Late Supper Bridges Trespassing Dispute

LAKELAND | A late-night meeting over supper Wednesday has produced a truce - if not complete understanding - between two preachers, one of whom landed in jail over his ministry to the homeless.

The Rev. Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church in Lakeland, and Brandt Russo, who travels the country in a converted school bus living with and ministering to the homeless, met at Strader's church, and on Thursday, Strader sent Russo an e-mail pledging to drop trespassing charges against him.

"Now, according to Florida law, it is up to me to 'drop the charges.' We are happy to do that and will work with your attorney to be sure that is handled quickly," Strader wrote.

Russo has been in Lakeland about two weeks, spending time among homeless people who were attending the Florida Outpouring revival, which began at Ignited Church in April. After Russo wrote on his Web site that the homeless were being ignored or harassed by the church, Strader and his staff received angry e-mails and grew suspicious of Russo.

Russo, 24, was arrested last week on property adjoining Ignited Church at the behest of three members of Strader's staff. He spent two days in jail before friends, including some of the homeless, bailed him out.

The two preachers are an unlikely pair. Russo has long dreadlocked hair, tattoos and piercings, and wears used clothes. He says he has voluntarily lived in near-poverty for a couple of years among the poor and homeless as a way of emulating Jesus Christ.

He runs a nonprofit organization, Can't Ignore the Poor, in partnership with The Bridge, a West Virginia ministry.

Strader started Ignited in 2005. In April, an event called the Florida Outpouring began at the church under Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley and quickly grew to draw an international following. Bentley left in late July under a cloud of marital troubles, and the revival has continued at Ignited since then under Strader's leadership.

Wednesday's meeting was arranged by the Rev. Adam Mayfield and the Rev. Wade Fahnestock, local pastors who have befriended Russo.

In Russo's telling, he and Strader did not see eye to eye.

"I just don't get the guy. He continued to talk about liability and insurance and property, but those were not Jesus' concerns. .<0x200A>.<0x200A>. I guess I'm a little too utopian for his tastes. But not just believing Jesus' truth but trying to enact it - I don't think there's anything utopian about that," he said.

Strader said he thought the meeting went well and that he and Russo reached an agreement to "clean the slate and start over."

"From my perspective, what he's trying to do is start a grass-roots movement of people helping people. The problem is that I would prefer he go through normal channels. He just showed up on our front lawn and started helping people without permission," he said.

Strader said he would allow Russo to visit and help the homeless who have been camping out in the woods near the church.

In his e-mail to Russo on Thursday, Strader blamed Russo's arrest on "total miscommunication" and apologized to Russo.

"I would like for you to put together a list of practical things you feel that Ignited Church and the Body of Christ can do to help the plight of the hurting people in our community. We will present this list to our leadership and do what we feel we can do," he wrote.

Looking over the e-mail, Russo said he could do that.

"That's what I do. I meet with pastors and empower them to meet the needs of people," he said.

As for the trespassing charges, Russo said he understood that Lisa Ledbetter, a Tampa-area lawyer representing him, was trying to secure the necessary papers for him to sign. Calls to Ledbetter on Thursday were not returned.

Russo has parked his bus at Mayfield's Journey Church office located behind Gibsonia Baptist Church in Lakeland.

A group of 30 or more people, including a number of homeless, gather each evening to eat donated food and hold spontaneous worship services.

One of the homeless, Scott Holmes, said Russo was trying to help him find a job.

"This place gives me and my wife a whole lot of hope, and there's not a lot of hope out there," he said. "It's become like a family that we don't have. I'm very thankful for Brandt."

Even if the charges are dropped, Russo said he will stick around awhile. Thanks to the Internet and a report earlier this week in The Ledger, people have begun to offer Russo moral and financial support. On Wednesday, a family of five showed up at his bus with a meal of beans and rice.

"I think going to jail opened a lot of eyes. God uses injustice to bring justice, as quirky as that sounds," Russo said. "It's beautiful what God has done in the midst of this chaos."

[ Cary McMullen can be reached at cary.mcmullen@theledger.com or 863-802-7509. His blog, Scriptorium: A Religion Panorama, can be read at religion.theledger.com. ]