Rescue Mission’s John Muckridge: ‘Keep Eyes on the King’

John Muckridge III, president and chief executive officer of the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, is hanging tough. You can read more about John and the Mission at its website.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?

One of the things we’re doing differently is our intake process — screening folks before coming into the Mission. We’re checking to see if they have symptoms of the virus and we’re also doing the best we can to follow the distancing requirements.

We’re trying to ensure our clients are keeping distance between one another in the dining room and other rooms and we’ve spread out their beds. Normally, every day, we offer two times for breakfast, two times for lunch and two times for dinner. As an effort to honor social distancing in our dining room, we’ve doubled our offering times and provide four different times for each meal.

We’re also still serving food to the public for every meal, but we’re doing so by packaging to-go meals, instead of having the sit-down option like we normally do.

To allow for the social distancing, we’ve significantly lowered our max capacity for the number of clients we can provide shelter for at one time.  Prior to this outbreak, we had room for 134 individuals, but we’ve lowered that number to 80. When we changed that max number, we had 72 individuals living here, so we did not have to remove anyone.

By cutting down this max number, we’ve been able to spread out the beds and convert our third floor into a quarantine floor. If any of our clients are exposed to the virus and the hospital tells them to quarantine at home, the Mission is their home – so we’re able to provide a safe space for them.

We’ve only had one person who was quarantined and the test came back negative for the virus. The Lord has been very gracious to us.

We’re also not accepting volunteers at this time, so our staff has taken on an increased workload. As a result, we’ve had an increase in our expenses for groceries, because volunteers typically bring food and help lighten the load. Throughout a typical month, we usually have a couple hundred volunteers, and we’ve cut that down to zero to try to keep our clients and staff safe.

Now, I’ve told you what has changed, but let me tell you what HASN’T changed at the Mission.

My role is to lead the staff and keep them focused on staying on our mission. There are three parts to this mission and it’s important to remember that this crisis won’t distract us from why it is that we’re here.

Our primary mission is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our secondary mission is to promote accountability. We still have to ensure our clients are held accountable to our behavioral and cleanliness expectations.

The third part of our mission is to provide food and emergency shelter.

It’s so important that we stay ON MISSION.

By God’s grace alone, through faith alone, through Jesus alone, somebody is brought out of darkness. God sets us free through faith in Christ. We’re here to remind our clients of that very message.

If we’re not proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, then we’re really not doing what we were called to do. We are not just called to rescue people from homelessness, but more importantly, to proclaim the good news of Christ crucified which God Himself works through to rescue people from His wrath and eternal judgment.

So, we must not be distracted or led astray by the circumstances of this virus. Our mission hasn’t changed.

How about your personal life?

I have three young sons and my wife is the one in the family who is hanging tough. She is working full-time from home, and at the same time taking care of the boys and homeschooling them, too. She is amazing!

The population we serve can be more susceptible to the virus, but the Lord has used this time to strengthen our faith in Him and dependence upon Him.

By God’s grace, He has continued to open our eyes to see what His word teaches with regards to His Sovereignty. He’s in complete control of all the kings of the earth and also of all the little bacteria.  We’re told in scripture, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28.

So, even if one of us were to get sick, that doesn’t make that scripture not true. We’re holding onto this fact.

What steps are you taking to hang tough?

I’m depending upon the Lord. I’m seeking Him in His word, being reminded of His sovereign hand, and at the end of the day, I’m finding peace knowing that He’s in control.

In Matthew chapter 25, beginning with verse 21, there’s the parable about talents. God gives “gold” to three people — one buries it and the other two go serve and use their talents. Then, when all three go and stand before Him, God tells the two who served, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

We’re living our lives for that moment. When I stand before the King of Kings, I want to hear Him say, ”Well done good and faithful servant.”

What advice are you sharing with the people you love?

My wife and I, a couple weeks ago, went and bought bikes and have been going on bike rides with our boys. My middle son recently learned how to ride without training wheels. He was a little wobbly at first but caught on really quick. In the midst of him wobbling back and forth and falling off, I noticed what he was doing wrong.  His error was that he only looked at the blacktop directly in front of him.

I told him to not to look down but to look straight ahead and fix his eyes on the huge oak tree at the end of the street and to just keep pedaling.

I’m sharing that same advice with others. When our eyes are focused further down the road, we can keep going straight. We can’t fix our eyes on the circumstances right in front of us for too long, but instead, we’ve got to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and just keep pedaling.