our start

The mission of The Field’s Edge is to promote human dignity by cultivating home for the homeless and empowering a lifestyle of service for the glory of Christ.

The Field’s Edge was founded in 2016 by John-Mark and Briana Echols. They had served the homeless as volunteers with other local nonprofits for several years and the Lord began to call them deeper. In January 2017 they sold their home and headed to Community First Village in Austin, Texas with their daughter to participate in a 4 month missional internship program. Their goal was to learn how to replicate a tiny home community for their chronically homeless friends in Midland.

Upon returning to Midland, they worked to raise awareness and educate the community on the subject of homelessness and also to look for the right piece of land for a tiny home village. They continued to build relationships with people on the street and the Lord began to provide RVs to begin lifting people off the streets as a temporary measure until the village could be built. The formerly homeless residents of The Field’s Edge are called “neighbors”, and the very first TFE neighbor moved into her RV in the Fall of 2019. The capital campaign to build the first phase of homes began in 2019 as well, and by the grace of God through the generosity of West Texans, the capital campaign was completed during a global pandemic and negative oil prices.

Construction began on Phase I in March 2021. Phase I includes the Mabee Foundation Community Center which houses The Field’s Edge offices, a behavioral and physical healthcare clinic space, a market, and a multipurpose great room. Also included in Phase I is the first “pod” of homes which includes 9 single-occupant tiny homes for the chronically homeless, one missional home, and a commercial bath, kitchen, and laundry facility that we lovingly call the Bathhouse. Construction of Phase I will be completed in June 2022.

The Village sits on 23.5 acres inside of the city limits of southwestern Midland and will eventually have 10 “pods” of homes, 90 homes for the chronically homeless, and 10 homes for missional residents who voluntarily live on site to help cultivate community.

The name of the organization is derived from Leviticus 23:22, “When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.” This verse is a charge to love and serve homeless neighbors selflessly.