“What am I doing here? I’m not an artist and I’ve got about twenty years on any of the people here.”
It was very late at night and Roger, a middle-aged dad from the suburbs, was with the Steiger team in an artsy night club in a trendy part of Houston, Texas.
The team had stumbled across this place while on a prayer walk. It felt like a "secret" nightclub. To get in, they had to go into a bar, up a staircase, across an empty room to a back door, and up another set of stairs, before finally entering the club. It was a dark place with graffitied walls, filled with young artists.
Roger, who serves on Steiger's North America Pastoral Care Team, felt very out of place.
The team decided to split up into smaller groups to make conversations easier. So Roger and Allison (another Steiger team member) decided to go talk to the DJ.
Moments later, Molly (not her real name), a young woman who had been perched inside a hoop that hung from the ceiling, walked up to the group. “You look like cool people,” she said, “What do you do? Not for work - just tell me what you’re really good at!”
By the time it was Roger’s turn, he wasn't sure what to say, so he said, “I’m good at being a father. I love hanging out with my boys.”
Stunned, Molly's eyes filled with tears.
She sat silently for a moment and then gave Roger a strong hug. “We don't have many of those around here,” she said.
Later, Molly told Allison that her own father had left when she was young and she’d been raised by her mother and grandmother. So Allison prayed with Molly - that she would know she was loved by God as His daughter. She shared that God is a good father, who would never leave her.
“My grandmother used to talk to me about God,” Molly cried, “She died a few years ago, and since then, I’ve had no one to tell me about Him.”
The girls hugged and exchanged contact information - the beginning of a discipleship relationship.
Roger and his wife Joy are not "young and cool," but they are a critical part of our mission.
Is God calling YOU to partner with Steiger?
Whether it be financial, through prayer, or even stepping out to serve yourself, as Joy says, “If God is calling you to this mission, He has a place for you.”