A laundry ministry in Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, launched by church missions director Shannon Hancock, has been going strong since March. They come to two different laundromats in Owensboro, four times a month, with detergent, dryer sheets, quarters (lots of them) and compassionate hearts.

They come to laundromats on opposite sides of town on Mondays and Tuesdays from 2 to 7 p.m. on the first and third weeks of the month. A prayer tent is also set up for anyone compelled to come to share their burdens and many have shown up.

Hancock and Pleasant Grove church member Amy Strode are the heartbeat of the ministry although more than a dozen others have been part of it, too.

Gospel conversations have been flowing like the water in the washing machines. Three people have given their hearts to Jesus and plenty of gospel seeds have been sown. Hancock and Strode are convinced this is what they are supposed to be doing.

“It was kind of a collaboration of God,” Hancock said. “When I became our missions director at church, I reached out to people. I talked to a lady who gives away clothes. They can get the clothes, but they can’t wash them. God laid the same idea on a woman’s heart at our church.”

Hancock and Strode began researching a laundry ministry and found several churches have tried it with varying success. One of the pitfalls came when the laundromats made them stop. “We were fearful of that happening, but the owner immediately said we could (share the gospel),” Hancock said.

The ministry started with them going to only one laundromat but expanded to a second one at the suggestion of the owner, who runs both businesses.

They reached out to city and county agencies that help those who may not have access to a washing machine or dryer and created a voucher system. They wash and dry as many loads as people will bring them. Some have brought in three or four loads of clothes at a time. One week, Hancock said, they spent more than $600 in quarters on washing machines. “It can get pretty packed. There are nights we had every machine in the mat going the whole time we were there.”

As word has spread, more and more are taking advantage of the ministry, she said. “We put soap in, put quarters in and try to minister to them while clothes are washing,” Hancock said.

Hancock and Strode provide a listening ear and those who come to get their clothes cleaned share heartbreaking stories. Sometimes burdened souls will go away cleansed.

“One of the gentlemen, in his second visit with us, as he was folding clothes, said the sinner’s prayer,” Hancock said. “We got him to come to church. He came and said, ‘Man, I need this.’”

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