Pictured, from left, are Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Lead Pastor Dodi McIntyre and Associate Pastor Mario Angeli. P-J photo by Timothy Frud

While Joy Fellowship Free Methodist Church has been trying to positively impact the community by opening an emergency homeless shelter inside the church, the church’s leaders believe the congregation has been “enriched” by the many guests at the shelter.

Lead Pastor Dodi McIntyre said the experience of helping homeless individuals and families by providing a warm place to stay for the night, preparing food for the guests and showing kindness to those in need has been an “amazing” experience that has had a profound impact on each of the volunteers at the church.

“It has opened a window to a world that we do not otherwise see,” she said. “It has opened up an opportunity because we didn’t realize how many of our congregation have seen that world before and they didn’t talk about it. Now they’re talking freely about it, and they’re sharing their experiences. We’ve just been so enriched.”

Associate Pastor Mario Angeli explained that the ability to provide an emergency homeless shelter for those in need provides an opportunity to “make the community better” by not only impacting those in need, but also impacting each of the staff members and volunteers involved at the shelter. He added that while the church was originally worried about what an emergency homeless shelter would entail, the result has been well worth it.

“God has just brought so many things this way,” he said. “We’re right in the epicenter, as we found out in one of our meetings that the mayor started, for the most overdoses and the most need for shelter. Our staff and our volunteers just love interacting with these guys,” he said.

While the church struggled at first to attract enough volunteers to help with the emergency homeless shelter, Angeli said it was not long before the first volunteers quickly convinced others to volunteer at the shelter. Currently, the shelter has about 20 volunteers from multiple churches in the community, including churches like St. James, Zion Covenant and Nueva Vida Covenant.

Angeli said it has been “wonderful” to see different churches come together as the “universal church” to take care of those in need in the Jamestown community.

“It’s ignited our church, our family of faith, in ways that we have not seen in generations in this church,” McIntyre said. “People are on fire for serving right now, which has been really awesome.”

McIntyre said the church has also started to see an increase in the congregation’s numbers. While many of the guests at the shelter have joined the church for Wednesday night Bible study and Sunday morning church services, McIntyre said the staff members and volunteers are “very careful” to avoid pressuring the guests to come. McIntyre stressed the importance of inviting the guests in a way that does not make the shelter seem like a “trade off” for coming to church.

Regardless of whether the guests attend church services simply to have a place to stay for a “few more hours,” McIntyre said when the shelter guests attend Joy Fellowship, they are given the opportunity to experience genuine community.

“They’re touched by the warmth that they receive here and the love that they get, and it makes a difference,” she said.

McIntyre shared the story of one of the first guests that arrived at the shelter shortly before Christmas. McIntyre said the gentleman immediately captured the hearts of the staff and volunteers and spent Christmas weekend with the shelter.

After being welcomed by the staff and volunteers, the gentleman became a volunteer at the church. However, due to personal struggles in his life, the gentleman had a “bad night” that resulted in the shelter having to ask him to leave.

“He was not in the condition to be safe around others,” McIntyre said. “That’s the only reason we would send somebody out the door.”

While the situation broke the hearts of the staff and volunteers at the shelter, McIntyre said the story took a surprising turn two days later.

“Two days later, we were short on volunteers, and I happened to be here, and he came in and he just was so humble,” she said. “He came in, he apologized, and we just received him with love, and he just lit up like I have never seen anyone light up before. He just was so moved by the fact that somebody would forgive him in the condition that he was, which was extreme, that we would receive him back.”

While Joy Fellowship had to explain to the gentleman that he would have to “make some amends” in certain areas of his life before the church could allow him to volunteer again, McIntyre said he quickly agreed to start a restoration process.

“He was on board for that restoration process immediately,” she said. “It was like, ‘somebody’s giving me a chance.’ Every time I’ve seen him now since, he’s talking about the job that he wants to get. You have to earn trust, and he trusts us now and we’re able to have those conversations. When people start to see hope, you see true transformation.”