Body Builder-Turned-Pastor Brings Hope to Silicon Valley's Unwanted

Yonat Shimron/RNS : Aug 19, 2016
Charisma News

"What's driving me is the human crisis. People are living under overpasses and going to the bathroom outside in one of the richest nations of the world. The Church has to be a witness."

(California) — [Charisma News] Tucked behind a light industrial area of self-storage warehouses and auto-parts stores is a small encampment of homeless people who live in tents along the banks of a creek. (RNS photo by Yonat Shimron via Charisma News)

Few people know or care about this encampment, or an estimated 150 others scattered all over this Silicon Valley capital of 1 million people. But every so often, a beat-up 1985 RV called the Mercy Mobile pulls up along a dead-end curb and a motley crew of homeless advocates bearing water, food, or clothes and shoes hops out.

Leading the pack is Pastor Scott Wagers, a former body builder and trainer who has dedicated the last 25 years of his life ministering to the homeless.

"Hey man, you doin' OK?" he asks a homeless man waiting to see what the Mercy Mobile might distribute one Saturday in late June. Wagers gives him a bottle of water, some energy bars and his card and encourages him to get in touch.

"Text me and let me know if you're getting swept up or something's going down," he says.

Among the homeless at the encampment that day are James "Tripper" Turner, a Canadian native who has been homeless for years and makes a living collecting aluminum cans for cash, and Ajanae, a transgender woman from Somalia whose family has disowned her.

Unlike most brick-and-mortar ministries that require the homeless to come to them, Wagers meets the homeless on their turf. He doesn't urge them to seek shelter or get counseling or even come to Jesus. He simply inquires about their well-being and lets them know he’s…

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