Our Metro Relief Team

Indiana Wesleyan Alumni, Austin Bonds, journeyed through youth and came to college in a way most IWU alumni only watch in movie plots. His winding story of eventual success taught him the value of the human story and the ministry available to those willing to listen.

His Dallas Texas ministry, Metro Relief, graciously seeks to discover the story of homeless people then intently finds a pathway home for each one open to help. Austin’s inspiration to help the homeless find homes comes from an array of flashbacks and experiences as a youth growing up across the street from IWU in Marion, Indiana.

Austin and his family dealt with the same struggles prevalent in this neighborhood today including poverty, addictions, and problems with the law. However, living near IWU’s campus gave him a familiarity that would later help him. Austin remembers walking across IWU’s campus to get to his elementary school, Center Elementary, now known as Center Hall on campus. “We would walk through this campus to go to Center School. It was the best way to walk to school, straight through the campus…from 1st through 4th grade, I got to know the campus well. We rode our bikes here every weekend.”

Because of his daily short-cut to school, he knew the buildings, including College Wesleyan Church. So, when friends invited him to play basketball in middle school at JC Body Shop, the College Wesleyan youth group, he gladly agreed. People from the church and IWU welcomed him, namely Mike Munday. Mike and others embraced these kids from “The Hood” and Austin remembers feeling accepted. When someone invited him to church on a Sunday morning, he went. And he kept going. He remembers the night he gave his life to Christ at a “hell, fire, and brimstone” meeting. He stepped forward, realizing his depravity and need for a Savior.

Austin kept attending youth group and church for two or three years, then around age 15, he traded his Sunday shoes for street shoes. Austin ran around the town with little supervision. He eventually got a job, saved some money, and filled out an application for an apartment. To Austin’s shock and delight, even though he was underage, he qualified for the apartment. He lived on his own, working to pay the bills and having fun with his friends when he could. Without supervision and left to his own ideas, he found trouble. Austin says, “I was trouble. …This place was party central.” The worst of this came when he was a senior in high school. He chose to rob a school and was promptly caught. On March 21, 1996, Austin’s senior year, he was arrested.

The same night Austin was arrested, he says, “My heart was changed.” He went to prison and the change in his heart grew and was guided by mentors. Jack Brady was the jail chaplain and attended College Wesleyan Church. He regularly sent people like Terry Munday who discipled Austin. “Jack Brady (from College Wesleyan Church) was just sending me people. They only let you out of your jail cell for library hour once a week, chapel hour once a week, and anytime you had a visitor. I was so excited anytime I got a visitor because I got to get out of my cell!” He eagerly took in the ministry of these men.

 Early during his time in prison, Austin wrote a letter to his high school guidance counselor, Anne Moudy, to ask if he could finish high school. She encouraged him to do so and made sure it happened. When he finished his coursework, she came to the jail with his diploma, humming the commencement tune while she handed it to him. She told him, “You’re the only one I’ve ever heard doing this.” With a high school diploma in hand and the discipleship he experienced behind bars, his heart and mind were ready for more than a criminal’s life.

The next step Austin wanted to take was college. He applied from jail to Olivet, Grace, and IWU. He filled out paper applications and mailed them in with the return address of the Grant County Jail. Somehow, his application fees were covered, and he was accepted at both Grace and IWU. It was difficult to see IWU as his first choice in schools because of his years at College Wesleyan Church. While a handful of men and peers accepted him, he felt many others hold him at arms-length, curious but not yet willing to invest in the lives of kids who ran the streets. He felt Grace was the right choice for him and decided to attend as a traditional student at Grace College as soon as his jail sentence ended. 

Austin was released from jail on August 21st, 1996, just 5 months after being incarcerated. He was sentenced to an additional 4 years’ probation and knew the fall semester was already underway. He decided to wait until January to begin studying at Grace. He began looking for a job, made more difficult because of his criminal record. However, he was hired by Marriot Food Services to work in the kitchen at IWU. Company policy didn’t allow for ex-convicts to work at full-time status, so Austin reported in each day for three short shifts and ended up working 60 hours without being considered full-time. During his time in the kitchen at IWU, he built relationships with the students, many of whom were his age.

Austin had his eye on the January semester start date at Grace college, but one of the most devastating days of his life wrecked his plan. On the evening of January 4th, Austin went to visit his mother, Thomasena, only to find police cars and her apartment taped off, indicating an active investigation. He quickly discovered she had been murdered. To this day, the case is unsolved, and it was a devastating blow to Austin and his family. He ended up going to Grace college two weeks late and completed the spring semester at Grace College. He decided to enroll for fall classes at IWU in 1997 as a transfer student.

It took Austin the traditional 4 years to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in recreational management. While a student, he met his wife, Darcy, and they married just before their senior year at age 21. After graduation in May of 2001, Austin began looking for jobs in the camp industry. His heart was in it, but becoming a camp leader as an ex-convict wasn’t working out. In fact, not very many people were willing to hire ex-convicts. “As an educated felon, it’s hard to get a job. I even got to a final round in the interviewing process for one job, and they hired the other candidate because he didn’t have a criminal record.” Austin did what he advises convicts today to do, “Start your own business.” When Austin takes the opportunity to speak at prisons, he tells them, “They’ll give you the keys to their mansion because somehow owning your own business makes you legit.” Austin found success as a business owner for five years in his own venture, a home inspector and contractor.

In 2006, through an IWU connection, Austin met Dan and Angela Stoltzfus. The Stoltzfus’ ministered to people in New York City using a bus as a catalyst for resources through their ministry called City Relief. They would drive the bus to people who needed resources, build relationships with the people in need, and then bring the resources to them or them to the

resources. These IWU alumni were doing ministry the way that made most sense to Austin.

He and his wife joined the City Relief effort that year. He said, “If you’re a bus in New York City, you can turn your steering wheel down a different avenue. They were going to where the people were.” He loved that the ministry pointed people to resources. He said, “We took a person in a very bad situation, and we put them on our bus and found out where they needed to go to get out of their situation.” Sometimes, it was finding needed documents or replacing documents. Sometimes it was convincing them to go to a family member’s home, detox for addiction, or connect them with their estranged kids.

“Like an old-school operator, everybody on the street has a different reason why they’re

there. We have to kind of unravel some of those tangles.” For Austin, it is all about asking the

right questions. For example, they found a man in Cincinnati living in a tent the day before the

IWU visit for this interview. Austin approached the man and knew the right question to ask. A

day later, he was on a bus to Colorado to be connected to his mother again.

In 2007, Austin was listening to Tommy Barnett, founder of the LA Dream Center, and

Austin felt he received a vision directly from God. He felt God wanted him to get a bus in all major cities of the US. Austin took the vision seriously and began to work to see his efforts multiply. Austin and his wife stayed in New York City for four years, working alongside the

Stoltzfuses. In 2011, with the City Relief ministry as a model, Austin and his wife multiplied the

model in Dallas as Metro Relief. Using a bus to go to people in need, Austin began seeing success stories.

Today, Austin has 13 employees. He uses 8 mobile case workers who are “street educated.” Some have degrees, but his most relentless and helpful employees are those who have lived homeless, been helped by Austin, and work to help others to succeed. Through Metro Relief 250 homeless people have gone “home” in the last year. Austin defines home as 90 days off the street in a stable location.

The vision of multiplying his ministry in other cities is becoming a reality. The Metro Relief model is currently being used in Michigan through More Than a Bus Ministry, in Baltimore through Helping Up Missions, and in Columbus through Columbus Relief. More cities are on the horizon of his vision and Austin has sights on a global influence in the future. 

Despite anticipating a global impact, Austin keeps it very, very personal. “I think relationships matter so much.” His background was “a mixed bag of support” but contained people who saw potential in him. People around Austin wanted to help. Mike Munday and Brad Ott helped through friendship; Terry Munday, along with other men from College Wesleyan Church, bridged the economic gap and guided Austin through discipleship. These relationships offered stability, strength, and the potential for Austin to find success in life and ministry. 

His relationships from home also made an impact. Always inspired by his mother, Austin presses forward to help those most vulnerable find housing. This part of his story, knowing the life of poverty and experiencing the sudden loss of his mother through murder, drives him forward to help people in hard places. The need is great, but Austin’s inspiration is greater. 

He cannot make the impact alone, however. The greatest needs today for Metro Relief are influence, people, and planters. They are looking for people who will carry out their mission to invest in culture, values, and language to help those in need get the resources most helpful to them. “I’ve been successful because we’ve encouraged other outreaches to do what we’re doing.” Metro Relief is looking for people with an entrepreneurial spirit, people who care about the homeless and know of a place to plant people who will love the homeless and work hard.” 

“It takes a special person, but we’ve found a few of them.” The ministry is heavy on outreach, light on administration. Austin laughs at his casual marketing slogan, “Trade your suits for boots.” So far, eight mobile case managers have done just that. These people are educated with degrees, but the best education for Metro Relief work is heavy on lessons from the streets. Offices with desks and files can’t do the work of Metro Relief. When mobile case managers are hired, they go out with a cell phone, iPad, boots, and a backpack. They are “boots on the ground” case workers.

Terry Munday counts Austin a success because of, “…all the people he meets on a day-to-day basis in Fort Worth or Dallas…” Each person has a story and Austin, and his staff take the time to listen. Like Terry invested in Austin at a difficult juncture in life, Austin is now investing in the lives of people, one at a time. He listens to his or her story and then find needed resources to get each person back at home and off the streets.

Like a great movie plot, Austin Bonds’ life is coming around, full circle. He continually emphasized the importance of people investing in his life as the contributing factor to his faith story. Now, Austin can be a person, investing and believing in people to bring them out of homelessness and into homes. His experiences with people investing in him as a youth helps him to underscore the importance of the human story to his case workers as they approach people in need. He was once in need and the people of IWU and College Wesleyan Church guided him into an everlasting answer. Now Austin is offering the same in Dallas and spreading the influence of his ministry and the power of the human story to cities across the nation.

Charlie came to Metro Relief after being Executive Director of a transitional living nonprofit. Before that, he volunteered for various homeless ministries and had a men’s group in Hutchins State Prison.

Charlie has a desire to see lives changed through the Gospel and by providing practical services that assist friends to get off the streets and back into society. The two scriptures that motivate him are below.

Jesus shook them back to reality when he commanded confidently, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:44).

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. (Luke 10:33).

Charlie has been married 32 years and has two adult children.

Bryan started his career in the non-profit leadership in the United Kingdom. He has lived in Africa, Europe, and the United States. His expertise has led him to craft projects in over 40 counties worldwide. He came to Texas in 2007. 

Bryan’s 36 years of experience ranges from serving as an ordained senior pastor, volunteer mission coordinator, consultant, executive director, and development director. 

He has created international partnerships focused on homelessness, education, poverty engagement, refugee care and justice initiatives. One of Bryan’s many skills includes being a visionary communicator.

He brings his extensive set of skills to an already existing top-notch tea at Metro Relief. 

A sought after speaker and leadership consultant, Bryan is married to Tracy and they have three grown children, Shannon, Kayleigh and Calvin.

Originally from Canandaigua New York, Stacy has been involved with Metro Relief since 2012. She began her time with MR as a volunteer, giving her time by cutting hair for the homeless on the Friday Bus Outreach to Fort Worth. In 2013 she started on staff as the bookkeeper.

Today, Stacy wears many hats. She is one of our many Mobile Case Managers, the Administrative Assistant to our CEO, and the Director of Human Resources. 

Stacy is resourceful in her approach to finding solutions for those who are experiencing homelessness. She has a big heart and works tirelessly to help our friends living on the streets.

Melissa first volunteered at Metro Relief in 2015 with her church, First Baptist of Melissa. She continued to come on a regular basis with her church and continued volunteering on her own.

She began leading the Outreach Bus and helped to facilitate connections with our friends on the street. 

In 2020, Melissa joined Metro Relief full time as a Mobile Case Manager and part-time bookkeeper. She started full-time in 2021 as the Director of Finance.

Melissa has been married to her husband, Marshall, for over 27 years and they have three children.