The Gut-bucket Gospel

Ronnie Perkins, the praise and worship leader at Street Church, says the church has changed his life. He was one of the first men to be helped by Dudley after she started the church nearly 10 years ago. In 1987, Perkins' partner died of AIDS, and Perkins learned that he'd contracted HIV. Shortly thereafter he found himself abandoned by friends and family. Then he discovered a new friend, crack cocaine. By the time he met Dudley, he weighed only 125 pounds (he now weighs 175) and often slept on the loading dock of a seldom-used building. Perkins says, "I was tore up from the floor up. It was hard for me to go back to the traditional church, because I was so messed up and I didn't know if they were going to accept me. But the church here will accept you just the way you are. We'll build you up from where you are."

Dudley sees herself as an unlikely candidate for this kind of work. She grew up in a little country town in Oklahoma. She had an ordinary upbringing and never got into drugs or alcohol. But Dudley has a tenacity that drives her to see hurting people's lives changed. The church staff tells stories of how she's walked into crack houses to pull her people out when they've had a relapse. "These are not drunks and bums and crackheads," Dudley says. "They're people with the same hopes and dreams that you and I have."