Cultivating Home: Reflections on Twelve Years of Ministry

By: John-Mark Echols, Founder and CEO of The Field's Edge

Over the last twelve years of marriage, Briana and I have had the privilege of serving in homeless ministry together. It began in an unexpected place. My friend and I were playing catch with a young boy at the pool when his dad invited us to a Sunday school class for young professionals. It took me a while to take him up on his offer, and I did not know it then, but that simple invitation would redirect the whole course of my life. It was there that the Lord opened my eyes, saved me, and placed me among people who discipled me, opened the Scriptures with me, and taught me what it means to follow Christ.

Around the same time, a pretty girl named Briana from my Sunday school class invited me to serve with her at Church Under the Bridge, a homeless outreach that gathered on an outdoor basketball court to worship Jesus. I had grown up in Midland, yet I had no idea that my own city had homeless men and women. During our first Saturday, we brought my dog Waylon because we had no idea what to say or do. But God grabbed ahold of our hearts, and we kept coming back week after week. This service together is one of the biggest ways that the Lord drew us into the covenant of marriage. As we shared meals, prayed with people, and learned their names, the Lord began softening us in ways we could not have predicted.

The men and women we met were not problems to be solved. They were neighbors created in the image of God, with inherent dignity and worth, though the ravages of homelessness often buried and obscured that dignity. Over time, we began to see, with clearer and clearer eyes, that the Lord was leading us toward a life deeply intertwined with our homeless neighbors. This eventually led us to sell our home after many small steps of God reorienting our direction. In January 2017, we moved with our daughter into an RV for four months to intern at Community First Village in Austin. As Alan Graham, the founder of the Community First movement, often says, “Housing does not solve homelessness, but community does.” What we witnessed there confirmed what God had been stirring in us. We were not only called to build houses for the homeless, but to cultivate home.

When we returned to Midland later that year, I served with Breaking Bread to help launch their food truck ministry, deepening our relationships with those on the margins. In 2019, after two years of searching, God provided the land where The Field’s Edge now stands. We thought several other locations were perfect, but they fell through. Looking back, we see that the Lord was preparing us in the waiting. He gave us something far better suited for our mission than anything we could have chosen for ourselves.

Today, at The Field’s Edge, we cultivate home by walking with people for the long haul. Our neighbors are seen, heard, known, loved, and welcomed home permanently. These neighbors at the village are now formerly homeless, and our aim is for them to never be homeless again. For those who are currently homeless, we eliminate barriers to employment through our Glean Up program, which we doubled this year. We now have two crews of eight residents from the Salvation Army working Tuesday through Friday, providing not only dignified work and structure, but also discipleship and case management through our faithful Glean Up Manager.

We do this work shoulder to shoulder with an incredible community of partners. We are proud members of the Midland Homeless Coalition, a truly collaborative group of over 20 homeless service providers working together to lift people out of homelessness. Idle Hands Ministries, Salvation Army, Mission Agape, Breaking Bread, Casa de Amigos, the Community Health Paramedics, West Texas Food Bank, and Christmas in Action serve as our close and vital partners. Together, these agencies help form a continuum of care for the homeless in our city. The unity we share in Midland is rare and deeply encouraging, and we are grateful for every one of them. We will continue our work at The Field’s Edge in 2026 with integrity and full transparency, entrusting the Lord with the good gifts He has blessed us with.

My own season of health struggle remains ongoing, but the Lord has given me ample grace and perseverance. As a resident of the village, I have experienced firsthand the blessing of community from my formerly homeless neighbors who have prayed for me, encouraged me, and walked with me in my weakness. God has refined me, strengthened me, and reminded me that His power is made perfect in weakness.

Invitation to Join the Mission

At The Field’s Edge, we often describe involvement through a simple framework: Go, Send, and Intercede. These three pathways reflect the way the Lord calls His people to participate in His mission. Some are called to step into the work directly. Some are called to sustain the work through generosity, skills, and influence. And every one of us is called to pray.

Go

This is the boots-on-the-groundwork of serving alongside our neighbors. Going looks like joining our Street Hospitality outreach, participating in Bible study, helping with projects in the village, or building friendships with the men and women who call this place home. It can also look like serving on one of our committees or living at the village missionally. If you are interested in committee service or missional living, you can email us at info@thefieldsedge.org.

Send

This includes giving financially, but also offering your skills, your time, your hobbies, your connections, and your God-given gifts. The Lord uses accountants, moms, roughnecks, artists, construction workers, cooks, engineers, business leaders, teachers, and everything in between. Your generosity, in any form, helps cultivate a community where people can truly flourish.

Intercede

Prayer is the greatest gift anyone can give to this mission. We know that we are completely dependent on God. Pray for our neighbors. Pray for our staff. Pray for those still living on the streets. Pray for protection, unity, provision, wisdom, and transformed lives through the gospel.

If you would like to take a step into any of these areas, you can find volunteer opportunities posted at www.thefieldsedge.org/volunteer. If the Lord leads you to support this work financially, we receive that with deep gratitude and stewardship, knowing every gift helps create a stable, loving, Christ-centered home for our neighbors.Whatever the Lord has entrusted to you, there is a place for you in this mission. Together, by His grace, we can lift the vulnerable, cultivate home, and display the goodness of God in the lives of our neighbors. Let’s praise God for all He has done in 2025 and look ahead to 2026 with hope and expectation.

Sincerely,

John-Mark W. Echols