“Once in a while you cross paths with someone who will forever change your life. For us, Alan Graham is that someone. His life, his heart, and his mission to see “I am” in the “least of these” is nothing less than transformative. Welcome Homeless is a much needed work that gives incredible insight to how the Gospel turns pain and isolation into victory and community. It’s a coming home story for all of us, where we are challenged to see others as well as ourselves, only as Christ sees us.”
– Jen and Brandon Hatmaker, Authors & Founders of The Legacy Collective
“I know what homelessness feels like. I started Paul Mitchell with a $700 loan when I was living out of my car. When I met Alan Graham, I knew that this was a man who really understood the problem — people need a place to belong. The Community First! Village and this book invite people into something greater, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
– John Paul DeJoria, Cofounder of Paul Mitchell and The Patrón Spirits Company
“Welcome Homeless is jam-packed with unabashed honesty, unfiltered stories, and profound ideas that lead you to a place of beautiful awareness about the world and the way it truly is.”
– Mike Foster, Author and Founder of People of the Second Chance
“This is a book of deep homefulness. Alan Graham is, we believe, such a wonderful homemaker in large part because he is such an evocative story-teller. Home is always a storied place and Alan tells his stories with love, gentleness, and deep, deep respect. You don’t get to tell the kind of stories that we meet in this book without first going into the pain, betrayal, violence and despair of homelessness. This is always someone’s homelessness. Someone’s story. So in this book we meet Alan’s friends and mentors, and they are a stunningly beautiful cast of characters. In the telling of these tales we meet a wisdom born of deep engagement, we encounter a prophetic vision that sees beyond the range of normal sight, and we engage in theological reflection on the street. But most importantly, Alan discloses the homelessness at the heart of all of us. And then Alan and his friends invite us home. Jump into the dumpster and meet the homemaking God.”
– Brian Walsh and Steven Bouma-Prediger, co-authors of
Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement
“The ministry Alan Graham has launched is nothing short of life-changing. His chronicle of the stories of the people he serves helps all of us see the homeless with new eyes and as God Himself sees them.”
– Karen Hughes, Author and Former Counselor to President George W. Bush
“Alan Graham packs all his insight, heart and humor into one powerful book. Through a series of engaging stories and thought-provoking points, Welcome Homeless will make you rethink homelessness. It can help us come together as a community and exemplify the true meaning of home.”
– Gay Gaddis, Founder and CEO, T3
“Let me tell you about my friend Alan Graham: He’s the man who hires a homeless friend to work at the Mobile Loaves & Fishes office, calls the police when that man steals something, and tells the man he’ll be the one to pick him up when he’s through serving his time in the Travis County jail. Alan personifies Christ’s command for us to be innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents. We owe him a debt we’ll never repay for writing Welcome Homeless and once again showing us all the way home.”
– Mac Richard, Lead Pastor at Lake Hills Church
“Welcome Homeless takes us through a journey seen through the eyes and heart of Alan Graham. A journey that would transform his life and more importantly help transform thousands of lives over the last few decades. A journey that lets us in on the people he has met along the way and have changed his life as much as he has now changed theirs. He has shined a light on the invisible, the unwanted, the misunderstood and forgotten homeless people in the most heartwarming way—through their own life stories of their loss of home, family and friends, their loss of self-respect and dignity and yet they seem closer to God than many of us who have all those things. This book is about Love, it’s about community, it’s about giving and it’s about Relationships—first with God and then with all His children. “
– Judy Trabulsi, Co-Founder at GSD&M
“Welcome Homeless is a book that rattles you to your spiritual senses and awakens the awe you’ve been missing in your relationship with God by inviting you to love your neighbor as yourself.”
– Susie Davis, Author of Unafraid
“You pass by faces everyday and wonder ‘what is their story’. Instead of taking time to find out…most of us just get in another lane or turn the radio up as we act like we are talking on our phone or looking at something important. Jesus would often look at a person before healing them. It is very important to understand that Jesus saw someone before reaching out to them.
Welcome Homeless is one man’s journey of discovering that most stories gone off track is from hopelessness. As a pastor in Austin, Texas, I am proud to witness firsthand the impact that Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Community First! Village is having on in our city. My prayer is that this book will ignite your heart to be a part of something that only God can pull off where you live!”
– Brad Thomas, Lead Pastor at Austin Ridge Bible Church
“Welcome Homeless is a gift that takes down the walls of isolation and shows us the power of empathy and action. The real life stories that Alan Graham shares over the course of his journey could stop a speeding train. It stopped me. The most compelling lesson Graham re-taught me is that when we breathe new purpose into our own journey — when we stop, listen, connect and share, even just for a moment — that mighty pause for humanity is one of God’s most generous endowments. Thank you Alan Graham for you and your life’s work.”
– Roy Spence
Co-Founder & Chairman, GSD&M
Co-Founder & CEO, The Purpose Institute
“In this groundbreaking work, Alan Graham shatters our perceptions of the homeless, why they are homeless, and what society’s solution to homelessness should be. Graham challenges us to see the ultimate cause of homelessness beyond what we traditionally have accepted: job loss, addiction, mental illness. Instead, Graham shows us homelessness is the irrevocable rending in the fabric of family and community that allows the homeless to fall. Graham teaches us not to simply address symptoms of homelessness, but to respond as Christ would: to welcome them home as valued members of our community and beloved brothers and sisters.”
– Will Davis, Senior Pastor at Austin Christian Fellowship
