For the last two years, Dawn Martinez, 33, has reached out to transients and drug addicts with the truth of God’s word. She didn’t meet with them in a church, but as a part of her ministry to the community she has held Bible studies in a new Jersey McDonalds. All of that has changed with one complaint.
Bible study can no longer meet at McDonalds
According to the Christian Post, Martinez started holding Bible studies at a new Jersey McDonalds in 2010. She had a heart for transients and drug addicts and the McDonalds was a natural gathering place. That all changed on Wednesday when the McDonald’s manager told her the group was no longer allowed to meet there due to a complaint. However, the franchise owner, Ed Baim, clarified to FoxNews, that the content was not the problem and had “absolutely nothing to do with their being asked to move.” instead, it had to do with the fact that the restaurant’s eating area has limited seating and a no-loitering policy.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18, HCSB)
Prayer for a new Place to Gather
Dawn Martinez saw the need among transients and drug addicts and instead of looking the other way she reached out to them. Not just one time, or by putting money in a collection plate. She reached out to them with her life and spent time with them twice a week for the past two years. That’s what discipleship is; the pouring of one’s life into another.
Then he said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37, HCSB)
While there has been some speculation that someone was offended by talk of God, hopefully that’s not the case. It would be a shame, if someone being offended caused the end of two years of building relationships and making a difference among people who are often overlooked or even shunned. let us remember Dawn Martinez in prayer and ask that the Lord lead her to a new place to gather with those willing to listen and that sharing God’s love will make a difference.