Firing up the Valley with hope for the future

If trying to make ends meet these days feels like a brutal exercise in futility, you’re far from alone. There’s a ministry dedicated to making sure you don’t feel alone when the struggles life hurls your way get too crushingly impossible.

“We’re here to get you the help that you came to get,” said Sean Carpenter on a recent morning at the Blood N Fire Ministry office he mans in the Meadow Lakes City Center. “That’s one of the hardest things for a human being to do — to realize that he can’t do it, whatever’s facing him, and then have to go someplace else to get help.”

Valley residents may be somewhat familiar with Blood N Fire because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets the organization packs to the brim with everything needed to make a scrumptious, memorable holiday dinner. It also graciously distributes them to anyone who desires one. But Blood N Fire has much more to offer year-round, and wants the community to know about it. Whether the need is spiritual, material or both, these folks gladly serve people from Sutton to Talkeetna.

“We pray with people, help those who are facing rent or mortgage payments, even critically needed camping fees they can’t meet, help with utility bills, food, clothing and gasoline gift cards and vouchers whenever possible,” Carpenter said.

When asked if there are any time limits on the help available, Carpenter replied, “There is a one-time per year limit for the rent and utilities, unless we can help through discretionary funds if they are available at the time. Other than that, there are no restrictions on what we offer. People can come back as many times as they need to. We don’t want or need to make asking for help any harder than it is or make people more humble. Just walking through that door is humility enough.”

As a model for treating those who turn to the ministry for help, Carpenter said he asks himself the clarifying question, “What would Jesus do?”

“There’s a story to the person who walks in that door,” he said. “I don’t know what the story is, but it’s up to me to find it out, and the only way I can do that is by offering my friendship the way Christ would. It’s not hard to do. What’s hard is actually allowing yourself to do it. And then by getting involved, we at Blood N Fire become part of that person’s story. It’s about continuing the relationship so that people know they’re loved and not just being processed. Because we’re people, we need something better than being treated like a number. And any one of the people who walk through this door could be Jesus in a sense, because Jesus didn’t have a home. Are you going to process Jesus or are you going to serve Jesus?”

The impetus to launch the nondenominational ministry came in 2005 when one woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, saw a need for outreach in the Valley. She joined forces with a small group of similarly compassionate people from her church, Northgate Alaska, and they started reaching out to the community from their homes; one stocked a food pantry, a few others provided clothing.

Soon the determined woman came to learn about a ministry in Atlanta, Ga., called Blood N Fire. Intrigued by how much it was able to help and bring hope to hurting people, she took off to Atlanta with another small group, including some of the original members, to learn more about it.

They discovered that the ministry was birthed in 1995 by a man named David VanCronkhite, who felt deeply led to follow God’s command in Isaiah 58 to care for the poor with food, clothing and shelter. The ministry’s name is adapted from the Salvation Army’s motto, “Blood and Fire,” which stands for the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit.

While Blood N Fire ministered to the needs of the Atlanta community, national and international offshoots began taking root.

After spending several months soaking in everything they could regarding the nuts and bolts of running an effective ministry, the Alaska group returned to Meadow Lakes to plant its own offshoot. They began meeting every Saturday for prayer and devotions.

Then they would split up into groups of three to bring Christ’s love, prayer and practical help of food to the folks who rent the cabins at Land and Cabins in Meadow Lakes, an area they affectionately refer to as “The Treasure Box” because “we feel there are hidden treasures waiting to be released in the people who live there,” Carpenter said.

“By the example given in the Gospels that they’ll know us by our love, we saw hearts and lives begin changing,” he said. “The drugs and alcohol were cleaned up. You could see it by how well they cared for what they had. The whole New Testament became very real to us.”

Eventually the group started renting a cabin at The Treasure Box themselves in order to be more able to help the people there break free from darkness.

“By having a cabin there, we knew that the light of Jesus in us would brighten the place,” Carpenter explained. “One woman arrived at the cabin for prayer almost passed-out drunk, and after we prayed with her she gave her heart to Christ and instantly sobered up. She died just a few weeks later. She went fully into glory with her Savior and is there right now in heaven.”

Carpenter was deeply moved by the memory. “And that’s how we want this Valley to be known, and not how it used to be known — as a place where you could get drugs. We want people to know that this is a place where you can meet Jesus and where you can have Jesus in your own heart and life because Jesus is here.”

There is a core group of people who staff Blood N Fire, all on a volunteer basis. They don’t worry about making their own ends meet.

As Carpenter stated, “When you do something for God and He moves you into that direction, He doesn’t just leave you as an island out there on your own. He will take care of you, as His word says. He really does what He says He’s going to do. He’s going to look after you. He doesn’t lie. It’s not in His nature.”

How has serving in the ministry affected him personally?

“For me, while this has been one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had, it’s also been one of the most rewarding and the best. I’ve worked harder in this ministry than I’ve ever worked in my work history. But it was hard for Jesus, so we can’t expect it to be a bed of roses for us.”

They hope to expand their outreach, especially because, as Carpenter remarked, “The homeless population here in the Valley has tripled. It requires more help and people of like-minded vision. My hope for the future is that we would be in a location twice this size, that we would be able to help twice the portion of the Valley and have another location between Wasilla and Palmer, with a 24/7 house of prayer in each of the buildings, because it doesn’t get better without prayer.”

Each Friday night, the core group, along with anyone who wants to join them, meets for worship and intercessory prayer for the Valley. They continue to have a weekend outreach to the Treasure Box. Volunteers help with the inventory in the office, which is just across the road from the Treasure Box, and more helping hands and hearts are welcome and would be greatly appreciated.

“We can always use lots of prayer especially,” said Carpenter. If anyone would like to contribute financially to further the work of the ministry, cash donations can be dropped off at the office and checks can be made out to Blood N Fire Ministries of Alaska and sent to Blood N Fire, 7362 W. Parks Highway PMB 276, Wasilla, AK 99654-9132.

This caring ministry is warming up a world that too often leaves people shivering in the cold. That’s good news — especially for Alaska!

Blood N Fire is located at the intersection of the Parks Highway and Pittman Road in the Meadow Lakes City Center, next to The Rock Music Sports Grill. It is open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. To find out more, call 864-0463, visit bloodnfireak.org, or e-mail bnfalaska2@yahoo.com.

Vicki Walsh is a freelance writer who lives in Palmer.