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People started to arrive at the Radical House and it was quite a crowd. The most incredible thing was that this ministry was not only feeding the students, it was feeding anybody who wanted to attend.

Pastor Doug stood in the midst of the crowd of thirty people and made an announcement:

“Greetings everybody! Welcome to Radical Ministries. This is the Radical House and I am Pastor Doug. Our intern, Stephen, is in the back preparing the vegetarian dish for tonight. Steve-O, come on out and say ‘hi’ to everyone.”

A thin dark haired young man poked his head around the corner. “Hi everybody.”

“Thanks Steve. Tonight is our kick-off. Typically we would have a guest speaker, but tonight just enjoy getting to mingle and meet people. I am hoping that this will be a great night for you and that you will form meaningful friendships that will last a long time. Without further ado, dig in!”

The people lined up starting in the kitchen and extending toward the main entrance. I waited a bit, and then when the line dwindled down I went to take my place at the end of the line. But as I was about to take my place at the end, a young lady walked through the entrance, apparently late. Typically, I would not try to be shy, but there was definitely something different about this girl. She was dressed in designer clothes and yet she had a look to her that was rather plain. She walked confidently, but the smile on her face was welcoming and meek. After a brief hesitation, I greeted her.

“Hello.” Was all I could squeak out.

“Hi there, wow I can’t believe I am late. Have I missed anything?”

Again, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the way she spoke was both proper and informal.

“Nope, we were just lining up to get some food.”

“Good, I am starving. What are they having?”

“German cuisine. I’m sorry, my name is Ryan.”

“That’s okay, my name is Ava.”

“It’s good to meet you Ava. So are you a student here?”

“Oh, no. I actually am working on getting my master’s at the school down the road a little ways.”

“You mean Prestige University? O my goodness, you must be sharp.”

“If you say so. It’s by God’s grace that I am there.”

“What are you studying?”

“Sociology.”

“Cool.”

We spoke until we got to the front of the line and then I decided to move on and speak with someone else.

“Hey Stephen! My name is Ryan. How are you doing?”

“Haha, pretty good. I’m quite a mess though.”

Stephen and I spoke for a while. He was a really nice guy and was in an acting program at Downtown State University. After conversing for a bit, I had to ask him about church.

“Where do you go to church?”

“For right now I come here on Sundays. Pastor D leads it and we normally have a few other people attend.”

“That’s good to know. Maybe I should check it out.”

“Absolutely, we would love to have you here.”

It was a great night of fellowship and all of the people were kind and interesting. Already I had made three new friends: Ava, Stephen, and Pastor Doug. This year was really starting to shape up to be something really special.