We Care — Feeding First, Speaking Later

There’s a moment, when you look into someone’s eyes and realize they’re not listening—not because they don’t care, but because they can’t. Hunger drowns out hope. When your child is crying from an empty stomach, it’s hard to think about eternity. When your heart is heavy with the fear of not making it through the week, it’s hard to receive words of comfort, no matter how true they are.

That’s why we believe:You can’t preach to an empty stomach.

We’ve learned that before we tell someone “Jesus loves you,”we need to show them what love looks like.

Love looks like food in a box. Like rice, beans, cereal, and canned goods handed to a mother who hasn’t known what she’ll serve tonight. Love looks like joy on a child’s face, not because they heard a sermon, but because they’ll eat dinner.

We’re not here to impress people with verses while they struggle to survive.We’re here to meet real needs, because faith is not abstract—it starts with compassion. It begins with presence.With listening.With feeding.

As James reminds us:

“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”— James 2:15-16

And Jesus Himself said:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,I was a stranger and you invited me in…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,you did for me.”— Matthew 25:35,40

Only when the pain has been seen can the heart be opened.

So before we talk about the cross,we carry a box.

Before we invite them to believe,we remind them they’re not alone.

This is not strategy.

This is what Jesus did.