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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Barbecue Softens Hard-Core Neighborhood

Kevin Chen strolled between the 20 or so tables that made up a make-shift picnic area along south Madison.

Inner-city residents - both young and old - gathered to devour hamburgers, hot dogs and potato salad. They munched on chips and savored the frozen cups of orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream.

A few leaned out windows of the Otis Hotel, watching the victims of the dunk tank wince as the rush of cold water raced down their backs, the basketball game across the street or the live band at the far end of the block.

Gone for a Saturday afternoon were the drugs, alcohol and other debris that line what Chen calls the “war zone” along Madison.

The City Gate Fellowship, an inner-city mission at 114 S. Madison, sponsored the yearly barbecue. It stretched from the dunk tank at First Avenue to the Christian band Cry Manna on a stage under the train tracks near Second.

One volunteer estimated the number of people who braved the food line, which at times stretched around the corner at First, to be between 500 and 600.

“We don’t set our hearts to expect anything,” said Chen, the City Gate pastor. “We just set our hearts to serve. Whoever shows up, they were supposed to be here.”

The 39-year-old Chen is one of them.

Chen went to school in Spokane, but dropped out of North Central High School to join the service. After getting out of the military he lived on the streets around the Northwest off and on for 10 years, before he was introduced to the Lord, he said.

“The first question I asked was, ‘How come nobody told me?”’ Chen said.

He has been telling people ever since, including the last eight years at City Gate.

Five years ago, Kubas “came in the front door” with the rest of the City Gate clientele. Kubas said he began drinking when he was about 16 and brought with him a drug problem that began with marijuana and “escalated into hard drugs later.”

But, Kubas also found faith in God and got out.

“Through the love and patience of people like Kevin, I have really been able to believe God could forgive me,” Kubas said.

The process has been slow, but has continued for about two years, said Kubas, now 28.

He began by volunteering at City Gate and eventually earned a paid position with the downtown mission. Kubas now works at a greenhouse on the South Hill, maintaining the plants and helping customers.

“It’s been a long growing process learning that God is consistent, he loves me and he’s not going to leave me,” Kubas said.

He was back at City Gate Saturday, scooping potato salad, visiting with friends and talking about the Lord.

Volunteer Chris Davis said stories like Chen are what make City Gate’s mission successful.

“The main thing is the people who minister here sincerely love Jesus,” Davis said. “They love the people who come in here. They love me. They’re not phony. I’ve got a lot of good friends here.”

And they don’t expect anything from the inner-city residents in return.

“They needn’t say anything,” said volunteer Shawn Thompson, who was flipping hambergers. “All we have to do is look at them as they walk away and we know they’re happy. We know we shared Jesus with them.”

, DataTimes