Pastor Mark Hilbelink leads a group of 40 churches trying to help the homeless.
Food, water and coffee are just a few of the many services offered at Sunrise Community Church.
One day five years ago, they showed up.
Mark Hilbelink, the pastor at the small Sunrise Community Church near Ben White Boulevard and Menchaca Road, noticed that among his flock that Sunday were worshipers who he knew were experiencing homelessness.
“We didn’t plan on it,” says Hilbelink, 37, originally from small-town South Dakota and Iowa. “They just came.”
Already, Hilbelink had realized that the church, founded as part of the Christian Reformed movement, could do what many churches based on biblical principles wanted to do: follow in the footsteps of Jesus and help those who need help the most.