Candy Christmas at The Bridge Ministry in Nashville. (Photo: bridgeministry.org)

“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:25-17)

Some Christian celebrities use their faith to gain status. Some, on the other hand, use their celebrity to act out their faith. Christianity Today profiles southern gospel star Candy Christmas, who runs a ministry to the homeless along the Cumberland River in Nashville.

In November 2004, Christmas founded The Bridge Ministry—named for its location under the Jefferson Bridge near the riverbank—after taking a pot of jambalaya to a group of homeless people on a visit with a local pastor. The Bridge is now a thriving ministry which includes a weekly church service on Tuesday nights to feed and preach to up to 500 attendees. Other local churches and ministries (including the Salvation Army) also reach out to these homeless. Some of those organizations use the Bridge’s 20,000 square-foot warehouse—a resource hub for nonprofits—which is stocked with dry goods, toiletries, and coats to pass out for the winter.

The first time she accompanied a pastor to visit the area’s homeless, Christmas was battling depression. She was exhausted from the pressure of seeking a name in the Christian music industry, and from the division of the “modern worship movement.” When she started serving the homeless, she says, “something came alive in me that was dead—something that was lacking.”

Now, Christmas’s efforts are inspiring others to get involved.

Al Jayne, 78, and his wife, Era, volunteer at The Bridge every other week. Al has been collecting and distributing old and donated Bibles for 13 years; he brings stacks of the Good Book when he attends, setting them up on a table at the back of the sanctuary.

“I’m blown away by the commitment in [Christmas],” Jayne says, noting that her passion keep him and his wife coming back. The ministry has also changed Jayne’s perspective of the homeless. “I grew up thinking all poor people were bums. Then I began to see that there were many reasons people were poor.”

But most convicting are the stories of how those served by the shelter turn around and give of their meager resources. Several are serving as leaders and even starting shelters of their own.

That spirit was exemplified one night last year when Christmas shared about her other ministry—the Candy House, a school for orphans in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. She recalls, still in awe, how she told the Bridge crowd about her 2009 trip to Haiti, noting that it’s the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

“They started getting up, bringing their quarters and their dollars,” she says. Though Christmas tried to stop them—she simply wanted to raise awareness, not funds—they kept coming. “That night we took up $42.53. So now I’ve got homeless people that are trying to get their passports to go to Port-Au-Prince to build this orphanage.”

These homeless who are eager to give to others are like the poor widow in Luke 21 who Jesus said gave “more than all the others” with her two copper coins. The Church, acting out its ministry as the body of Christ, has the ability to do something far beyond what government welfare programs can ever do: not only feed the hungry with physical food, but also tell them about the Bread of Life, who alone can fully satisfy.