Store is the same, in miniature. Clothing, toiletries and other items are made available to those coming to shower. It is an “ask and receive” kind of setup. If someone expresses that they have a specific need, and if the item(s) are in the Mobile Jesus Store, one of the volunteers from Team Jesus retrieves and then provides it to the person. Free of charge. Always free of charge.

While I was there that day, a woman checked in for a shower. She was so grateful to be able to use a nice fluffy bath towel and to have shampoos and soap. But what she was also hoping for was a razor. She wanted to shave her legs while she was there. Sure enough, in one of the plastic drawers were disposable razors, and a pink one was provided with a smile.

Other Ways Team Jesus Blesses Others

Team Jesus does more than just provide showers to those in need. They also do more than provide articles of clothing, toiletry items, and towels through the Mobile Jesus Store.

I already mentioned the main Jesus Store at the Unity Center. You can’t truly appreciate the scope of what is in this store unless you see it. It is more than a clothing ministry. It is a place where donations of everything imaginable are received, organized, and then used to meet the needs of others. Bedding, household items, shoes, Bibles, hats, laundry supplies and more are well organized and standing at-the-ready.

The Unity Center also has laundry facilities with multiple washers and dryers. These are made available to those who need to do laundry while they are at the Center. A full commercial kitchen stocked with all kinds of non-perishable and frozen foods is used to create healthy meals for those who come in. Nice meals. And they are served in a dining area that is set up like a restaurant, not a soup kitchen. Again, this hearkens back to the philosophy Pastor Carline shared with me – and which I wrote about in Part 1 of this story. Everyone . . . everyone is treated with respect. And by providing a restaurant-like atmosphere, those who often eat in less-than-ideal conditions are restored to a place of dignity.

Maintaining that dignity is also the aim of the health clinics located at the Unity Center. Rather than one clinic that serves both men and women, there are two. Each clinic is set up to provide a space for patients to meet with medical staff to discuss their concerns privately.

Privacy is also the aim of providing a safe place for women and children who are escaping sex trafficking and domestic violence. Ruth House is a work in progress which will serve as a short-term pass-through facility to help these women and children obtain safety, healthcare, emotional support, clothing, and of course anything they may need from the Jesus Store. Ruth House is located apart from the main areas of the Unity Center to provide security and privacy. 

What’s Next for Team Jesus?

Providing mobile showers and meeting other needs is just one small aspect of what Team Jesus does. In late June and early July Team Jesus mobilized from all over the nation to be here in the Kansas City area for the World Cup. Pastor Carline explained that these teams of volunteers were stationed on the overpasses from Midtown all the way to the stadium with flags, Jesus signs, and banners. They were located also at the most popular places for sightseeing such as the Plaza, Broadway, the Power and Light District, and 18^th and Vine.

The approach of Team Jesus is simple. “We will be asking the people how we can serve them. Then we will ask if we can give them a gift. And that’s it,” Pastor Carline said. “If anyone wants to know more, we just refer them to TeamJesusKC.com because we are not here to debate interpretations of the gospel.”  And that is precisely why the partnerships between Team Jesus and other churches work so well. They tell the ministers of other churches, “Let’s just serve together.” And they mean it.

“The bottom line,” Pastor Carline said, “is when we are serving, we are His servants. We do not project that we are better than anyone. We remember that we are “helping other people escape” (HOPE). Because of this, no one feels like their dignity has been taken from them.

If you would like to know more about the work Team Jesus does in Independence or in other places around the country and how you can get involved, feel free to email Pastor Carline at [email protected], or just pop over to the Unity Center on Fridays between 8am and noon. It is located at 803 East 23^rd Street in Independence. They are there every week at that time preparing a hot meal and blessing bags for the Beloveds and would love to share more.

As always, let me leave you with a question. One I hope you will consider and then write about for your children and grandchildren: What have you been inspired to do to be a blessing to the Beloveds and others in our city?

Voices of Independence is a column devoted to telling the inspiring stories of Independence—then and now.

Each published story includes an introspective question for our community—your story matters. Share your answer with Cheri at: [email protected] Please include “The Beloveds” in the subject line. Cheri reads every response and does her best to reply.

About Voices of Independence

Voices of Independence is a monthly column by Cheri Battrick.

Cheri’s column is part of The Independence Standard—where local voices and in-depth reporting come together.

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