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Rev. Okafor, you have spent 15 years doing ministry on the streets of Chicago. What keeps you there?

Honestly? The people. Every time I think about stepping back, someone looks me in the eye and I remember why I started. You cannot un-see what I have seen. You cannot un-love who I have loved.

What is the most important thing you have learned about serving people in crisis?

Meet people where they are, not where you wish they were. Come without conditions. Come without an agenda except love. People can tell the difference between someone who wants to fix them and someone who actually loves them.

You have lost friends to violence. How do you hold onto hope?

Hard question. The honest answer is: some days I do not. Some days I am angry. Some days I grieve. But I have never found a better reason to keep going than the resurrection. If God can raise the dead, He can redeem the streets of Chicago.

What do you want the Church to understand about street ministry?

Stop sending people on mission trips to other countries when the mission field is three miles from your building. The need is here. The harvest is here. Show up.