{"id":38255,"date":"2020-03-27T21:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T21:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/"},"modified":"2020-03-27T21:22:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T21:22:00","slug":"car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>James Charles decided that he wanted to help alleviate the problem of people without homes. Lacking access to any kind of large-scale shelter, Charles did the next best thing and used what he owned&#8211;a car dealership. In a Facebook post for his Kiplin Auto Group, Charles announced that he was offering up a safe space in his lot for people who need to sleep in their cars, promising an environment &ldquo;free from disturbance, trespassing, harassment or worse.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Charles said, &ldquo;We know that some families are struggling and in a tough situation. Whole families sleeping in the car. You would say &hellip; (how about) the shelters? They are full guys. &#8230; We can&rsquo;t put everyone in a hotel, but we can get you a safe place for the night.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Since the initial announcement and the media coverage it generated, Charles has received donations from others wanting to help. He started a GoFundMe campaign for the families staying on his lot, pledging to add $200 for every car sale.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>To be the hands and feet of Jesus, we must see Him in others, particularly those in need, whom we are in a position to help.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[407,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3483,3548,3648,3862,3897,4085,4096,4161,4193,4394,4579,4661,4669,5005,5007,5091,5284],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-38255","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-benevolence","tax_ctp_tags-caring","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-encouragement","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-great-commission","tax_ctp_tags-homelessness","tax_ctp_tags-humor","tax_ctp_tags-lostness","tax_ctp_tags-outreach","tax_ctp_tags-poor","tax_ctp_tags-poverty","tax_ctp_tags-social-action","tax_ctp_tags-social-conditions","tax_ctp_tags-struggles","tax_ctp_tags-witnessing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Charles decided that he wanted to help alleviate the problem of people without homes. Lacking access to any kind of large-scale shelter, Charles did the next best thing and used what he owned&#8211;a car dealership. In a Facebook post for his Kiplin Auto Group, Charles announced that he was offering up a safe space Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/\",\"name\":\"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-27T21:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-27T21:22:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/car-dealership-opens-parking-lot-for-homeless-sleeping-in-c\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Car Dealership Opens Parking Lot for Homeless Sleeping in Cars - CT Pastors","og_description":"James Charles decided that he wanted to help alleviate the problem of people without homes. 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