The Main Ingredient is a bridge that connects people to the love of Christ through hospitality, evangelism, discipleship, and community development.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
There are 22 million unreached people in The Main Ingredient’s circle of influence. Because it is no secret that people are not flooding the doors of the church. Because it is God’s desire that all would experience the transforming love of Christ.
The Main Ingredient is setting the table for transformation!
WHO IS THE MAIN INGREDIENT?
The Main Ingredient is a fresh expression of the Great Lakes Region of the Wesleyan Church. Pastor Michael Newton of Mosaic Church of Detroit is also a talented chef and entrepreneur. God has given him a vision to be a bridge that connects people to the love of Christ through hospitality, evangelism, discipleship, and community development.
The Main Ingredient reaches out to vulnerable youth, people recovering from addiction, and re-entering society after prison, to teach them culinary skills and entrepreneurship. While working alongside these individuals, Pastor Michael develops relationships that lead to discipleship and community engagement and development. The Main Ingredient is a unique way to engage people outside the walls of the church and introduce them to the Jesus, who is the true Main Ingredient.
WHAT DO WE DO?
TMI Incubator Program
In this program, we cultivate aspiring young chefs and entrepreneurs, investing in the Detroit of tomorrow. We teach inner-city youth the foundation of culinary arts, and the knowledge it takes to run a food service/hospitality business.
Mobile Soup Kitchen
We provide hot meals once a week to families and individuals who have food insecurities and live in food deserts. With our food truck, we travel to multiple locations in the Metro Detroit area and feed the homeless, while sharing the Good News of Christ.
Missional Business
Through our food truck, we provide opportunities for those in our missional focus to earn while they learn through businesses with a discipling presence. By spending unhurried time with these individuals, we engage in incarnational discipleship, showing them how to live out their faith and share their faith with others.
Evangelism
TMI partners with the Wayne County Jail, Salvation Army, and Mariners Inn. In these missional communities, we go into the facilities weekly and share the gospel and pray over the lives of those who are incarcerated or seeking treatment for addiction.
Social Media
It is said that on average, it takes at least twelve touches of the gospel for a person to respond to the invitation to accept Christ as their Savior. Through our social media platform, we are committed to providing one of those touches. From the time of TMI’s birth in the summer of 2022 until now, we have reached over 30,000 people with Christ-centered content, shared over 200 gospel messages, and posted over 700 faith-filled Scriptures and graphics.
THE IMPACT WE HAVE HAD
Through our food truck events, we have had hundreds of gospel conversations with individuals in the Metro Detroit area. We have invested in the leadership development of seven individuals who have become heroes that make other heroes. We have assisted with one individual launching their own fresh expression in the form of a landscaping business. We have trained and provided employment opportunities to six inner-city youth and seven individuals in recovery. Since January of 2023, through our missional communities, we have led over forty people to Christ and have baptized three of them. Recently, we have partnered with Lincoln-King Academy to start a culinary program that leads to a pathway of higher education, careers, or entrepreneurship in that field.
PARTNERSHIP + SUPPORT
Currently, we have raised approximately $80,000 to support the ministry efforts of TMI. These funds have gone to providing salaries for students and individuals who participate in our earn while you learn program, to provide meals to the homeless and families with food insecurities, provide resources to reach the unchurched with the gospel, and to evangelize in the missional communities God has sent us to reach, to pay towards the food trailer, equipment, supplies, and fixed expenses. We have been blessed to have the following churches and organizations support our efforts to share the transforming love of Christ.
Our current partners:
Kentwood Community Church, GracePoint Wesleyan Church, Foundation for Evangelism, Indiana Wesleyan University, National Christian Foundation, and a host of individual donors.
WILL YOU PARTNER WITH US?
We know that without the prayers and support of people who have a heart for lives and communities transformed, we would not be able to do the work God has called us to do. We are incredibly grateful for those who have and continue to pray and support us in this work. We know that because much of our work is done in under-resourced communities, we will need more people to join us in our efforts to change the lives and communities we have been called to serve.
We have an annual goal of raising $61,000 in support. This support will enable us to cover food truck expenses, serve weekly meals through our mobile soup kitchen, employ 7 inner-city youth, return citizens, and people recovering from addiction, and obtain supplies needed for ministering in the jails and rehabilitation centers.
The Breakdown of $61,000
5 churches/organizations/individuals
@$1,000 per month10 churches/organizations/individuals
@$500 per month20 churches/organizations/individuals
@$250 per month40 churches/organizations/individuals
@$125 per month100 churches/organizations/individuals
@$50 per month200 churches/organizations/individuals
@$25 per month
To date, through our food truck and various catering events, TMI generates revenue that aids us in being 30% self-sufficient. In addition to the revenue generated through our food truck and catering events, we receive $150 monthly from individual donors, and have received a $5,000 grant towards our goal of reaching $61,000. We have set growth markers and goals to be 50% self-sufficient by years 2-3, 75% self-sufficient by years 3-5, and 100% self-sufficient by years 5-7