The beginnings of the Good Shepherd Mission date back to the 1920s. The Mission has had a number of locations in the city of Paterson, the most recent being its present location at 336 Broadway, where it has been since 1977. Since its inception, the Good Shepherd Mission's purpose has been to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to men who were down and out. In the early days of its existence most of the men who came to its doors were those who had fallen on bad times due to the problems associated with a losing battle against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Most of these were older men, men in their fifties and sixties. This continued to be true until the late 1970s. At that time the men who came to the Mission tended to be younger, men in their twenties, who were in a losing battle with all kinds of substances, narcotic as well as alcoholic. In the 1980s, God sent Mike Vieira to the Good Shepherd Mission. Mike himself had come to the Mission initially from a substance abuse background. Through the grace of God, Mike accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. This same grace eventually enabled Mike to work at the Mission as an assistant to Leo Heller, the director of the Mission at the time. When Leo eventually retired, Mike assumed the director's job. A few years later, he married and was joined by his wife Joan and the two of them have been running the Mission ever since. In 1996, Mike was ordained.
The Spirit of God has been and continues to perform a mighty work at the Good Shepherd Mission. During the 1990s, He has used Mike and Joan to setup and maintain a nine-month program for men who come to the Mission and who wish to participate in it. The program creates a structured environment of Bible study, prayer and counseling. The men are taught to help themselves. Men who have been in the program for a while help the newer men. Some of the men who complete the program have stayed on at the Mission to become members of the staff to help Mike and Joan. Toward the end of the program, men are given the opportunity to seek employment. Some of the men who complete the program come back to the Mission in order to pick up where they left off and go through the program again so that they can learn more about God and get a more thorough understanding of the Scriptures.
We are never sure what God's plans might be, but He does give us hints. The Board of Trustees and Mike and Joan Vieira believe that God is telling us that the Mission needs a larger facility. We believe this for two reasons. First, we are continually either above or greatly above capacity in terms of the number of men at the Mission. This includes both those men in the program and those who seek shelter. The second reason we believe that God is leading us to acquire additional facilities is because when we made an announcement to our supporters that we were setting up a building fund, we received over $70,000 cash within three months following the announcement.
The Good Shepherd Mission is a faith ministry. Our funding comes entirely from our supporters.