Sent to the Streets, Julie Lunan’s Calling to Carry Jesus to the Homeless

Taking Jesus to the Streets: Julie Lunan's Call to End Homelessness

Seven years ago, Julie Lunan was driving to Nashville to see her sister, who was dying of breast cancer. On that drive, God spoke clearly: You're about to start your ministry.

Julie had known for years that ministry was coming. She'd been praying daily for the homeless for a year and a half, asking God to show her how to help. But she thought she'd go back to Boston after visiting her sister, pick up some freelance work, and keep praying.

God had other plans.

"His plan was for me to stay here in Nashville and start helping the homeless immediately," Julie says. That was the third piece of her calling—the Bible, feeding people, and now the homeless. "I now know very clearly that seven years is a cycle, it's completion. I'm at the beginning of a second seven-year cycle, and this calling is for the rest of my life."

Ghost Town Ministry

The Friday before COVID lockdown began, Julie was at a worship service when God interrupted a song with clear instructions: Go out and pray with people on the street where they are.

Days later, she drove through downtown Nashville. It was a ghost town—completely deserted. Thriving food ministries had obeyed the lockdown order and gone inside. God was calling Julie outside.

She spent the entire lockdown doing street ministry—buying food, preparing it, wrapping it, taking it out, praying with every person she met. "He would direct me specifically on the path," she says. "The last meal would always go to the person who needed it the most."

It happened every single night. Robin crossing the street at midnight, hungry. The veteran on the bench. Miracles became normal.

"When you're helping people who are homeless, you can never create lack," Julie says. "I was careful, but it never happened. He always made it perfect to the very last person."

The Filmmaker's New Script

Julie studied film at UC Irvine. For years, she did copywriting work. Now God is bringing it all full circle—calling her to make a documentary that will change hearts toward the homeless and help eliminate homelessness in America.

"God has said to me very clearly: you take Me out," Julie explains. "It's much more important than quantifying meals or clothing. You take Jesus out to people so He can bring them back into the Kingdom."

The film will be free distribution. She believes it will be picked up by TV or streaming. And she believes God will use it to open doors to expanded ministries—buying farmland to grow food to give away, bringing people inside to shelters and housing.

"No one should be sleeping outside in this country," she says. "There's no excuse. We are able to resolve this here."

Miracles Are Normal to God

Julie tells the story of an older Vietnam veteran sitting on a bench at the end of Broadway. He told her God had promised someone would give him a bus ticket home to Nevada—to family he hadn't seen in decades.

The next day, a businessman in a suit walked up to him and said, "I don't really believe in God, but God just told me to give you a bus ticket."

"God uses people who aren't even familiar with how this happens yet," Julie says. "He'll use anybody to get it done. He doesn't care if you're reticent, if you don't know, if you don't care, if you're having a hard day. If He wants to use you, He'll use you."

The Call to Business Leaders

Julie's advice to Christian leaders is simple: Really answer the call.

"God loves homeless people more than anyone on earth knows," she says. "He's with them already. It's the only way they're surviving. His love is overpowering, overflowing, bigger than this earth—and He wants it to flow through us to them."

She encourages leaders to start by volunteering at a ministry or outreach to learn what others already know. "There's a path that has been created that helps. But if God calls you to take it farther, take it farther and go."

And don't hold on too tightly to your own resources, time, or plans. "God wants us to give all of that to Him so He can fill us with Holy Spirit," Julie says. "The more we let go, the more He'll fill us. When you mess up, ask Him for new steps. When you don't take them on time, ask for another chance. It's a process, and it's really beautiful all the way through."

Julie Lunan is raising funds for her documentary on homelessness. To learn more or support the project, connect with her through Kingdom Factor.