If you walk into the food pantry at Portland Open Bible (POB), you’ll see a beautifully diverse demographic that reflects the neighborhood in which it is planted. Chinese, Russian, African American, Hispanic, and White families all gather on Tuesdays and Thursdays, known in the community as “pantry days.” In addition to receiving food, they’re gifted with joy and a genuine kindness that is unusual for many of them. 

“It offers a level of humanity that they might not have had before,” said Pastor Aaron Brown. “People can say to themselves, ‘If I step on site at Portland Open Bible Church, I know that for one – people are going to be nice to me, and two – they’re going to try and help me with what I need.’” 

Aaron and the food pantry team are going a step further, striving not only to give their community what it needs but also what it wants. When the pantry was in its beginning stages, the staff realized that too much of what was given away was being thrown away. They would find food thrown on the ground a short distance from the pantry, and knowing their program couldn’t be sustained with so much food waste, they were determined to solve the problem. As they began taking data on who their program was serving, noting the diverse ethnicities, they realized their food options didn’t meet the dietary needs of many of the ethnicities they were serving.  

“Our Asian families don’t necessarily want Ritz Crackers and Fruit Loops,” explained Aaron. The pantry developed a detailed intake form in which clients were surveyed not only on their demographics and family size, but on the types of food they most desire. This data allows the pantry to save money by purchasing only the food that is needed AND wanted by their community. “We’re putting an end to food waste through client choice.”  

That’s not all. As of 2024, the pantry has begun a new program called “The Community Table.” In partnership with Providence health care, the pantry now provides weekly cooking classes with two professional chefs. Each meal is cooked from scratch with whole foods (provided free of charge to participants) and follows a recipe that was contributed by a member of the Portland community. They might cook a Russian meal one week and a Cantonese meal the next. “We have people from all cultures cooking foods from all cultures,” Aaron shared proudly. “It’s food they chose that comes with a story.” Classes are filmed, each recipe taught as a unique episode that includes the recipe’s contributor sharing the story of why that meal is meaningful to his or her family. Once all the episodes are filmed, food pantry visitors will have the option of receiving a video link for a weekly episode along with all the ingredients for that “meal of the week.”  

“I was skeptical at first, but the numbers keep growing,” said Aaron. And he’s not kidding: the pantry has expanded from its initial service of 123 families in 2013 to currently serving 84,000 families.  

So, how did it all begin? Aaron credits his mother, Betty Brown, with the idea for the pantry. In 2013 the church was experiencing repeated break-ins. Despite there being technology and other valuables to steal, the only thing taken was food. Betty gathered the staff one day and gave them a choice: “We can either keep reporting these break-ins or we can start feeding our community.” They decided to do the latter. What began with a few donated canned food items by church members developed into what is now a widely recognized program funded by million-dollar grants.  

“Everyone deserves to be fed, and to be fed healthy food.” Aaron explained that their neighborhood is in an inner-city “food desert,” a technical term for a neighborhood without easy access to affordable and fresh food. These neighborhoods often have plenty of gas stations and convenience stores, but no grocery stores. Imagine being a single mom who must take city transportation to get to a grocery store in the next city over, then find a way to transport multiple grocery bags home, all with her five kids in tow. This is the reality of many families near Portland Open Bible. The pantry’s intake forms show that these families want healthy options; they’re just in a food desert where they can’t get it.  

As Portland Open Bible nourishes its community, they are seeing physical nourishment carry over into the spiritual. “We try to be a beacon of light,” said Aaron. “We serve some of the nicest, friendliest people, and when they see you’ll be kind to them, they open up their whole life story. ‘I used to go to church…’ is what they’ll often say. I’ve seen former youth pastors show up, worship musicians, people high on whatever blasting worship music. They’re usually the most humble people just wanting food.” A lot of them showed up addicted, trying to get clean. They come volunteer at the pantry and get free food, then eventually end up becoming employees. “Overall,” summarized Aaron, “we’re here to bring people to Christ. A lot of people who didn’t go to church before now go to church because of the pantry.” 

If you visit 92^nd and Powell in Southeast Portland, you just might find a homeless man learning how to make Tiramisu. You’ll also find an innovative church feeding bodies and souls with Christ-like compassion.  

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done” (Prov. 19:17 NIV).  

To learn more about The Community Table, check out these videos:

About the Author

Hannah Bemis

Hannah Bemis currently serves as the Community Pastor at Turning Point Church in Spokane, Washington. She’s always wanted to do too many things when she grows up, and God has been kind enough to let her do most of them in different seasons. After seasons of mothering, teaching, writing, and staff pastoring, Hannah’s most recent adventures include serving as the Editor and Director of Message of the Open Bible and preparing to plant and co-pastor a church in Newberg, Oregon with her husband, Jordan. After Jesus and all her favorite people, she spends the remainder of her passion on pizza and dark chocolate, in equal measure. 

When my husband Josh and I first began to lead Turning Point Church two years ago, we understood God was calling us to something much bigger than what we knew and much more than we could do. We knew it would be one of those “Now show me Your glory, Lord” moments, for what He’d impressed upon our hearts seemed outrageously impossible by human means. Yet that is the best medium for God to work with: the impossible! 

One thing the Lord impressed upon our hearts was an urgency to multiply. This wasn’t just an inclination to grow or a passing desire to expand, but a desperate URGENCY to multiply God’s kingdom and send out workers to advance His kingdom. We did not know how this would look and honestly did not know how we could even multiply, as we were just beginning our journey as lead pastors. We knew all the statistics for churches in transition. We knew that it was industry standard in a transition for church attendance to drop up to twenty percent and for giving to mirror that same percentage. (Attendance and giving are two very important factors when wanting to multiply your church!) We also knew that it takes up to three years to change a church’s culture, which is vital when you want the culture to be one that empowers and champions church planting and sending. 

We based our budget on those statistics.  

We layered our expectations on those statistics. 

We became students of all those statistics. 

But then the Lord asked us to check out HIS statistics and His success rate, and we breathed a sigh of relief and invited Him to show us His glory. 

Multiplying the kingdom often begins with just an idea or, in this case, a need. Several of our precious church members had recently graduated to a retirement community in Spokane called Lilac Plaza and were no longer able to fellowship in community on a Sunday morning. Our staff pastors often spoke at Lilac Plaza’s evening Vesper services, but there was nothing for the residents on Sunday mornings; they were bereft of corporate worship or connection with the church body. Josh met with several of the residents and the director of the community, asking how it would look if we brought church to them instead of expecting them to come to our building. From those discussions and their expressed needs, it was realized that simply with a television and an already established meeting room, our church service could be shared live online with those who filled the room. After enjoying their own live worship (piano-led hymns), the residents then listened to the morning’s message and prayed together as an extension of Turning Point Church.  

The Lord, in His perfect provision and angling, had already prepared a young man by the name of Nehemiah Morgan to step into the role of campus pastor. Nehemiah, though only 22 years old, was already equipped with the gifts of shepherding and evangelism, and we knew he was the one for the job. An added benefit was that he also worked at Dutch Bros., a popular coffee shop in the Northwest known for their gregarious and energetic baristas. He could serve delicious coffee and serve the flock at Lilac with equal energy!  

I will never forget when Nehemiah shared about the first time our Lilac members took communion right along with the church family online and how one woman tearfully partook of the sacrament, worshipping the Lord because it had been years since she was able to have communion with a church family. Years! The beauty, the privilege, and the joy of meeting together for worship in community is a gift I will never take for granted.  

Our Lilac campus is in every way an extension of Turning Point Church: they participate in our Growth Track membership process, they join our “Dream Team” of volunteers, they interact with the message that is given, they send in their prayer requests, and they support us with their prayers as well. The wonder of it is that though Nehemiah is on one end of the age spectrum and the members of Lilac are on the other end, they recognize and honor the calling of the Lord upon Nehemiah and are flourishing under his shepherding and love.  

Turning Point has multiplied, and in a way that we never expected! For that reason, we continue to keep our eyes wide open for the Lord to creatively present a new opportunity; a fresh way to BE His church, to SEND His church, and to MULTIPLY His church. 

In this the Lord is truly showing His glory! 

Melissa Stelly

Melissa Stelly serves as the executive pastor at Turning Point Church in Spokane, Washington, alongside her husband, Josh Stelly. She has attended Turning Point for 32 years. She is the mother of three daughters, adores camping, hiking, and adventuring, is a voracious reader, and considers Mt. Rainier one of the greatest accomplishments the Lord created. Most days in her free time you will find her curled up with a good book or taking a long walk. 

I will never forget the MOVE trip of February 2024. This building project in Thailand ended up being the biggest challenge MOVE has ever undertaken. Not only did the trip include our typical church build, but it also included an additional renovation project plus a third project of building a back wall. The only way we could take on all three projects was because of our unusually large crew. A giant team of 63 people from 13 distinct locations added some logistical challenges but helped immensely in accomplishing our project goals. Our biggest project was matched by the biggest team we have ever taken overseas. 

The outside perception of MOVE is interesting. Most people think we are a short-term mission construction team, and they would be partly right. While we do focus on construction projects, we place a large emphasis on brotherhood. Brotherhood has nothing to do with construction skills or checking all the right boxes in physical ability. Our understanding of brotherhood is illustrated by Jesus in Matthew 12:48-50:  “‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (NIV).

The essence of our MOVE brotherhood is that it includes anyone doing the will of the Father within the realm of a MOVE trip. This starts with a willingness to be used by God, and we’ve seen God use every willing man in various capacities.

Because of the brotherhood, there is a great spiritual emphasis placed on each trip. Twice daily we have devotions, once in the morning on the job site before the work starts and again in the evening after dinner. As our leadership was planning the Thailand trip, our greatest concern was whether the size of the group would cause us to lose the dynamic of brotherhood that had been so strong on our previous trips. Within this large group of men, we knew we would have some who were spiritually mature, several who were new to faith in Jesus Christ, and even a couple who were new to the idea of church. How would we unite such a large and spiritually diverse group of men?

 Two days before the trip started, one of our MOVE brothers, Erik Crim, tragically lost his 7-year-old daughter. We have many MOVE brothers who have been touched by tragedy, and on day one, all our hearts were with the Crim family. We prayed and reflected on the tough questions we ask God in times like this. This deep conversation of our first day set the tone for the remainder of our devotions and conversations.

Within the first week, we encountered inevitable issues within the project itself as well as personal difficulties arising back home. It became normal to see men stop the work they were doing to pray for each other. That behavior would carry over into our evening devotions where we would have worship, a longer devotion, and altar time. It was a transformational time for many of the men and increased in momentum as the trip continued.

As each project does, the trip concluded with praise at the dedication of the completed building. Men could look around as they worshipped with the local church and see the results of their hard work. This moment is always satisfying, allowing the team to feel accomplishment and gratitude for what the Lord has done through us.

Men’s ministry within the Church is largely failing. Although the fullness of MOVE can be hard to articulate, it can be felt. These trips create a unique brotherhood by men toiling in life together. When we go to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, being forced to live and work together creates a vulnerability. When we are vulnerable, emotions usually rise to the surface, and it is a wonderful opportunity for God to work. I see this dynamic take place on every MOVE trip.

We are “Building Men. Building Churches.” We often see the truth of this statement continue long after the project ends. As soon as I got home from Thailand, I knew my project wasn’t yet complete. I had to connect with my brother who was grieving. With Pastor Chad Greaves (visiting from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), I got in my vehicle in Des Moines, Iowa, and drove straight to Casper, Wyoming, to visit Erik. Being in the MOVE brotherhood is a bond for life, and we will always be brothers.

Aaron Keller

Aaron Keller is the National Director of MOVE Ministries and the Lead Pastor at Sunshine Open Bible Church in Des Moines, Iowa.