"… I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18
by Patti Richter, Beacon Staff
The holiday season of 1994 brought an exciting challenge to Seth Kuehn. He and a friend drove a van to a couple of grocery stores and began filling the vehicle with surplus food. Loaded to the gills (it was hard to see out the rearview mirror), they headed to the inner city.
Seth Kuehn (pronounced keen) worked in the vending business where he observed a terrible waste of food at hotels he serviced. It took several years of “wrestling with God” before he responded in obedience that Thanksgiving week 15 years ago.
After two H.E.B. stores agreed to donate, Kuehn and his friend delivered the goods to the poorest areas of San Antonio.
Christmas brought the opportunity for a repeat performance, with the same blessed results. Then, as the New Year’s holiday approached, the men thought they’d give it “one more shot,” not realizing they were in training for a full-time ministry.
By February, Kuehn still felt a persistent tug, a sense of God speaking to his spirit: Seth, open your eyes. They’re throwing away this food. He checked with more stores, who confirmed those words. They were throwing away a lot of good food.
Kuehn began visiting food ministries. He took note of “the good, the bad and the ugly,” which helped avoid pitfalls in the establishment of Daily Bread Ministries the following year. He wanted to do things differently—under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Statistics from 2008 showed 6.8 million dollars worth of surplus food collected and redistributed by Daily Bread Ministries. Their trucks pick up surplus goods each day from large wholesale grocers, brokers, and farmers’ produce terminals. They store the provisions at their 20,000 square foot warehouse in the center of downtown. Within 48 hours more than 400 non-profit organizations pick up the goods to deliver to recipients. Of those 400, more than half are inner-city ministries.
With bread in one hand and the gospel in the other
“We began with a prayer team,” Kuehn says of founding Daily Bread Ministries. “Then we started small, with managed growth. God blessed that. We’d seen ministries with too much food to handle.
Kuehn built relationships with inner-city pastors he met through Promise Keepers. He explains how those early connections have shaped the ministry of DBM. “Food was always an issue. But food ministry and the gospel had to go together. Not humanitarian[ism]—that facilitates poverty. When there’s a need for food, there’s an underlying issue. It’s always a spiritual thing. We said, ‘Let’s change people’s need for food.’ The church is equipped to change it.”
Nearly 30% of the foodstuffs go to drug rehab facilities. There are around 20 such homes (all faith-based) in the inner-city. About 1000 residents need three meals each day. “This has a huge economic impact on this city,” Kuehn states. “It keeps addicts from stealing from relatives, neighbors and stores. It transforms their lives and the city too. They come back to help us. They volunteer while in drug rehab.”
Another large distribution, more than 20%, goes to housing projects comprised mostly of single moms with lots of kids. (Men there are not typically husbands and fathers). Kuehn says it’s an avenue to present Jesus Christ in the housing areas. “They want to know if we really care for them. The four spiritual laws don’t apply to the hungry.” As a result of that caring relationship, churches have been built. Now they’re getting fed spiritually too.
Christ-centered ministries distribute food and minister personally to those in need. One of the hundreds of organizations utilizing the resources of DBM is Redemption Missions Ministries. They pick up the food twice weekly—crates of produce, breads of all kinds, canned goods and juices—all of it free. They deliver to around 500 people weekly to places like the San Antonio Rescue Mission, soup kitchens and homes for displaced families. They also feed those who show up at their mission doors—always open.
“We’re a conduit,” says Jimmy Hogue, a former businessman who works with Redemption Missions now. “We don’t care what your faith is. People walk in looking for food and clothes—Wiccans, Muslims, agnostics and atheists. We give them Bibles too. They learn to pray; some even learn to read. Our Bible study is phenomenal, but hungry people can’t study the Bible. Kindness opens their hearts to salvation—without their having to jump through hoops or fill out documents.”
That successful outreach points back to the work of Daily Bread Ministries and its staff, and Seth Kuehn, with the desire to do things differently, by the Holy Spirit. “He will teach you all things…” (John 14:26).
Visit www.dailybreadministries.org, or call them at 210-223-4707.