AN A ICH
and changes lives
By Carol Pipes I
t’s a cold, rainy Saturday in New York City, and Vaughn McLamb ladles steaming cups of chicken soup for the crowd gathered at Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side. Those standing in line are a menagerie of backgrounds—homeless, addicts, immigrants and the urban poor—as well as ethnicities including Chinese, Puerto Rican and Eastern European.
They’ve all come for a Free Lunch In the Park or FLIP, a ministry provided by Graffi ti Church and Community Min- istries. Graffi ti Church has been serving the Lower East Side since 1974. At the helm is North American Mission Board missionary and pastor Taylor Field.
Every weekend, Taylor and volunteers from Graffi ti Church and another partner church set up in the park and feed the hungry people gathered there.
“We believe God has called us to reach out to those who have fallen through the cracks,” Taylor says. Graffi ti 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 monies designated by Southern Baptists to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund. Eighty percent is assigned to the International Mission Board. “We feel like part of the gospel is reaching out in a physi- cal way, and that’s a very big need in our community,” Taylor explains. “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.”
Taylor 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 fi lled with homeless people living in makeshift shelters. He remembers when most of the blocks in the neighborhood were abandoned buildings and vacant lots. Now the park is a clean, green space and refurbished buildings house high-rent condominiums. “It’s a tale of two cities,” Taylor 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, Taylor has seen changes in the individuals who live on the streets around Graffi ti. One of those individuals is Vaughn McLamb. “I believe Vaughn is one of those people who is a resur- rection story. You see the resurrection power of God in him,” Taylor says. “I think part of the fun of what I do is getting to see these amazing things God does in people’s lives.” Vaughn’s fi rst encounter with Graffi ti all started with a sandwich he received at FLIP more than 10 years ago. At the time, Vaughn was on the other side of the table. He was a drug addict and living on the streets.
As a young man, Vaughn was able to manage his addiction and hold a steady job. But he was caught in the cycle of addic-
ON MISSION • Fall 2010
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