This fulfills my mission as a theology professor. It is a church that has resonated strongly with PLNU students. Charisma Agonoy, a student who has worked in the university ministry for the homeless, called Bread of Life, now picks up some of the same homeless people she has fed, and takes them to the MidCity church for Sunday worship. I find myself embracing the mission of the church and the liturgy of the worship service. Some students and alumni have leased houses in the neighborhood and live in intentional community as part of the church's broader ministry.
Community is vital for holiness.
Stacie Apple, also a recent graduate, was an intern at the church through the philosophy and religion department last year, and has also moved into a house close to the church so she can continue to volunteer. It is seeking to live out the Christian politics of love. Rather, PLNU needs the poor, for some very specific reasons. These are the disenfranchised of society, and our students are seeing ministry applied in a reality different from the classroom. Students are getting ministry experience by being interns, and faculty are modeling what we talk about at school.