Monthly Archives: April 2025

Punk Monk Newsletter – April 2025

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I’m very excited that it is finally feeling like spring outside. I have been able to bike to work the last couple weeks and that has felt great. I wanted to let you know about a couple things I have been up to in my ministry life.

Easter Sunrise Service:

In my last newsletter I mentioned that I’m doing some prayer & outreach work at 541 Eatery & Exchange (the pay it forward cafe) on Thursday mornings. This is through a partnership between my church (The Meeting Place) and GOHOP. I have been meeting lots of people while visiting around the big harvest table in the cafe. I’ve had the chance to pray for a number of people over the last 5 months, which has been very meaningful. It has also been a great weekday check in for people who are attending my church on Sundays. 

We have an Easter tradition at the Meeting Place where we have a joint sunrise service in Beasley Park with our friends from Trinity Lutheran Church. Afterwards the Lutherans host everyone for a big breakfast. This year one of our regulars who is experiencing homelessness joined us for the 7am service. It was a big deal that he made the effort to be there right on time. He shared that he made it a priority because he really appreciates Trinity Lutheran. He told me a story about when he was having a really hard time and he found himself at a cafe drop at Trinity. He fondly remembers that they served toast with REAL BUTTER!!!! He hadn’t had such a treat since living rough. For some of us, real butter might not seem like a life changing experience, but for this man, it made all the difference, he felt appreciated and valued. 

It was a privilege to celebrate Easter with my Meeting Place friend. 

  • Pray for people in Hamilton experiencing homelessness. Pray that they would be able to find stable and supportive housing. 
  • Pray that I would be able to make meaningful connections with people at 541. 
  • Pray that there would be a few core people that would lock in with this weekly prayer time. It is a transient population, so I don’t always have consistency with who shows up. Having even one more person who really commits to being there every week goes a long way to welcoming new people.

Looking for Kindness Shows:

In March I was able to do a living room Looking for Kindness show in Guelph. The host family invited 20 of their friends to come hear me sing and tell stories about my prayer and mental health journey. They even dragged a couple extra sofas into their living room to create 3 rows of theatre style seating! I could tell people were really engaged with my story because after my last song called 4-track Gospel the room was completely silent (no one was clapping) but it was the profound type of quiet. It felt like a holy moment. 

I have a couple more shows coming up in the next week:

If you know anyone in Owen Sound or Dundas please let them know about the show.If you haven’t seen me perform yet, there is a little teaser trailer posted up on YouTube:: 

  • Pray for me as I talk to people before and after the shows. There are a lot of great conversations happening and sometimes people are sharing some very hard stories with me. Pray that I would be a good and supportive listener. 
  • Pray that I would have more opportunities to perform in both church and secular contexts. 

Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop:

Every month I help lead the Asah: Creativity & Prayer Studio in the GOHOP Prayer Room. There was a great turn out for our traditional Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop. You might not know this but traditional easter eggs are absolutely rooted in prayer. As you are creating your design, you are supposed to be holding someone in prayer. The whole thing is done by candle light through a very slow and meditative process. I was very happy to be able to add some calm and beauty to people’s lives as part of their journey towards Good Friday and Easter. This was a great follow up to our workshop where people created a cross filled with collaged images of things they wanted to add or subtract from their daily rhythms over Lent.

  • I lead Asah with my coworker Megan. Pray for us as we try to foster opportunities for people to engage with their creator through creativity.
  • This prayer workshop is always an experiment (there is no manual for this kind of prayer). Pray that we would continue to be open to trying new ideas. 

Prayer Songs:

Prayer & Music has been a real theme for me over the last month. 

I had the opportunity to perform at the Hamilton Public Library as part of an event organized by Public Health. I chose a mix of my original gospel songs along with tunes I would consider secular hymns (Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Man In Black, etc…).  A few days before this event a friend gave me a listening prayer image of me being inside a guitar filled with water. I was peering out of the sound hole, looking through the strings that were vibrating. He said there was a feeling of energy and power through the music. When I heard this, I immediately connected the image to the songs I had been preparing for the library gig. I was kind of nervous about singing so many “Jesus-y” songs in a very secular setting, and this listening prayer felt like a gift that put me at ease and made me feel confident that I had picked the right songs. The event went great and I really felt like I was praying these songs over the many newcomers and street involved people that attended the event. 

I also lead a monthly Hymn Sing night in the GOHOP Prayer Room. The idea is that we sing old hymns and then use the words that stand out from the song as our prayers. I had just been telling my coworkers that I was a little discouraged that I often had been singing and praying on my own, but the very next Hymn Sing someone joined me! I explained the idea of using the hymns as prayers and the person told me they really wanted to sing the songs but they weren’t so sure about the prayer part because they are agnostic. After every song something jumped out at this person that they named as their prayer. They also had lots of memories that came up for them and shared a personal story after almost every hymn. For someone who wasn’t sure about the prayer part, they sure did a lot of praying. Afterwards it occurred to me that if other people had shown up that night (like I had been wishing), my agnostic friend might not have felt so free to pray and be open to the memories the Holy Spirit brought up through the music. I was so thankful for this very special Hymn Sing night.

  • I get really excited about engaging with people on the edges. Whether that is the edges of the church, or society in general. I’m often told that I feel very safe for people. Pray that I wouldn’t take that safety for granted and that I would use these opportunities to connect with people on the edges well. Pray that these safe moments would allow people to be open to the Holy Spirit. 

Fundraising Update:

I have been trying to put more effort into setting up one on one appointments to invite people to join my monthly support team. I would really appreciate your prayers around this.

 It takes a lot of courage for me to put myself out there and ask people to consider giving toward my personal support raising. Some days I don’t feel very courageous at all (please pray that I would be bold and diligent in my fundraising)

If you would like to meet with me to talk more about my ministry with GOHOP (and to just catch up), or if you know someone I should connect with, please reach out to me. Fundraising happens best one conversation at a time. 

If you would like to make a monthly or annual donation to my ministry with GOHOP you can do that here:

Donate Online with CanadaHelps:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164

You can now donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” 
in the message section.

You can also donate by Cheque:
https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/

Some Exciting Family News:

Lastly, I wanted to share some exciting news. My daughter Zoe is engaged to her boyfriend Luis (obviously now her fiancé). Susan and I have loved getting to know Luis and are so excited to have him joining our family. I think I’m going to like being a Father-in-law. Any advice out there from other Father-in-laws?

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf