It's For Everyone - James

As a priest at St. Luke Anglican Church in Dallas, James Madden spends much of his life spiritually pouring into others. He knows the power of prayer, Scripture, and community. And yet, as a regular volunteer and participant at The Human Impact’s Thursday morning Community Prayer, James has experienced those things in new and unexpected ways.

“Community Prayer is ‘can’t miss’ in the same way I can’t—or shouldn’t—miss a meal,” James shared. “It is one of the few times where I receive God’s Spirit tangibly and regularly through the community in God’s Word, music, sharing, and prayer. It’s refreshing. Rejuvenating. I show up as someone with wants, needs, and my own brokenness, and that is OK, because it’s a starting point for healing and refreshment."

James has followed THI’s work from a distance for years. He grew up with Elisabeth Jordan and had watched the ministry grow. But it wasn’t until he got to know THI staff member Brad Ward that he began showing up in person—listening, learning, and better understanding homelessness, poverty, and what it means to follow Jesus in the middle of it all.

When St. Luke was planted, God gave James a specific image: a bridge. A church that would serve as a middle space—a place where anyone could walk in from anywhere and be welcomed. He held onto that vision.

And then he walked into THI’s Community Prayer and realized something like that had already been built. This was a place where sacred and important gaps were already being bridged.

“It is extremely rare, nearly impossible, to find a place where everyone can come together on equal terms—as people looking for God and for friendship with one another,” James said. “It should be this way in the local church, and sadly it rarely is.”

For James, even calling someone experiencing homelessness “friend” has been profound. He did not grow up with unhoused friends. In the community where he was raised, homelessness was something kept at a distance—something made invisible. But through THI, James has experienced firsthand what it means to bridge the relational gap.

“We are all the same,” he shared. “We are all made in the image of God, and we are all broken and in need of friendship. I want to be a part of a community, and lead a community, that allows for people to show up happy, sad, bruised, or thriving. And that is already happening at Community Prayer with THI.”

At The Human Impact, our hope has always been that Community Prayer would be a place of healing—for everyone, no matter their circumstances or resources. A place where it is deeply understood that we are all broken, we are all in need of God’s love, and we all need one another.

James has experienced more sacred and healing moments on Thursday mornings than we have space to share. But there is one morning that will always stay with him.

Last year, James shared with the group the grief and loss he and his wife were carrying after suffering a miscarriage. In the midst of tears and anguish, Community Prayer felt like one of the only places where he could be fully honest about what they were going through. After he shared, the group gathered around him, laid hands on him, and prayed for him and his wife—that they would heal, and that the Lord would provide another child.

“That moment will always stay with me,” James said, “as a palpable demonstration of the love and power of God through his people.”

As James has continued to show up, pray, and share life with our friends experiencing homelessness, he has been blessed by the simple and sacred gift of friendship. They recognize one another’s faces. They are learning one another’s stories. They are invested in the daily triumphs and trials of each other’s lives.

This is what we mean when we say, “friendship heals.” Particularly for James, this work offers him something that is not always easy to find: the chance to show up not only as a priest, but as a person.

Bruised sometimes. Grieving sometimes. In need, like everyone else.

As a part of the THI community, James has experienced what can happen when everyone shows up for one another.

No one is left alone.

And that’s why it’s for everyone.