By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Practice what you preach. That's the idea behind Great Bend's Live Like Jesus Today Ministries, founded by Buzz and Clifann Birney in June 2011. Ministry workers recently built a warehouse at the property located at 700 Patton, and Birney uses it to store some of the many items his organization receives and distributes to the needy.
"We get everything," he said. "We get food, we get clothes, we get meat, we get all kinds of drinks. During COVID, we had brand new gowns that nurses wore. You just never know."
From the beginning, the Birneys were cooking food and feeding people out of their own kitchen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, another worldwide ministry reached out and began sending semi trucks full of goods, including office supplies from Staples. Birney estimates that 80 percent of those goods are given to local schools, food banks, prisons, churches, and non-profits.
"We don't get them free," said Birney. "We have to pay the freight. That's a lot for our little ministry, but when we pay the freight, we get everything inside the semi-load for free."
Birney said the trucks are a byproduct of too much production. Companies can either dispose of the materials or get the write-off by donating them to non-profits like his ministry. Live Like Jesus recently received 11,000 dozen eggs and 55,000 bottles of various sports drinks and waters. Most of that was donated. The ministry received a large shipment of bread earlier this week and donated much of that. Some items are held back to be sold for small donations so Birney can pay for the next truckload.
The ministry is busy in other aspects. They recently added an outdoor concert stage, and the Kingdom Campus hosts youth events, movie nights, and Bible studies. They recently started a Sunday-morning church service, and Birney spends seven hours each Monday in the prisons in Larned. He also visits prisoners in El Dorado and Ellsworth. Workers go to Wichita almost monthly to work with the homeless.
"We do whatever we can do just to let people know that their life matters, and their life can change if they want it to change," said Birney. "So many people don't have any idea there's any better than what they've been raised as and know.
"You ought to see the people we see get saved in the back of a warehouse. They get on their knees and sit there and bawl because no one has ever told them they're loved."
The Live Like Jesus Today warehouse is open 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. CLICK HERE to donate to the ministry. Check out the Table of Truth Podcast on Facebook by CLICKING HERE, or follow the ministry's latest activities on their Facebook page HERE.