Donuts as Ministry
By Carl Strite
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, NIV).
Through God’s grace and faithfulness, a series of events 15 years ago led our family to transition (and through a transformation) from farming to running a mobile donut shop on the streets of Harrisonburg, Virginia. God gave us favor in this endeavor, and the business took off. We became well-known in the community and beyond. It quickly became clear that this was also an opportunity for us to share God’s love with many people.
God has led us to share his love through sharing a little piece of bread in Jesus’ name. We do that in the best way we know how. We pray over the business, and we pray over the donuts. Psalm 34:8 encourages a hands-on experiential approach to knowing God: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” Donuts are something people can see, touch, and know. If it’s given in Jesus’ name, it touches their hearts too. When we give out donuts at festivals, on the neediest streets of Philadelphia, in jails and prisons, and in many other places, I feel like people feel it, they get it. We hope our donut ministry shares the goodness of God in the way Psalm 34 suggests.
A big start to our ministry was in prisons in Alabama. An organization called We Care Prison Ministry has been operating there for 50 years. Over a period of four days, many volunteers come and share the gospel in the state’s network of prisons, alongside an evangelist and music group in each prison. In 2010, my wife Miriam and I were working at the donut shop full time, and I started thinking that we should take donuts down to Alabama. I talked to a chaplain and the warden about it, and they agreed. Now we go every year in October and do four to five prisons in a different region each year, eventually getting to all of them. The state prison system in Virginia has not welcomed us in the same way as Alabama, but we do go to several regional jails.
People in prison typically don’t get donuts. A woman we met in prison remarked how sometimes you just want something so much, like a cup of coffee. She wanted a donut like that and prayed every day for three years to have one! We were there to give it to her, and God used our ministry to impact her life in a simple way.
From the beginning, I have felt God’s call to a ministry of compassion, and I know that God has given me a heart for the broken and the lost. Part of our ministry has been to hire individuals coming out of prison and give them the opportunity to participate in God’s divine purpose in the world. It’s certainly had its challenges, but it’s another opportunity to share God’s love. One man we hired after a while said that he never prayed before, but now he is praying and his prayers are even being answered! The Spirit moved in one guy during the work day, and he wanted to be baptized. We did it right there in the parking lot.
All of us, regardless of how much we desire to be faithful to God’s call on our lives, still live in the flesh and are prone to wonder from God’s call and his wonderful provision of grace. And the good stories above are few and far between. Partnering with a mission organization has helped me to define this ministry and has provided more structure to what I do. Being a Marketplace Worker with VMMissions helps me obey God’s call to the lost and needy and keeps the ministry surrounded with a wider network of prayer. Through coaching and accountability I’ve been able to focus on my relationship with God, which can easily suffer even as you are doing good things for others.
Recently, I’ve really been excited and encouraged to share about my ministry with churches. This has led me to a new goal: to possibly teach a class along with Baker Rigg, a chaplain and VMMissions worker, at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Regional Jail. It would force me to study the Word. The teacher always learns the most, and I am ready to study.
Carl Strite is a VMMissions Marketplace Worker based in Harrisonburg, Virginia.