From living to serving on the streets

Stepping out of the shuttle, Canon Dyer thought, I don’t know what I’m doing. It was his first night volunteering for Street Team in 2021, and the temperature was a brisk 9 degrees Fahrenheit as he went out to homeless encampments in Minneapolis to serve hotdogs and pray with those living in the tents. 

Dyer, a freshman mechanical engineering student at Bethel University at the time, had been encouraged to try the Inner City Christian Ministries (ICCM) Life Center’s Street Team by a leader of Bethel’s student ministries. But on his first night volunteering, he had no idea what to expect.  

During his first experience at the encampments, Dyer met a man who referred to himself as “Candyman.” Despite not having anywhere warm to stay that night, Candyman said he wasn’t worried. 

“[He had] quite a bit of life and energy in him,” Dyer said. “[It’s one of those] interactions…that just come out of the blue and stand out.”

Now, Dyer is a volunteer captain for the ICCM Life Center’s Street Team, and he leads groups of volunteers out onto the streets of Minneapolis every week. Because of Dyer and other student ministry leaders, Bethel University has brought a team of students to Friday Night Street Team once a month for the past three years.

Since 1993, ICCM Life Center in Minneapolis has been serving those struggling with homelessness through a group of people on Friday nights that they call Street Team. The dream was started by pastors Chris and Monica DeLaurentis in their Minneapolis apartment. One month after they began Street Team, however, the number of people they served went from 35 to over 100, prompting the start of the Life Center. They spent time out on the streets sharing their stories, praying for people and serving free food. 

The goal of Street Team is to draw people experiencing homelessness into the Life Center church ministry so they can get support for whatever they need, whether that’s meals, temporary housing or a relationship with Jesus. 

With the Life Center’s 33 years of ministry, they have not only helped lead thousands of people to Christ, but also brought people into the ministry itself. Internships are offered to those who are looking to get back on their feet and serve others like Jesus would. After a completed internship, they often become ministry leaders and volunteers. 

Hazel Hernandez

Hazel Hernandez, a ministry leader at the Life Center, lived without housing for about five years before joining the ministry. 

At 33 years old, Hernandez tried drugs for the first time and immediately found herself addicted. 

“My life was always to please people…[drug use] felt like I found something that I like,” Hernandez said. 

About six months into using drugs, she found herself homeless, causing her to lose her job. 

“Once I lost custody of my children, that is when I completely gave up,” Hernandez said. “I gave up on life.” 

As a result, Hernandez started using drugs every day to try to cope. After two years of living in hotels and makeshift tent communities, Hernandez met someone who lived behind the Life Center and ended up living with him for a year. 

One day, while walking around the area searching through people’s yards for anything to help her out, Hernandez saw a sign that read “Free food,” with directions to the Life Center. She began frequently going to the center for food.

During this time, Hernandez’s daughter was murdered two days before she turned 17, leaving Hernandez alone. In sorrow, she went to the bridge of the highway by Life Center, ready to end her life. But while she was there, Hernandez saw someone walking down the bridge. It was one of the volunteers who served meals at the Life Center. Hernandez asked the woman to pray over her and decided that she needed to turn her life around. 

“If I didn’t hurt anyone else, I would end up hurting myself,” she said. “I was really, really broken. I wanted everything to stop. I wanted to be happy.” 

Hernandez started going to addiction treatment at Avivo, which is within walking distance of the Life Center. She began attending church at the Life Center, joined the Tuesday women’s group and came out to help with Street Team on Fridays. She also started a year-long discipleship program at the Life Center, and worked an internship within the ministry for six months, finishing at the end of February. She spent that time working in the kitchen. 

“The [free food] sign that I saw that brought me into the church, I got to bring that out for six months,” Hernandez said. 

Charlie Mack

Charlie Mack, born and raised in Georgia, also works as a Life Center ministry leader like Hernandez. Mack spent his childhood living with his dad and step-mother, his biological mom not being able to raise him and his ten other siblings. He struggled to get through school, especially because his dad couldn’t read, and spent his time on the wrestling team at his high school. 

After high school, in 1975, Mack took a bus and moved to Minnesota. On that ride, he heard God speak to him, telling him that he would preach in Miami one day. I don’t even go to church! Mack thought.

For the next twenty years, Mack lived on the streets, dealing and using drugs. But one night in 1995, he looked down and saw a flyer for free food at the Life Center lying by his feet. Mack went and heard Monica DeLaurentis share her story of being a drug addict turned pastor. That night, he gave his life to Jesus. A few years later, he found himself down in Miami preaching, just like God told him he would do more than 20 years prior. 

This summer will mark Mack’s 31st year following Jesus.

Though Bethel student ministries bring a group once a month, Street Team happens every Friday. If students can’t make it to a night when Bethel goes out, there are always other chances.

“[It is] an experience that challenges you, and then God takes that challenge and shapes it for growth,” Dyer said. “Sometimes the best things are scary.”

Street Team volunteer captain Sarah Engwall shared how her faith has been challenged while volunteering with Street Team. 

“[It has] been so humbling when meeting people who were in great spots but lost everything,” Engwall said. “They still had their faith.” 

DeLaurentis, after having been addicted to drugs for fourteen years, emphasized the importance of participating in Street Team. 

“They need what you have,” DeLaurentis said. “Which is the love of God.”

Like Dyer on his first time going to Street Team, it is normal not to know what to do. Engwall noted how something as simple as a smile can turn someone’s day around. Genuinely inquiring with someone about their day also helps to build a connection. Engwall did this with a man named Pat on the Nicollet Light Rail platform. 

Standing out in the cold evening after a spring-like February afternoon, Pat shared how he was heading home after comforting a friend who had to put their cat down. That connection helped Engwall begin a conversation about faith with him. Pat had only gotten off the streets a month earlier and gave all the praise to God. 

Despite everything that he went through, Pat knew he needed to be there for a friend who was going through a hard time. 

“People have been good to me, so [I] pay it forward,” he said.

God calls everyone to different ways of sharing his love, whether that is praying over someone or even something as simple as a smile. It might not seem like a lot, but going with Street Team to hand out free hot dogs might bring someone to Christ, just like it did for Hernandez and Mack.