Some families have a weekly game night, a weekly movie night, or a weekly date night. Lebanon knows the Brownlees, however, for their weekly night of service. Every Tuesday, Linda and TJ Brownlee prepare a meal in their home, plate it, and take it out into the community for people without homes and in need.
Mission 13, as it’s called, is a tradition the family has been practicing for six years, but the family has been serving the community for much longer. They’ve been involved with organizations like ShowerUp in Nashville and Compassionate Hands, among others, all because of a few key incidents. The first was an unexpected healing over a year’s time.
“In 2012, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer,” Linda said. “They told me I had six months to live, and I was healed at that time. So from then on out, our goal [was] to basically do whatever God wanted us to do.”
Their efforts became focused on community members without homes when, one day after church, TJ had his own unexpected encounter. The family had gone to Taco Bell for lunch, and TJ made eye contact with a man standing outside the building. He walked by, and when he went back out to the car for something, the pair made eye contact again — and a third time on his way back inside.
“I told my wife, ‘I’m going to go ask him if he wants something to eat.’ So when I went outside, he was gone,” TJ said. “I told Linda when I came back in that that won’t ever happen again.”
Afterward, TJ said, it felt like he had denied Jesus three times. From then on, they resolved to help anyone they saw who was in need. Their practice of feeding people without homes began in 2019 when Compassionate Hands closed for the spring. The Brownlees recognized a need and resolved to fill it, taking time to make meals and sit and talk with the people they serve. It was a family thing, both in the food they made and the people who participated. When their daughter and her husband and kids visited, they took part, and occasionally, the Brownlees brought other family members along.
“We make a meal like we would want to eat,” Linda said. “We just… we see them, and I think that’s the important part — that we see them.”
In 2020, their weekly practice found a name. One Tuesday, the Brownlees were plating barbecue sandwiches with their nieces when they noticed they had an extra plate and bun.
“I said, ‘That means there’s somebody out there that really needs this plate that we didn’t even account for,’” Linda said. “The kids were laughing, saying ‘Y’all are crazy.’”
Four plates were left at the end of the night, so the Brownlees took them to some of the kids living in hotels — another ministry of theirs. There were three kids that they spent time with weekly, and Linda assumed that the final person was one they would find on the way home. That was until she turned around and saw a fourth little boy carrying a ball and a Solo cup.
“I said, ‘Hey buddy, you want a plate too?’” Linda said. “He said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ He was so kind.”
Linda said the boy had a disability, so she opened his plate for him.
“He goes and sits down, and I turn around, and I see my girls in the car. They said, ‘That’s number 13,’” Linda said. “He held his cup up and said, ‘Would you fill my cup?’ And I’m telling you, I sobbed. We all sobbed, and I was like, ‘Buddy, you don’t know whose cup you just filled.’”
Since that day, the Brownlees have called their work ‘Mission 13’ because there is always someone they feel they are supposed to go out and visit, someone they could not have accounted for.
For years, Mission 13 stayed the same. Every Tuesday, the family made a meal as if they were feeding their own family, plated it, and took it out in the community. They would donate items when they had them and took gas cards for people who were spending nights in their cars. Less than a year ago, their work began to find support. Businesses and community members will donate their extra food, churches will send them potluck leftovers, and any need they find is answered immediately.
“We actually had to go buy another freezer to be able to keep a lot of our stuff,” Linda said. “In the past six or eight months, I don’t think we’ve had to fund anything except for containers. But before, we just made a meal like we were going to feed our family.”
The generosity hasn’t stopped with food. Linda said they get sleeping bags and blankets left on their doorstep, and people always call to see if they need more.
“It’s just from people in our community wanting to help,” Linda said. “If I put it out there and say, ‘We need this,’ It’s pretty much there within two or three days.”
It isn’t a nonprofit. It’s just a family doing what they can to help the community. It’s a goal that everyone can be inspired by.
“We are content doing what we’re doing,” Linda said. “We’re not sure what’s next for us, but we’re ready for whatever. That is — whatever God tells us to do next.”
