“Out of everything that’s going on in your life right now, if one thing could get better, what would it be?” The question comes only after hours of listening. When there are no more tears, the quiet comes with the deep inhale and exhale of surrender.  

Only now can the present be considered. Only now can a sliver of hope be remotely pondered. A drink of water, a cracker, a tissue. Heavy sigh. Only now can we think about taking a next step.

 For almost 20 years this is the way we’ve loved our neighbors, whether in a clinic, in an ER, in church or office, an apartment, in an alley or on the sidewalk. Isaiah 58, In His Service, Inc. exists to be here with the least of these, “those people,” the poor. Isaiah 58, In His Service, Inc. exists to be here with the middle class and wealthy too. When tragedy strikes, when being overwhelmed is imminent, when someone is over their head in loss, when the problem is a hot mess, when no one else will help, when someone needs to talk, when advice is needed, when resources can’t be found anywhere else - Isaiah 58, In His Service, Inc. is here. Yes, bosses, peers, coworkers, pastors, CEO’s, landlords, executives, churchgoers – even you - have 918-260-1933 in your contacts, and you’ve used it for yourself or someone else.

 Isaiah 58, In His Service or “Isaiah’s” as we’re known on the street has been tucked away in a strip mall on Admiral Place for the last six years come December. I used to drive by 3734 E. Admiral Place many times a day as I did home visits and delivered groceries or picked someone up to take them to an appointment. It was empty for a long time. I finally mustered the courage to pull up and look inside. The Social Worker mind went to work. I could see us making a difference and placing steppingstones for people in the direction of who they were meant to be.

 We had no money, but we moved in on faith. I asked God to let us serve on Admiral place for just one year. A Board member’s husband loaded up the pews from what used to be Immanuel Baptist Church and turned them into shelves. We moved just in time for our Holiday Helping Hands Project.

We are relocating!

Isaiah’s doesn’t pick and choose a population to help. We are an equal opportunity helping ministry. For the last couple of years more and more of our neighbors are without a place to live. They are constantly being expelled even from areas that used to be secure and off the beaten path. They look for safe havens. Somewhere welcoming where they can get a bite to eat, something to drink and to restock their belongings which are repeatedly being destroyed. We are one of those safe havens.

 We have always been a gap filler ministry. Paying the deposit for someone to move into their apartment, buying car parts, paying for classes, paying fees and fines, wiping out a debt, paying a Pike Pass ticket, writing and paying for an obituary, spontaneous surprises of love. If we have the funds and Jesus gives us a nudge, we step into the hard and work together on getting our neighbor out and up. We do the different.

 Gap filler means we’re the family many of our neighbors have never had. We take people to doctor’s appointments, pay their co-pays and medications, we type up med lists and fill med planners. We celebrate birthdays with homemade cake and candles with singing and gifts. We go to funerals when a daughter, wife, or husband dies and sit close to hold a hand. Sometimes we round up the Senior Support Squad and go eat in a restaurant. It’s a time of fellowship, a time for our neighbors to eat a good meal and it gives us something to look forward to – being together.  Isolation has harmed so many of our neighbors - gathering in Isaiah’s has saved lives.

 As Christ followers we try to emulate Jesus in our efforts to care for the hurting, lonely, poor, ill, excluded, unique, desperate. When Jesus was told someone needed His help, He didn't send Peter or James or John to first gather documentation or a statement of necessity; He didn't tell those in need He would review their request and get back with them after the Board voted on it. He immediately stopped what He was doing, and He gave the outcast, woman who had an abortion, LGBTQ person, prostitute, veteran, refugee, beggar, lost and lonely His undivided attention and met their need. He gave to the glory of the Father. This is the heart of Isaiah's. We are not called to judge someone worthy or determine if they are taking advantage. If Jesus brings them to Isaiah's, then we give and serve and what they do with what is given is between them and God. We provide the tangible in order to build relationships and introduce people to Jesus.

 Hundreds of people depend on us. We will not leave them behind. We are committed to our 18th Annual Holiday Helping Hands Project. We are committed to LOVE GOES faith based social services conference. We are committed to providing Bible study and church for our neighbors.

 In the 10th chapter of Joshua in the Bible there were a group of people in Gibeon who decided to be good neighbors with Israel. However, there were five kings who didn’t like that, so they decided to band together and attack Gibeon. The folks in Gibeon sent an SOS to Joshua, “Come here quickly! Save us! Help us! All the Amorite kings who live up in the hills have ganged up on us.” (Joshua 10:6 MSG)

 So Joshua and his warriors of good guys headed towards Gibeon. They marched all night and took the Kings by surprise. The Israel neighbors chased the bad guys along a ridge all while God pitched hailstones on the bad guys. “More died from the hailstones than the people of Israel killed with the sword.” (Joshua 10:11)

 Before this battle was fought, Joshua spoke to God while everyone listened. He asked God to stop the sun and halt the moon. “The sun stopped in its tracks in mid sky; just sat there all day. There’s never been a day like that before or since; God heeded the voice of a man.” Joshua 10: 14

 God provided the time needed for the victory to take place!  We are asking God to heed the voice of a woman and rally the troops and make the sun stand still! We need to find some buildings to move into, empty our 3,154 square foot current location, continue ministering to our neighbors, sit with them as they grieve the loss of our move all while being the people God redeemed us to be.

 We have a realtor and are actively looking for a place to relocate. We want to be our own landlord and care for those Jesus brings to us in a sheltered space. We do not want to interrupt fellowship and services with our neighbors. If you can connect us with someone who has an available location, please let me know.

 Isaiah’s is a safe haven for life change, forgiveness, healing and transformation. We are a ministry for the poor. The poor in spirit, the poor in material goods, the poor in mind, the poor in addiction, the poor in understanding, the poor in listening, the poor in compassion, the poor in judgment.

 “People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.” Shane Claiborne

 “We don’t have any money, but we’re moving in faith. “

 We can do more. We can do better. Together.

Be the Exception.

No. More. Excuses.

Believing to move in 30 days.

Isaiah 58, In His Service is a 501©3 nonprofit ministry. We are a gap filler ministry. We provide services and assistance in areas that other ministries and agencies can’t or won’t help with.  We don’t accept state or federal funds or funds from the United Way. We follow the Reverend Mueller approach to fundraising – we pray! Our Mission statement is, “Serving those in need in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God.”

Due to Covid-19 we began delivering meals every day and groceries to our most vulnerable neighbors in March 2020. Currently we deliver groceries and have food available for pick up. We limit the number of guests in the ministry at one time to accommodate physical distancing and we ask everyone who comes into the ministry to wear a mask.

We provide the tangible in order to build relationships and introduce people to Jesus. We do this in five areas:

1)       Financial – We will pay deposits in order to get utilities turned on or to move into housing. We have paid for propane, doctor’s appointments/bills, surgery, church camp, classes, veterinary bills, motel rooms, work clothes/boots, birth certificates, phone bills, property taxes, obituary, car repairs, glasses, transportation, motorized wheelchairs, etc.

2)       Tangible – We give vehicles, furniture, clothes/shoes, household items, toys, knick knacks, assistive devices, electronics, food, sports equipment, etc. We are open on most Saturdays from 11am until 2pm to the public. We also schedule appointments for folks in need so we can spend quality time with them, prayerfully help and provide privacy. We deliver to those we help and pick-up donations. We have a washer and dryer and do folks’ laundry.

3)       Events – We sponsored LOVE GOES, a faith based Social Services Conference <videos on our website>, Mission Trip to Tulsa, we’ve taken folks to concerts and conferences. We celebrate birthdays and special events. We had Celebrating Moms with Deniese Dillon, It’s Okay to be Single with Dr. Jennifer O’Dell and Suicide: It’s Time We Talk with Kim Spence. From November 1st to January 31st we have our Holiday Helping Hands Project. We provide Thanksgiving meals and Christmas gifts to every family who asks for our help, even if we are asked for help on Christmas Eve. We continue into January as sometimes the holidays are put on hold due to imprisonment, deployment, illness, or crisis.

4)       Transportation – We transport folks to doctor’s appts., the grocery store, out of town appts., transport after a medical procedure. We pay for bus tickets, provide gas to get to various appointments. We have an account with a taxicab company to transport folks. Since most of our folks don’t drive, we take them to our events such as concerts, dinner, birthday celebrations, parks, etc. in our 15-passenger van.

5)       Social Services – Deni is a degreed, licensed, and certified Social Worker. She will do consultations for families. We partner with Mobile Med USA and Cura Medical Clinic in Sapulpa to help with the tangible so the providers can concentrate on the medical. Individuals can do community service hours with us as required by the courts. We will host community service hours for children, adolescents, and teens for school as well. We provide resources and contact info to other non-profits and agencies to help folks get the services they need. We also contribute and refer to other ministries and agencies in order to alleviate duplicate services and to support those who do great work in our community. We are a Care Portal ministry through Battlecreek Church Downtown for foster families through DHS.

VISION – Isaiah’s Neighborhood – A Place to Belong! Our prayer is to provide an affordable, permanent supportive housing complex of 20 apartments for folks who can no longer live alone; seniors, single parent, disabled, homeless, etc. with a community center, a safe place for pets, an infirmary, Hospice, emergency housing, Mission House, Chapel, garden, Mercy ministry and transportation available by donations 24/7.

Our website is www.isaiah58ihs.org, we have a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/i58ihs and i58ihs@instagram.com. We have a Venmo account and Donor Snap on our website for financial contributions. Come hear the history of Isaiah 58, In His Service from deni A. fholer, the founder and executive director. Our Board of Directors and some of the folks we love on will share their story too! Please call and schedule a time to come visit.  There will be a tour, video, prayer and refreshments.  

Know that you are prayed for.

POOR BOBBY… written in 2016

Bobby is 11 until Tuesday when he’ll turn 12. Bobby lives with his mother most of the time. She’s a drug addict and she forgets about him when she’s high. Bobby’s home has been the floor of one his Mom’s boyfriends, until a number of months ago. They finally got an apartment. It’s $25/month plus electric. They are getting food stamps but his Mom doesn’t work so they get like $44/month.  After 3 months the electric has already been shut off and it’s winter. It gets really cold at night. Bobby grabs all of the dirty clothes and piles them on top of him to use for blankets because they don’t have any. The apartment has roaches and spiders and there’s always trash on the floor; there’s no trashcans and no cleaning supplies in the house. They can’t afford to buy them and he doesn’t know what cleaning the house is because his Mom doesn’t know.

Bobby isn’t sure who his father is. There’s this guy who comes around once in awhile and calls him “sonny boy,” but he’s not sure. The guy also punches him in the shoulder when he sees Bobby and tells him, “Gots to be the MAN of the house…” and then he laughs and hits him again. The guy gives Bobby’s Mom drugs. A church gave them some furniture but the beds had bed bugs so Bobby had to drag them out to the dumpster…and he’s back to sleeping on the floor.

His Mom sometimes gets him up for school. When he goes, he hates it. He’s been labeled a “problem child” since he was 7 when he was molested and started acting out at school. No one ever asked him why he was acting out or sitting in the bathroom crying during recess. Somewhere along the line he realized he’s alone so he’s gotten tougher. He pushed a little kid the other day so he could get the message out to leave him alone. He also got suspended again.

He was given some comic books and he likes to look through them but he can’t pronounce or understand some of the words. He says the words are blurry sometimes, but his Mom can’t keep his Sooner Care active so he doesn’t go to the doctor. He has a cold and his nose runs so he sucks snot and wipes it on his shirt because they don’t have paper towels, toilet paper or tissues in the house.

Most of the time he starts his day in the same clothes he’s worn all week. They never have quarters and the closest laundry is 2 miles away and they don’t have a car and can’t afford bus tokens. The grocery store is about as far away. Bobby spends most of the time hungry.  He goes to the nearest convenience store and steals chips and sodas; so far he hasn’t been caught.

He walks a lot but there are places he stays away from. He watches the gangs from a distance and part of him is starving for love and affection and he wonders if joining a gang would help. But, one of their initiations is raping girls. His Mom was raped once while he was in the bathroom. A drug dealer broke in and raped her because she didn’t pay him. Bobby tried to take care of her, but she told him to get the “f*** away.”

Bobby has a couple of friends who are just like him. One of his buddy’s Moms is an alcoholic and another lives with his Grandma who is “crazy.” They like hanging around the Grandma because she talks to people who aren’t there. They laugh at her. Sometimes all the grown up’s in their lives are messed up at the same time so they stay in a cubby hole outside the community center, which is closed up and not used anymore. They hear gunshots and couples yelling and cussing each other. They see drug deals and watch toddlers walking around in a diaper at 3 in the morning. They watch and when the drunken old man stumbles out of his apartment to yell at someone, they sneak in and hide his bottle. This is their entertainment.

Bobby had his 12th birthday and no one noticed. There was no cake or ice cream, no gifts, no underwear from Grandma, nothing. He kept crying off and on all day and he tried to stop but he couldn’t. He sees kids at school with new Nikes and IPhones and they talk about their X-box and Ripstick and he gets mad. His Mom got a big TV after she got her income taxes one year, but they pawned it after a month for her drugs and to pay rent.

If no one intervenes and loves on Bobby he’ll start having sex soon and probably get a girl pregnant. He’s likely to join the gang because he’ll drop out of school and need money. His heart will continue to grow harder because he has to do what is needed to survive. Eventually he’ll steal a car and get involved with juvy and once he has a criminal record, a kid he can’t take care of and the start of a drug habit…another generation of “the Bobby’s out there” starts all over again.

Every Sunday and most Wednesday evening’s variations of kids with Bobby’s story go to church. We’ve been taking them for over a year. During each trip in the van from the apartment complex to church, we’re praying for these kids. Praying for their salvation, for their safety, that people will be nice to them, that they’ll make friends, that they will learn about Jesus, that no one will say something to embarrass them, that they get why they’re going to church…that Jesus loves each one of them, individually, enough to die for them, that Jesus will be real to them.

Over the course of the year we have had folks ask how we could bring the kids to church in flip flops when it’s cold outside or why they’re not wearing coats. They want to know why they make such a mess when they eat dinner on Wednesday night. They want to know why we don’t keep them quiet and teach them to behave; they run in church and climb on the building.  We’ve been asked why the kids come to church dirty and smelly.

One man asked why we bring drug addicts to church. When we figured out who he was talking about, he was told the young man only has part of his brain so he’s slow in speech and processing. His reply was, “Oh. Well how am I supposed to know that?” 

He’s right, how is he supposed to know that? Middle class pew sitters have no idea how hard it is for poor kids and families because we rarely if ever socialize with them. We read the rhetoric in the news and we establish assumptions about poor people that are often very wrong.  In fact, we often become indignant and tell them to get their lives together, go to work and do what’s right. We judge them with gusto. We also tend to forget they don’t know Jesus and they don’t have a support system or the resources we do, but we sure do expect a lot from them.

We also tell poor people to forget the past; it has no effect on their future. When Bobby was molested, he remembers every moment of the nightmare. He remembers the smells, the sounds and the man’s voice. He’s never been seen by a counselor so he hasn’t learned coping skills, life skills, problem solving skills and he doesn’t know what to do when he smells the same after shave the man was wearing two years later. All he knows is that all of those disgusting memories come crashing into his mind and he has to do something so he yells or he breaks something or he runs until he falls to the ground sobbing. He doesn’t talk to anyone because no one cares.

Many of these kids don’t know Jesus and the few that do, don’t see Him in their homes, or the neighborhoods, or in their neighbors and they don’t have anyone teaching them life through the lens of the Bible. They are lost and learning life skills from the lost.

We don’t want to know the gory truth about Bobby’s life because we don’t want to believe horrible things happen to kids. We don’t want God to give us a burden to step into that gutter and love these kids unconditionally and make them a part of our lives. That’s too difficult and messy and it’s too painful. The kids will screw up or Heaven forbid we do get involved and they won’t turn out “right.”  People tell us to make the kids “more normal” and presentable because the way they look and how they act make US too uncomfortable.

Isaiah 58, In His service is trying to give the kids some hope and let them experience things that they could not afford to do. We are trying to show them life without crisis. We try to give them birthdays with cake and gifts and candles. We try to keep the heat on and the water running and groceries in their fridge. We try to make sure they aren’t sleeping on the floor. We take them to church praying they’ll meet Jesus…

But, it’s not enough. We’ve been asked what church goers can do to make a difference in these kid’s lives.

Talk to them. They need stable, caring adults to be interested in their lives. They will be bluntly honest about the horrors of their lives but they still have dreams for their future and they want to believe they could come true. They need to hear praise and encouragement. They need to know what real love looks like.

Talk to your kids. As far as we know none of our kids have been invited to a “rich kid’s house.”  They haven’t made many friends in church. They think some of the “rich kids” are mean and don’t like them. Teach your kids how to love on poor kids. Learn about poverty so you can teach your kids what poverty really is. Teach your kids to reach out and get to know our kids.

Invite them out. Get to know the kids, especially if you have a child the age of one of our kids. The best way to teach is to mirror the behaviors. Let them see how you eat a meal; praying before eating, asking someone to pass the pepper, please and thank you. Take them to your home. Show them how you live. Give them an experience they’ve never had before. We took some kids to a concert at the BOK and they’d never been to a concert before. Wide eyes and lots of WOWS. It was really cool. A new experience opens the door to possibilities.

Volunteer. We often make 2 or more trips to church on Sunday. Offer to go pick some of the kids up. We pay for them to eat on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights at church because we want to make sure they have something to eat. When you drop them off, sit with them, eat a donut and listen to their stories. Ask them to sit with you in church. Mirror Godly behavior in God’s house.

Pray.  Before and after you talk with them, learn their names and a little about their lives and pray for them by name. Ask the Father to bring workers to the harvest. Pray for the end to generational poverty. Pray that God will use you.

Be willing to learn. We had our first LOVE GOES - Faith Based Social Services Conference in 2015. We had professionals talk about the tough stuff: Mental Illness, Homelessness, Substance Abuse, Foster Care, Suicide, Domestic Violence. We talked about the role of the church and how our churches need to take an active role in helping our non-profits meet more needs. We have tons of gaps that our churches could fill. We asked churches to do capital campaigns for people instead of buildings.

Watch all of the speaker's videos at www.isaiah58ihs.org. Learning more about these topics can take away the fear of the unknown and once the fear disappears, you’ll be nudged into action and you’ll be more willing to go because you’ll have a better understanding. Knowledge builds bridges, ignorance builds walls.

Learn more. If you truly want to make a difference, a restorative difference, talk with deni. Isaiah 58, In His service has professionals ready to teach. If you really want to learn about poverty, mental illness, homelessness so that you can beseech the Father to take you to where He’s working, we can help get you prepared. Just remember, we all have been or will be touched by mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc. It is better to be prepared than to react in crisis.

Vision  Isaiah’s Neighborhood – A Place to Belong! Our prayer is to provide an affordable, permanent supportive housing complex of 20 apartments for folks who can no longer live alone, seniors, single parent, disabled, homeless, etc. with a community center, a safe place for pets, an infirmary, Hospice, emergency housing, Mission House, Chapel, garden, Mercy ministry and transportation available by donations 24/7.

Know that you are prayed for.

In His service,

deni A. fholer, LMSW, CCFP

We can do more. We can do better.

“Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” 1st John 1:6