Who are the people in your life that are often left in the shadows? The people who are overlooked and unseen by the general population? As Christians, we follow a man who not only saw these types of individuals but centered his life around serving them. Jesus invited the tax collector to eat with him, he told parables encouraging the poor to be invited to the banquet, and taught his followers that “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me”. Jesus’ life is THE perfect model of a servant, someone who in humility is able to elevate all others above themselves. At Overlooked Ministries, we strive to follow these teachings in all we do.

Overlooked Ministries was created by John Esler and Garrett Hallbauer. The vision for this started in a school building when we were up doing some late-night studying and saw a multitude of janitors walk by the vacant classroom. They were just starting their shift at 10 pm, their heads were down, and they were serving my college with excellence. Often we would say hi when we pass these individuals in the halls, but the love is shown towards them rarely progressed passed that point. These people are overlooked, and at that moment we hatched a plan to change that. This organization was started on a seemingly normal Tuesday morning, and has quickly gained traction among the Baylor community. At this stage our prayer is for the Lord to reveal how we can best use the resources He has bestowed upon us, while simultaneously seeing the unseen (homeless, janitorial staff, dining hall staff, teachers, special needs friends) in our community.