James Barnett – Guest Speaker

James Barnett, founder of Clothe Your Neighbor, will be with us on Sunday, October 29.

Chasing after the reckless example of sacrificial love that Jesus left for all of us to follow, James has devoted his life to missional living, culminating with a two year period of living intentionally homeless. It was through this experience that he created Clothe Your Neighbor, a non-profit that gives away 100% of it’s resources to clothe and empower the people so often forgotten by the rest of the world.

James will share his passion for missional living, and the vitally important role we all play in living out the message of the Gospel to those around us.

A little more about James:
I was born in 1985 into a middle-class religious family who took me to church 2-3 times a week. But from an early age, I had my concerns with the western church – one that found itself sitting comfortably in pews while people from all over the world sat uncomfortably in the margins. What’s worse, I knew I was part of the problem. Hearing that the best critique of a bad thing is the practice of something better, at the age of twenty-four, I decided to sell everything I owned to live intentionally homeless. For the next two years, I found myself living in cardboard boxes and eating out of dumpsters with those who Jesus deems “ the greatest” in God’s Kingdom.

Though I wasn’t looking to start a nonprofit, I created Clothe Your Neighbor out of necessity when I saw that my homeless friends needed shoes and socks. When a pair of steel-toe boots helped my friend land a construction job and, consequently, housing, I realized the empowering qualities of clothing. Being that there were no nonprofit clothing models that gave 100% away, I decided to meet the need. Clothe Your Neighbor was born.

All that I do as the Executive Director at Clothe Your Neighbor is in response to an insanely loving God. The same God who flung from his fingertips the stars across the sky and then threw on skin to join us in the dirt. (Philippians 2:5-8)

Eight years later, I continue to run Clothe Your Neighbor, speak-full time, and am a Teaching Pastor at Embrace Church. I have a babe of a wife, Kristin and wiener-dog, Paisley.