Evangelists Fined for Feeding Homeless (VIDEO)

$2,238.

Husband and wife Chico and Debbie Jimenez run Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word Ministry, an organization founded on Christ’s call to help “the least of these” in Matthew 25:40. Their ministry feeds the homeless once a week in a Daytona Beach park. For their charity, the Jiminezes have been fined $2,238 by police.

“I don’t want to impugn them all,” says Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, “but some are homeless because they are sex offenders, substance abusers and bank robbers. That’s why we ask [volunteers] to coordinate with our social service agencies, because they know who needs to be served.”

Chitwood’s quote is revealing: in his mind, someone who robs a bank should be consigned to a permanent criminal caste and denied both the possibility or rehabilitation and food. The Jiminezes should see this statement as an affirmation that they are doing the right thing: members of such a caste would certainly be “the least of these.”

Additionally, Chitwood believes that caring for the impoverished is the job of the government (“our social service agencies”) and not the community. This belief underscores the need for ministries like the Jiminezes’. Chitwood sees the government as we ought to see the church. The government has appropriated the role of the church for itself.