“Loving people, meeting needs.” This is the purpose of StreetWise — a Christian, nonprofit food bank based out of Lawrenceville, Georgia — and by the grace of God, it is being lived out daily. 

Tracy Joseph, the Executive Director and CEO of StreetWise, credits much of the mission and ministry to the power of prayer. 

Tracy reflects on Matthew 7:7-8, which says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

This is a common occurrence at StreetWise. Prayers are answered and lives are changed. 

“It’s nothing about me. It’s that God is honoring the ask. [He’s saying,] ‘Ask Me. Have that relationship. Know that I am God. Know that I have provision. Know that I believe you’re doing what I’m asking you to do.’ And I believe all of that is wrapped up in prayer. I don’t understand it. I don’t know how it works. But I’m watching it work,” said Tracy.

Prayer is huge in the life of every believer, as it ties us directly to God. The truth of this is not lost on Tracy. 

“We pray, and we pray a lot. We have always stated that if prayer and the Christian focus left StreetWise, we’d close the doors. It makes us stand out. It makes us unique,’ he said.

“Every single meeting we have starts with prayer and ends with prayer. Literally — whether it’s a staff meeting, a training or a board meeting. We believe that prayer is the anchor to what God’s going to bring to those meetings, and we believe that He sits in that room to do so.” 

Because of its dedication to and true belief in prayer, StreetWise has been a testament time and again to God’s provision. 

“I cannot tell you the number of times that people have said we were out of something and then it showed up,” Tracy said.” I remember one time in particular, when [one of our volunteers] Jean came up to me and said, ‘We’re out of toothpaste and toothbrushes,’ and I laughed, ‘You’ve done it now!’ The very next day, we received a pallet of toothbrushes and a pallet of toothpaste. 

“There’s a running joke of, ‘Tracy, did you pray for that?’, because [the staff and volunteers] know I walk and pray through the building each morning. That act of faith, walking the building and saying, ‘God we’re really getting low on cereal,’ became a prayer because within a week we received almost a half truckload of cereal. Well, the same morning I’d said, ‘And we haven’t had juice in quite a while.’ The other half of that truck was juice. Again, it’s nothing about me. It’s that God is honoring the ask.”

Not only does StreetWise pray for their own requests, but they also make it a point to set the example of prayer as they minister in the community.

“We make prayer available. Often, a volunteer is praying for a client in the market or they’re praying for them outside. We have been in the process of building a chapel right outside the entrance of where we serve our clients because we want a place where anybody can come directly into the chapel and have a quiet, sacred place where they can meet with our Lord.,” said Tracy. 

Tracy also has a passion for believers to come together in prayer and help those in need, which is exactly what the Church is called to do. However, this was not always his mindset.

“My parents never went to church when I was growing up. But, they for some reason knew we [kids] needed to be in church,” he said.

“While my dad was working two jobs, he would drive me and my younger sister to the church, drop us off at Sunday school and then pick us up. We were never abandoned. We were never forgotten on any of those [Sundays]. My sister and I have been Christians basically our entire lives.

“When I was 16, I was involved with a ministry that functioned differently than brick-and-mortar type churches and was just for our age group. I went through a [difficult] phase after the collapse of that particular ministry and the death of a very, very close friend,” said Tracy.

“Religion had abandoned me, in my mind. It felt like nobody was there, and I told God, ‘No more religion, it’s you and me’.  I did not step into a church for 18 years unless it was a funeral or a wedding.”

Tracy moved from California to Georgia and because his daughter’s preschool was at a church, he became a regular at the coffee shop inside.  

“This Australian dude would come over and say, ‘What do you want?’ and then he’d make me my coffee. Fast forward about six months — it’s Father’s Day. I still don’t want to go to church. I don’t want to be in a church. I don’t want religion. God and I were fine, in my mind.” 

His daughter’s preschool had a Father’s Day event, and though annoyed, Tracy attended church for the first time in 18 years. 

He was shocked by what he saw. 

“They introduced the senior pastor, and the Australian dude jumped up. He’s the senior pastor — and he’s been making my coffee for six months! Never saying a word except, ‘How’s life? What are you up to? How’s your walk?’ He asked all these things and poured into me. After that, I became involved with that church.”

Tracy was led back to the church because this pastor truly lived out the mission of loving people and meeting needs. Now, Tracy is doing the same through his life of prayer. 

Because of the Lord’s goodness, StreetWise is faithfully loving people and meeting needs every day.

“I am not a pastor. I don’t have formal training, and I didn’t go to seminary. I think it’s more about an individual having a heart that just says, ‘This is so far above me. God, I can’t do it without you.’ [From] what I’ve learned, the only way I know to communicate that is to pray about it,” Tracy said.

“People ask me, ‘What’s StreetWise’s superpower?’ and I say it’s prayer.” 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV 

Want to learn more about StreetWise and how they care for our community? Visit https://streetwisegeorgia.org/