NEW YORK — It’s a cold, rainy Saturday in New York City, and
Vaughn McLamb ladles up steaming cups of chicken soup for the homeless,
addicts, immigrants and urban poor gathered at Tompkins Square Park on the
Lower East Side.
Whether Puerto Rican, Chinese, Eastern European or other ethnic background,
they’ve come for FLIP (a free lunch in the park), a ministry provided by East
Seventh Baptist Church and Graffiti Community Ministries. Graffiti Church, as
it’s commonly known, has been serving the Lower East Side since 1974. At the
helm is North American Mission Board (NAMB) missionary and pastor Taylor Field.
Every weekend, Field and a group from Graffiti Church set up in the park to
feed the hungry.
“We believe God has called us to reach out to those who have fallen through the
cracks,” Field says. Graffiti feeds 10,000 people a year, with assistance from
partner churches and NAMB’s Domestic Hunger Fund. The Domestic Hunger Fund
represents 20 percent of gifts received to the Southern Baptist World Hunger
Fund; the remaining 80 percent is used in International Mission Board (IMB)
hunger ministries.
“We feel like part of the gospel is reaching out in a physical way, and that’s
a very big need in our community,” Field says. “It’s not theoretical, it’s not
something to argue about. It’s something tangible that every person can do and
we can all come together on.”
Field has seen a lot in the 23 years he’s lived on the Lower East Side with his
wife Susan and their two sons. He remembers when the park was a tent city
filled with homeless people living in makeshift shelters. He remembers when
most of the blocks in the neighborhood were lined with abandoned buildings and
vacant lots. Now the park is a clean green space and the buildings have been
refurbished into high-rent condominiums.
“It’s a tale of two cities,” Field says. “We have people with six-digit incomes
living right next to people who have nothing. They don’t even see each other
sometimes.”
In addition to changes in the neighborhood, Field has seen changes in the
individuals who have lived on the streets around Graffiti. One of those
individuals is Vaughn McLamb.
“I believe Vaughn is one of those people who is a resurrection story where you
see the resurrection power of God in him,” Field says. “I think part of the fun
of what I do is getting to see these amazing things God does in people’s lives.”
NAMB photo by Peter Field Peck Vaughn McLamb, with Graffiti Church on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, ladles steaming cups of chicken soup for the crowd gathered at Tompkins Square Park. McLamb found Graffiti when he was a drug addict living on the streets. |
McLamb’s first encounter with Graffiti started with the free lunch in the park
more than 10 years ago. At the time, McLamb was on the other side of the table.
He was a drug addict and living on the streets.
As a young man, McLamb was able to manage his addiction and hold a steady job.
But as he became caught in the cycle of addiction and denial, things got worse
and no one wanted to hire him. He shuffled from crack house to crack house and
shelter to shelter. Through decades of rough living and bad choices, McLamb
knew God wanted something better for him. He carried a worn Bible, which he
read during his darkest moments.
“I always wanted to be something useful in God’s Kingdom,” McLamb says. “But I
had too many other gods distracting me.”
McLamb kept reading his Bible and God wouldn’t let go of him. “I read so much
of the Bible that it was filling me and creating in me something that
eventually allowed me to pull up out of the sewer. The power of God’s Word can’t
be pushed out of a crack house.”
Slowly, McLamb began his crawl out of the sewer and into God’s will. That’s
when he found FLIP.
“It started with the sandwich and the individual giving it to me — like they
wanted me to have it,” McLamb recalls. “I didn’t have to beg, explain myself or
apologize for being in line.”
That day, McLamb got more than a sandwich to soothe his growling stomach. The
volunteers invited him to a Bible study across the street. He took the bologna
sandwich and sat through the Bible study.
“It re-ignited that belief in Christ I was trying to stuff down with the
failures and the behaviors and the drugs and all the excuses,” McLamb recalls.
He started attending church at Graffiti. Week after week, he listened to the
sermons and things started to click. “When Taylor asked me if I wanted to take
the next step and be baptized, I said yes, let’s do it.”
That was 10 years ago.
“Christ is working in me,” McLamb says. “And He is
putting distance between being real messed up and not being messed up.”
Today McLamb is sober, saved and baptized. And every Saturday he heads up the
church’s feeding ministry.
“This ministry allows me to work with others and to work with the church,”
McLamb says. “God has used my past experience and chiseled me into someone who
can work certain parts of this ministry.
“It beats lying on that bench in the park saying, ‘My life is finished. I have
no purpose. I’ve messed my life up so bad that nothing can be done.’”
In addition to heading up the lunch program, McLamb runs Graffiti Church’s
clothes closet, oversees the care of the building and leads a Bible study.
“Vaughn is one of the most anointed teachers I’ve ever seen,” Field says. “He
prepares well and has a sense of what God is doing in his life and other people’s
lives.”
And it all started with a free lunch.
“When we reach out with a sandwich, it’s a way to say we believe in you as a
person and we know this is an immediate need you have,” Field says. “It’s a way
of making contact with people and being able to look them in the eye.
“When I see what God has done with Vaughn’s life and I see how Vaughn has drawn
other people to the Lord, I can say from experience there is no one who is too
far gone.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Pipes is a writer for the North American Mission Board.
To find out more about Graffiti Church, visit www.graffitichurch.org. To give
to the World Hunger Fund, visit www.namb.net/hunger. To view a video about
Taylor Field and other NAMB missionaries, visit www.namb.net and click on the “Missionary
Focus” gallery.)