“Love Is a Verb” Stories from an 8-Year Ministry to Brevard’s Streets Shared in New Book

LIFE & TIMES — “Love is a verb,” John Adams told me. John is the founding operations manager of Streetside Showers Florida, where he’s been serving the area’s unhoused for nearly a decade and has seen countless lives changed through the ministry’s simple acts of service—stories that will now be told through his newly released book, Showers From Heaven: Stories of Faith, Service, and Second Chances.

I ran into John last month at Wholeness to Freedom Ministries’ weekly Thursday food pantry, where he was excited to give me a sneak peek of the then yet-to-be-announced book. Streetside Showers has made the 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. pantry one of its permanent weekly stops, providing shoppers with hot showers, hygiene supplies, and clean clothing alongside their groceries.

But for John, the heart of the ministry is something more.

“It’s not just giving them a shower, it’s the relationships,” John said. “As they’re waiting to take a shower, I’ll listen to their stories and what’s going on and pray with them.”

In Showers From Heaven, John wanted to let those stories speak for themselves. The book is an anthology of real-life encounters, with each chapter opening the door to a new story of transformation witnessed through the ministry of Streetside Showers.

It was Carlos Duran, pastor of Iglesia Nueva Vida in Kissimmee, one of Streetside Showers’ former stops, who encouraged John to begin writing the book.

“He would come out and visit while we were doing showers and I’d tell him some of the stories,” John said. “Pastor Carlos said, ‘John, you need to write these stories down. They could inspire others, and they deserve to have their stories told.’”

John prayed about it and felt confirmation. “God the Holy Spirit was saying, yes, this is what we want you to do, to share these stories. So that’s what I did," John Said. He started putting the stories to paper in 2024.

“God put me there for a reason”

One of those stories that is especially meaningful to John is about a man named Robert.

In the early days of the ministry, John ran a small two-stall shower trailer on Saturday mornings out of Mosaic Church in Palm Bay. Robert was one of the regulars. “I’d see him fishing along Crane Creek,” John said. “He rode his bicycle. He was homeless, but his camp wasn’t far from the church.”

One Saturday, as John was finishing up and preparing to leave, Robert came in on his bike late.

“He said, ‘Mr. John, is it too late?’” John recalled. “I told him I was leaving, but he said, ‘I really need to talk to you really bad, and I really need a shower.’”

Reluctantly, John unpacked one of the stalls and let him in.

“When he came out, he asked, ‘Pastor John, can you do an exorcism?’” John said. “I told him I’m not a priest, but I can pray for you.”

“I told him, I think what you’re dealing with probably has something to do with your drugs, right?” John recalled. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I can’t stop. I try to stop, but I can’t.’”

John prayed with him, sitting on the shower steps, and handed him a Bible.

“I told him, take this home and start reading it. Start in the book of John. God is always there with you, and He’s going to find a way for you.”

This was on a Saturday. On Monday, John got a call from Robert’s sister, who worked with him at Health First. Robert had died from a fentanyl overdose.

“It just struck me,” John said. “I felt like God put me there for a reason, not just to get Robert a shower, but to prepare him to come home.”

The Journey from Palm Bay Springs to Streetside Showers

Moments like that have defined the ministry from the beginning. Before Streetside Showers, John had started a small outreach called Bridges of Florida, visiting local camps and helping connect people to resources. One day, he asked where they were bathing.

“They told me they were bathing in the drainage canal,” he said. Some of the men called it "Palm Bay Springs." Some others called it “Tranquility Falls” because it dropped into another canal. They also warned him about alligators. “I thought, I’ve got to do something,” John said.

Nicole Olinski, a pastor at Grace Church in West Melbourne where John attended at the time, connected him with her brother-in-law, Lance Olinski, who had started a mobile shower ministry in Texas. He had a trailer sitting unused and had been praying about what to do with it. John drove out, brought the trailer back, and began what would become Streetside Showers in Florida.

In its early days, the ministry stretched from Palm Bay to Titusville. Mosaic Church in Palm Bay was the first stop, with John opening the trailer there each Saturday while still working full time at Health First. Shortly after, Curtis Wright of Under the Bridge Ministry in Titusville asked John if he could serve with them once a week as well. After challenges securing water access at Parrish Park where Under The Bridge operated, John established a partnership with Pastor Scooter Morrison of LifePoint Church to finally open a second stop in Titusville, where he would drive up with the trailer once a week after work.

Today, Streetside Showers primarily serves Brevard County, with regular weekly stops in Melbourne, Palm Bay, Indian Harbour Beach and Cocoa. At times, the ministry has extended west into Kissimmee and St. Cloud and has served as far north as St. Augustine.

Through it all, the approach has remained simple.

“I don’t pry into their stories,” John said. “But when they want to share, I’ll listen, and I’ll pray with them.”

“Love is a Verb”

It is those encounters that became the foundation of Showers From Heaven. John hopes the stories will inspire people to see how simple acts of service can lead to meaningful impact.

A public book launch and signing party is scheduled for May 8 at 6 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Melbourne, where John will have the first paperback and hardcover copies available. A second signing is planned for June 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as part of a local authors event hosted by Community of Hope at the Gale Center in Palm Bay.

The book is also available now on Amazon, where early support helps more readers discover it through the recommendation algorithm. John asks those who have been impacted by Streetside Showers to leave a review to help others find the book and encounter its message.

“Love Is a Verb” is the title of the book’s final chapter, a conclusion with a message John hopes readers carry with them. What that looks like, he knows, will be different for everyone.

“If you're good at baking, then bake cookies and take them to the homeless, or to nursing homes, wherever you feel comfortable,” John said. “Put a smile on somebody's face and tell them God loves them and so do you. That’s the whole purpose of my book—look how you can touch people's lives just by doing a simple act, like me, a simple act of giving somebody a shower.”

Showers from Heaven is now available on Amazon.

— Christians of Brevard is a multi-church initiative that seeks to amplify the voices of local churches and ministries for the purpose of encouraging the local body of Christ and advancing the Kingdom of God. Join our Facebook community @ChristiansOfBrevard