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The goal of this podcast is to be a learner. For over 20 years, I have been serving those experiencing homelessness in Dallas, TX. However I’m convinced that I’m not an expert, I have so much to learn. This podcast is an exploration, a quest to learn more, and find out what’s working and why. We must find better ways to do this, we must learn from each other, interviewing the practitioners. We must answer the question “what would you do if this were your kid?”
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Creators & Guests
Host
Wayne Walker
CEO and Pastor Wayne Walker serves as the CEO and Pastor to the homeless at OurCalling. In 2001, Wayne, along with his wife Carolyn, started serving the homeless community in Dallas. They founded OurCalling in 2009. During his youth, Wayne’s family actively pursued the scriptural commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” by modeling the life of Jesus to scores of foster children whose own origins represented generations of human brokenness, dysfunction, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Early exposure to these destructive forces set him on a path to recognize the long-term effects of trauma, which often lead to homelessness. While completing his Master’s Degree in Cross-Cultural Ministry from Dallas Theological Seminary, Wayne befriended and ministered to men and women in the homeless community. During that time he began to establish personal, discipleship-oriented relationships with homeless individuals, many in the same urban setting where he and his family continue to work today.
What is OurCalling - Our podcast about homelessness?
A Podcast by OurCalling—the goal is to be a learner. What can we learn about serving those experiencing homelessness? Even though we have years of experience, can we step back, take a fresh look, and rethink everything we know? OurCalling is a Christian nonprofit (501 c3) serving the homeless community throughout Dallas County in Texas. Our team helps people get to know Jesus and get off the streets every day. Last year, we helped individuals exit homelessness over 1,300 times. We have a facility in downtown Dallas, and our street outreach teams visit over 4,000 locations throughout the county. We serve about 10,000 individuals experiencing homelessness each year. We partner with the most amazing organizations and recognize that we are stronger when we work together.
Who is our calling? What does our calling do to help the homeless? The nonprofit. We care with dignity. Our Our calling Can't help but think about the definition of Christian We connect with intentionality.
Wayne Walker:Called our calling To our calling to our calling We build community with integrity. Our calling. This is our calling and our podcast, a word on the streets about homelessness. So a few weeks ago, we were at a funeral for, a homeless man that had died. And we're watching this family whose life is distraught and destroyed because someone that they loved died on the streets.
Wayne Walker:This is a guy that lots of people, lots of agencies had poured into. And after the funeral, I'm I'm out walking around and watching someone talk to the dad, watching someone actually prop up the mom as she's about to collapse under her grief. And someone walks up to me, and we start talking, and the thought comes up in my mind that I have probably known personally connected to over 200 homeless men and women and children over the years that have died. Now, I've known a lot more people experiencing homelessness, but probably 200 that I've known well that have died. I've had to make that terrible call to families.
Wayne Walker:You know, this is the call you've been dreading your whole life. I've had to speak at funerals, and I've actually been at the bedside with people when they've taken their last breath, homelessness sucks, and it's deadly. And there's a lot of process and understanding on how to help people and how to get them off the streets. And Housing First is great for some people. Rehab is great for some people.
Wayne Walker:Reconnecting them back with their family is great for some people. Long term psychotherapeutic recovery programs are great for some people. And it's a little bit different for each person, and the goal here is to learn. The goal here is to figure out and interview and explore what we're doing and ways we can do it better. I'm not here as an expert to tell you how to do it.
Wayne Walker:I'm here as a learner, and I recognize that the expert, the guy with the PhD in homelessness, is probably under a bridge right now. It's the men and women who have been suffering in this way for years. And I think we can put our minds together as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, filled with His Spirit, guided together using wisdom, even from some secular sources, on what we can do to help people get off these streets. And I come to this from a very personal perspective. I'm I'm very hopeful, and then I'm excited.
Wayne Walker:And we're gonna be talking about the ways we use technology and what other agencies are doing. But we're also going to be looking at this and say, what have we done wrong? And what are some areas where we can learn and we can grow? And we want to explore this together. So, join us as we together learn from each other how to help people get off these damn streets.
Wayne Walker:This is our calling, and this is our podcast.