“A Message from President David E. Bates”

I know that one of the most powerful aspects of Olive Branch Mission is how staff love and care for the people, the families, the individual lives who come to the mission every day. 
Men and women come to us having lost decades of their lives to alcohol and drugs.  Some come to the mission from a street life of sexual abuse and perversion – not because they chose to live in such a way, but because their addiction consumed and demanded it. Families arrive at the mission homeless and with nothing but what they are wearing – yes, little children without a place to call home, hungry, scared and often with quiet tears streaming down their faces… staring into their mother’s face wondering “What next?”  Chronically homeless men who have endured their loneliest years in the streets due to mental and emotional issues (that many times date back to previous traumatic war experiences and other horrific circumstances…) will show up at Olive Branch Mission because they know that somehow we understand and we will not in any way condemn or judge their pain.  Women come directly or are brought to the mission as a haven of safety and protection from an abusive situation that has literally threatened their very lives.  Gang members who want freedom and want “out” of the violence, the oppressive danger and ongoing abuse of gang life (in many cases to which they were threatened into affiliation at a very early age), will come to the mission for help and even protection. 

Every person comes with their own hurt and need, and with their own unique story to tell, into which love is applied in very tangible ways at Olive Branch Mission.  It is from such genuine and unselfish love that HOPE is literally birthed into the ugliest of circumstances and into the hearts of each and every person who comes. 
Here at Olive Branch Mission, LOVE compels us to do all that we can to help, to encourage, to care and provide for others in need. Indeed, without exception, the mission workers have themselves personally experienced their own hurt and pain, challenges.  They can affirm and recount how love found a way to make the difference in their own lives.  From their own experiences, God has redeemed and provided valuable points of reference that inspire a compelling and real love that pours out freely into the lives of each and every guest and weary traveler who finds their way to the mission. 

I know that the key to it all is God.  God is LOVE.  By LOVE, we are compelled to do all that we can to help so many who have lost their way, find “The Way” through faith and hope in Christ Jesus.