Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives
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Springs Rescue Mission

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people praying to god at home on black background with people stock photo

Springs Rescue Mission: Spiritual Recovery Through Love, Not Force

A Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) document declares, “Our faith is why we do what we do, but faith is never required of others to receive basic relief services.…We believe it is God’s job to change people, not ours.” Old-style missions often thought they could change people by requiring attendance at chapel services. SRM does not have a campus church or any required service. SRM’s Christian statement emphasizes that God is “the one who transforms. Therefore, when guests make bad choices, it’s up to God to work with them. It’s God’s job to change people. It’s our role to help in the project, not own it.” Last March, though, The Gazette — Colorado Springs’ daily newspaper — reported criticism of SRM Read More ›

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Photo of a church steeple with a cross on top, minimalistic and simple with a clear blue sky background in soft natural light with sharp focus Generative AI

Springs Rescue Mission: A Rare Alliance Between Church and State

Two weeks ago I noted how Colorado Springs city officials a decade ago handed a $3 million federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) leaders. Later, City Hall gave $3 million more. That was because SRM, an explicitly Christian organization, was ready to help homeless wanderers in Colorado Springs, and no one else was ready. Strict church-state separationists didn’t like it, but city housing executive Steve Posey noted that the HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) contract detailed public benefits: “SRM would build a commercial kitchen; they would build an overnight shelter for several hundred people; they would build a day center with showers and laundry facilities. Nowhere in those contracts, or any ongoing contracts Read More ›

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Portrait of a man holding a sleeping bag on a city street, bundled in winter clothes, reflecting resilience and hardship, urban life and survival in cold conditions, powerful scene

Springs Rescue Mission: The Things They Carry

What is it like hanging around the Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) for several days? I wrote two weeks ago about its environment early in the morning. I’ll show now what it was like at 4:45 p.m. on a hot summer day. Ninety men and 29 women were lined up waiting to get into the air-conditioned dining hall. Most of the men had beards. Many of the women had leathery skin. Almost all were tattooed. The things they carried: Two enormous pillows, gigantic plastic bags, heavy blankets, spare pairs of sneakers — and almost everyone had a cell phone. (Medicaid provides free phones or tablets.) The T-shirts they wore: Just Do It. Never Too Much Bacon. The things some of them Read More ›

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Community Volunteers Prepare Beds in Homeless Shelter for Cold Night

The Variety of Christian Homeless Missions

To understand why Springs Rescue Mission was so interesting to me, you should know something about the other three Christian homeless missions I have stayed at recently. Knowledgeable people call them model programs. That’s true, but each is different. The Orange County Rescue Mission (OCRM) in California is a beautiful place with an intensive, every-hour-occupied program in which individuals can advance over eighteen months or so from heavily regimented “freshman year” to a freer “senior year.” It’s perfect for men and women who are young enough and physically/mentally able enough to work again in the outside world. Eden Village in Springfield, Missouri is a beautiful strip of brightly-painted tiny houses in which beaten-down older people, some mentally disabled, can live Read More ›

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Man with addiction sharing mental health issues with group at aa meeting, talking to therapist. People having conversation about depression and rehabilitation at therapy session.

Wednesday, 6:30 a.m. at Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs

My columns over the next few weeks will become part of an eventual book, but before too long goes by, it’s time to describe how I spent part of my summer vacation in 2024. The summer prior, I had enjoyed the great beauty of the Colorado Springs area, including the Garden of the Gods, with its beautifully soaring red rock sandstone formations at 6,400 feet above sea level. It’s the number one park in the United States, according to Trip Advisor, but my Colorado Springs sojourn this past summer was on run-down Las Vegas Street. If the Garden hints at the glory of God, that street on a Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. proclaimed the wreckage of man. A grizzled wearer Read More ›