What’s YWAM, and why is Barney donating the profits from his new book to them?

Glad you asked. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in San Francisco is a ministry with which I’ve been involved in one way or another for many years. Their facilities are located smack dab in the middle of one of the City’s oldest and most challenging neighborhoods, the Tenderloin.

I’ve been going to the “TL,” which spans 32 city blocks, with 30,000 people both housed and unhoused for over thirty years––preaching, leading worship, handing out food and clothing, and simply opening my heart to the most broken people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. It’s there that I first fell in love with people that sleep on sidewalks and doorways. (“Sleep” is not exactly the right word for it.) People of all shapes and sizes, colors and cultures. Most have issues with substance abuse and/or are suffering with mental health issues or any number of social anxieties. Some do their best to follow Jesus and others, poisoned by abuse or abandonment, have no room in their hearts for God. Not yet anyway. All live in poverty and loneliness. I’m proud to call many there my friends.

In some of the next posts I’ll tell you a few stories of some of these friends of mine. For now, allow me to mention some of the good work of YWAM SF, which, in order to keep their property, has to come up with a large balloon payment before the end of this year. They’re busy serving over 1000 people a month with a food pantry, life skills training, neighborhood discipleship, showers, recovery programs, Bible Studies, street evangelism, block parties, street cleaning, and more. “It is in this neighborhood,’ they say, “that God has placed us – to love our neighbors, to care for the vulnerable, and to embody his kingdom.” In short, they need to be located where they are in order to be able to help the most vulnerable as much as they do.

You can help them with that by purchasing my book on Luke 10, all the profits of which go directly to paying down that mortgage and helping them with operating costs. (In essence, the book is a biblical explanation of why they do what they do day in and day out.)

I’m offering it on a “PAY WHAT YOU CAN” basis. That means if you can’t pay anything, it’s yours for free. But if you can afford $10, $50, $500, or more, go for it. You’ll be helping people help others in a place that needs it bad (or is that “good”?)!

To get the book, begin at barneywiget.com, then click on “Latest Book”… Fill in the boxes and click on “Receive Download Link”… Click on “Book Download Instructions.pdf”… Follow those instructions and get your book! And please click on “DONATE WHAT YOU CAN HERE.”