Following God’s Leading

It was a Thursday in February 2009. Cami Berkey hoped a workout in the fitness room at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind., would relieve her mind. She’d recently felt led to resign her job, her husband’s construction work had slowed to a trickle, and their oldest daughter had just moved out. What she didn’t expect that brisk, wintry morning was to hear God calling her to a new ministry.

As she entered the church, Cami was amazed to see the line of people waiting to receive the food vouchers that are distributed there each Thursday. (About 30 vouchers for $30, provided through direct donations from the congregation, are available on a first-come, first served basis. People may have two in a six-month period.)

The vouchers are meeting a need in Goshen, where, in early 2009, the unemployment rate in surrounding Elkhart County had risen to more than 18 percent, the highest in more than 27 years.

But Cami felt a nudging to do more. “I knew if [the people] were there for food vouchers, they must be hungry,” she says. “God laid it on my heart, ‘when you feed the least of these…’,” she recalls.

With the support of Pastor Jim Brown, she and three helpers began to serve breakfast to those who waited. Initially they used funds donated for the vouchers to purchase supplies – feeding 50 people with just $30 after shopping at an off-brand grocery story.

Not wanting to dip into the contributions for the vouchers, Cami began to use the food stamps that her own family received. “We just bought what we needed for the breakfast out of that,” she admits.

The ministry expanded. “We opened the breakfast to anyone,” she says. “People can come in every week for breakfast, even if they are not getting a voucher. We cook the food and talk to the people who are waiting.”

The breakfast has become its own community, with more than 60 people coming each week. A church member provides haircuts once a month. People are being reached with the gospel, with one being baptized recently at the church.

By August, Berkey had begun to work at a nearby school. When she learned that the 8th graders there needed to complete three hours of community engagement, she suggested they provide food to meet some of that requirement.

“I’m going to have to do something different this summer [to purchase supplies],” she concedes, “but God will provide.”

Cami is the first to admit that it is a ministry she didn’t seek. “When you follow God’s lead, you can never take a wrong turn,” she says, “even when you don’t know where you are going.”

Heartbroken

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