Keith: Showing Up Changes Everything
Keith knows what it’s like to lose your footing.
“I ended up walking a tough path,” he says. “A lot of bad choices that I made. I was at a crossroads and the state encouraged me to get sober. So I did that.”
In that hard reset, he met God. And what began as survival turned into calling. “Through me doing that, I experienced God, and I experienced other people’s brokenness. That led me to homeless outreach,” Keith says.
Over the years, his church and Gospel Village have grown side by side. “Our church is ten years old, and around the same time, Gospel Village was planted,” he says. “We just formed a great partnership—send money out, send people out. And I realized a lot of us are only a few decisions away from being homeless.”
Keith sees that truth every time he comes to serve. “They’re just like us,” he says. “It’s Christ’s message—‘What you’ve done for the least of these, you’ve done for me.’ That’s the heart behind what we do.”
He laughs when he remembers one Thursday dinner. “One of the guys from our church brought a karaoke machine. I was like, ‘Oh great, here we go.’ I’m not a karaoke guy.”
But before long, the whole pavilion was dancing, laughing, and singing. “It was one of those really come-alive moments,” he says.
Some weeks they’re pulling weeds. Other times, renovating a unit or building a garden. “It’s ever-changing,” Keith says, “but I’ve learned the best thing is consistency—just showing up. Through that, you build relationship. And through relationship, you can foster change. Not only in others, but in yourself.”
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