Recent Articles
by and About Keith
Keith's Journals from his home schooling trip with Timothy to Thailand and Burma in February 2008:
Thailand #1
Thailand #2
Bankok #3
Burma#4
Garrison's Newsletter
An article in the online magazine Speakeasy featured Keith recently.
Click here.
A former volunteer, Judy Crist, created a website with more info about Keith. Click here.
In 2003, Keith and his wife Darlene and son Timothy went on a "Rite of Passage" sabbatical. To see pictures and read Keith's journal entries, click here.
Keith Wasserman grew up in the Jewish community of Cleveland, Ohio during the 1960s. After his father died and his mom remarried, Keith’s family moved to the Dayton , Ohio area which is where Keith met Christians for the first time in his life. Keith’s life was powerfully transformed after becoming a Jewish Christian during his junior year in high school in Centerville, Ohio. Graduating high school was a major milestone for Keith because he had spent the five previous years using and selling drugs.
Keith moved to Athens, Ohio in 1976 to attend Ohio University and first felt the call to full-time Christian ministry. During his senior year at Ohio University Keith remodeled the basement of his home into a two-bedroom apartment to assist what he then called “displaced persons.” Keith had a vision to reach out to the poor and homeless of Southeast Ohio and brought that vision to a reality. In 1981 he opened established Good Works, Inc. with the help of friends and supporters. Good Works is a Christian non-profit ministry that provides shelter to the rural poor and homeless of Southeastern Ohio. We have an emergency shelter, The Timothy House, operating 24 hours daily, and another facility, The Hannah House, in which the long term issues of the homeless are addressed.
From a Good Works Mission Statement:
Keith is now in his 27th year working with the poor and homeless and speaks more than 80 times each year to community groups, churches, and on college campus about being involved with the lives of ‘those who can not repay us’— the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger (Job 29:1-17). To better understand homelessness, Keith has chosen to be homeless on 8 different occasions over the past 15 years in seven urban cities. You can read about these experiences by clicking here. A graduate of Ohio University, Keith has attended Asbury Theological Seminary on five occasions over the past 20 years. Keith and his wife Darlene have been married 25 years and have one son, Timothy, age 16.
When asked what it means for Keith to be involved in Good Works today, he shared "The greatest commandment God gives human beings is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that these two commandments are mystically interrelated and that it is not important to God when we think we are doing one and when we think we are doing the other. More importantly, Jesus calls us to another level: “A new commandment I give you: Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). I think this word is about translating what Christ has done for us through our lives in into the lives of others. The neighbors God has given me HIS special concern for are the widows, fatherless and homeless. All we are trying to do through Good Works is simply love God and love our neighbors. Every act of sacrificial love becomes an offering of worship to please God. I feel I am making an impact upon the world by being faithful to love God and care for my neighbors; in the end, there is nothing more sophisticated about our mission. In the end, I believe that nothing else truly matters. God continues to supply JOY through his grace each day in the work of repairing broken and shattered lives."
