Find a Need, Fill a Need -- with Love

For the people who live in the poverty-stricken areas around Victory Worship Center in Tucson, Arizona, the church not only represents a place of worship, but a source of compassion, love, and care for the community.

The difference between the church and perhaps some other efforts to assist the community is relationship. The church is proactive in finding and meeting needs that matter in ways that make an unforgettable and personal impact.

According to Executive Pastor Scott Berkey, the architect for the forging of the relationships between the community and the church has been Waylon Sears, the Victory Worship Center’s lead pastor.

“Pastor Waylon has done a great job — he really lives out the core value of People Matter,” Berkey says. “Because he embraces it, our church does as well. It isn’t just something he talks about; it is something he lives and models.”

A few of the church’s ministries include a free mobile medical unit, adoption of local schools, and a free farmers market offering fresh produce.

Dr. Theresa Allison heads the mobile medical unit (MMU) team that consists of about a dozen additional medical volunteers that work in the MMU on three-person rotating shifts.

Allison explains that the MMU is a converted semi-trailer and they offer free medical services on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week from the church parking lot, with a bus stop only 100 feet from the unit’s entrance.

“We can do basically what any of the little clinics in places such as Walgreens or Walmart can do — including ultrasounds for pregnancy testing,” Allison explains. “Except we do it for free.”

Last year alone, the unit served 1,600 people, some who come from as far as 30 miles away — most of them by foot or bus. The MMU also sets up to offer school athletes free physicals, which is an incredible value for parents, whether they have insurance or not. As Allison observes, for many families, without a free physical, the question is: Do I let my child play sports or do I put food on the table?

Allison also enjoys being unfettered from typical clinical mandates — not having a certain number of patients she must see per day or insurance issues to consider.

“I take time to interact with people and talk to them,” she says. “And insurance or not, if you’re sick or you’re hurting, we’ll see you!”

Executive Pastor Scott Berkey says the MMU fits well with the church’s effort to be a support to its local schools and the school district. Berkey says the relationship with the school district grew when he and a small team offered to volunteer time at the local elementary school. Since that conversation with the principal, the church’s efforts to show its care have increased exponentially.

Berkey says that in addition to others volunteering time at the school, the church began working with a local pantry to provide kids weekend meals. “Nearly every kid in the school qualifies for the free or reduced-price lunch program,” Berkey says. “When they leave school on Fridays, they don’t have much to eat in their pantries at home, so we partnered with a local food bank and now every elementary kid goes home with a weekend snack pack of food.”

The church then met a need that made grown men cry. Sears learned that the middle school football teams had been using the same uniforms for at least the last two decades. Players were wearing the same uniforms some of the coaches had worn years before.

“As soon as Pastor Waylon found out about the need,” Berkey recalls, “he said, ‘We have to figure out a way to pull this off.’”

They did. When the school was presented the new uniforms, players were overwhelmed with excitement, parents expressed profound gratitude, teachers were speechless, and coaches struggled as “mist” clouded their eyes.

“Coaches kept telling me how we had no idea how much this meant to the kids, to parents, or to them,” Berkey says.

The church has invested tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours in the local schools over the past few years, earning the appreciation and respect of school leaders, students, teachers, and parents.

The farmers market is the latest ministry for Victory Worship Center to undertake. Sears had a vision to offer those living in poverty, free fresh produce — a luxury many residents in the surrounding community and government housing could not afford.

“We started exploring some options with different people in the church,” says Berkey. “We found that we had a partner who is a produce distributor, working with grocery stores all over the country — he could get us as much produce as we wanted.”

The church then connected with another church member who has a trucking company and was willing to donate a semi to pick up and deliver the produce. The monthly free farmers market began three months ago, and Berkey says the ministry has been deeply appreciated.

“In three months, we’ve distributed more than 100,000 pounds of produce — tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, bell and habanero peppers, grapes, carrots, whatever is in season,” Berkey says. “So far, we’ve not had to pay a dime for any of the food and we’ve have 180 volunteers at eight distributions points helping with the food distribution and engaging people in conversations. And last month, we positioned prayer teams at each location — and we saw people healed!”

Victory Worship Center also has a Hispanic campus church. As much of south Tucson is Spanish-speaking, Berkey says the church is able to go into the area and really connect with the community through the different ministries.

The superintendent of schools, Dr. David Baker, is also impressed by the church. He came by one of the distribution points, stunned at what the church was doing for the families whose children were in his care. “He just kept saying, ‘I can’t believe that you are doing this for our people,’” Berkey recalls. 

Baker has been so impressed with the church’s ongoing commitment and care for the schools and community that he named the church the community partner — not just for the elementary and middle school, but the entire Flowing Wells School District — an incredible honor and show of trust in the church.

Are the ministries really that important to the community? Allison says a recent incident confirmed her calling. When an old wrap was being removed from the exterior of the MMU, people became confused and thought the program was going away. They began calling and stopping by the church and the MMU, asking if it was being shutdown, begging for it to remain open.

But Berkey says that the ministry blessing isn’t just felt in the community, it’s felt in the church. People being served in the ministries are starting to attend Victory Worship Center. Also, an increasing number of members are catching Sears’ vision for ministry and becoming actively involved in reaching their community through acts of compassion and care.

With a church of 4,000 attenders, Berkey recognizes that only a handful of churches have that kind of depth to draw from, but he believes any church can make a difference. He recommends a congregation’s first step to be one of building trust.

“I would suggest that the pastor, or church leader, go to the principal and simply say, ‘I am here to help. What can I do?’” advises Berkey. “When you are faithful with those opportunities and you come through on what you have promised to do, you build trust and a community partnership is born.”

For the individuals and families connected to Victory Worship Center and its ministries, that trust in the church is leading them to faith in Christ.

Dan Van Veen

Dan Van Veen is news editor of AG News. Prior to transitioning to AG News in 2001, Van Veen served as managing editor of AG U.S. Missions American Horizon magazine for five years. He attends Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, where he and his wife, Lori, teach preschool Sunday School and 4- and 5-year-old Rainbows boys and girls on Wednesdays.