What is Friendship Community?

After a life-changing summer as an intern at Commonground Community in Shreveport, LA, Gus LaFosse felt the call of God to move to Longview, TX and look into doing a similar work there. While working as an English teacher at Kilgore College, he has prayed for a breakthrough to this dream: for a location, for faithful friends, for finances. All of the necessary elements are finally coming together. 

Between 2011 and 2013, he spent four months living on the street as a homeless person in various cities to gain insight and empathy for outdoor friends. He has recently published a book about those experiences, which he has called THE TRUTH ABOUT WALLS AND BRIDGES. 

In the past several years, Gus has been privileged to find several faithful friends who shared the burden and the vision. He has found support and encouragement from his colleagues at Kilgore College and from his church family. Taking lead roles in the development of FCL were Amanda Davis, Aaron Porras, Rhonda Monks Dennis, Tim Davis, Justin Miller, and Beverly Majors. In the summer of 2013, FCL was able to take several mission trips to provide disaster relief in West, TX, and Oklahoma City, OK, which remains one of their goals.

In the Fall of 2013, two years after the initial efforts in Longview, Friendship Community obtained a location on Mobberly Ave. with two houses: one ready for function which is called "The Community House," and one that needs extensive repairs which is called "The Mission House."

 Our goal at this point is several fold: 1. First and foremost, to reach out to the homeless and destitute in the mission district with food, clothing, practical education, and friendship that fosters a change. 2. To restore the "mission" house to a residence of outstanding quality that will eventually house four interns who will run the community house and do positive things in a forgotten community. 3. To influence and inspire Christians to step out of the box and obey the scripture with enthusiasm. 4. To reach for the lost, broken, sick, and discouraged and break down the barriers between Christians and non-Christians, between black people and white people, between men and women, between republicans and democrats, between rich and poor, and between educated and uneducated. 

In order to do this, we need YOU! Everyone has a talent, and we need them all. We need friends, artists, preachers, musicians, tutors, gardeners, carpenters, electricians, laughing children, lawyers, nurses, mothers, and prayer warriors. If you have air in your lungs, you need to come over to our house and join the party. There will always be room for another friend, especially those who don't fit in anywhere else. 

We believe that everyone has a place in our circle of friends. Everyone has something to offer, and everyone has something he needs. When we come together in mutual love and respect, we can solve many of our own problems. tOGeTheR We rIsE. This is that radical thing we call community. A community built on friendship. FRIENDSHIP COMMUNITY!