A young man living in Taunton was welcomed by street pastors at the town’s Safe Space cafe and started a process to turn his life around through the Christian faith.
That particular night, numbers for the Street Pastors were low so the plan was not to open the Safe Space cafe. The arrival of three dedicated prayer pastors at the last moment led to a change of plan and the cafe went into action as usual.
Dominik, who had spent time living rough as a consequence of many problems, was served a hot drink and a biscuit and fell into conversation with some of the team members. They invited him to attend Sunday lunch at a local church the next day.
The street pastors tipped off the lunch organiser, Shirley, that Dominik was attending and she looked out some clothes for their visitor. Shirley was able to greet Dominik by name before the service and give him the fresh clothes, taking his old ones home to wash.
Dominik did not join in with the church lunch, however, but accepted the hospitality of a Christian family who was also able to arrange accommodation for him and support for his various needs.
He started worshipping in church on a Sunday and helping to provide food for the homeless. He thanked the street pastors for their help and on the clear profession of his love for Jesus he was accepted into training at the same time that he was being nurtured in his new-found faith. He has attended all of Taunton Street Pastors‘ training sessions, often cycling many miles from home and work to soak up the information that will help him help others.
Dominik was baptised in April wearing his Street Pastors shirt.