Meet Pastor Kevin Hart from Washington, DC who is a Minister, Author, Activist and Small Business Owner.

About Your Hustle

Business / Project Name

Book “Homeless In My Own BackYard”

How did you get started, and how did you get to where you are today?

While “in the wilderness” of a lifestyle that led to addiction, incarceration and gun violence, Pastor Hart experienced a life of frustration, anxiety, loneliness and depression. It is for these reasons that Pastor Hart stays so involved leading and serving the inner-city community that surrounds his church. These days my life is about genuine, authentic relationships,” says Hart. “My relationships in the streety were strictly transactional. Quid pro quos. I yearned to be that genuine relationship to those who might be in a dark season in their lives. Not looking to profit off their pain but looking to find the potential in their pain.” That’s the power in my story. No matter how far I strayed, I was still my Father’s son. Both my physical Father and my Heavenly Father’s son. The potential is in your perception of the relationship. How you perceive it. Because if you don’t receive yourself as a son, you won’t remember who you are.

Challenges and Obstacles

Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of your struggles along the way?

The biggest challenge Pastor Hart sees for people who are still trapped in homelessness and addiction is for them to conquer condemnation, explaining that the biggest form of condemnation in an individual is his own self-condemnation. “I remember I would get my paycheck by 4pm and be broke by 7 pm. Yet I wouldn’t come home til the next morning because I was so ashamed of the mistakes I continually made. So, I’m out here encouraging people to remember who they really are, and that it’s never too late to turn back in the right direction.” For Pastor Hart, his return to the “right direction” means making sure others get to do the same.

About Your Product / Service

What do you do? What are you most proud of? What sets you apart?

On any given day, you can find Pastor Hart serving the needs of the people in his home-town and the neighboring states. In addition to being a husband and father of five children, Pastor Hart manages his church’s Project Empowerment Day Care Center, provides business certification classes, employs formerly incarcerated men looking for an honest living, and works on upgrades of production equipment to maximize the quality of the online services for the church. Pastor Hart can also be found planning next steps for his “Pick Up the Pieces” nonprofit which brings together inner-city high school students with small business owners to productively combat the negative challenges of DC’s recent gentrification. You may even find him sharing his message of God’s love and self-love in a food truck while selling his community-famous “drizzle” crab cakes in DC and Maryland. When the daytime hours are gone, you can catch Pastor Hart during those stolen moments in the evening when he does the work to complete his doctorate from Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. Then there are the inspiring messages he produces several days a week for the mostly virtual services he conducts for his congregation until things are safer to hold full services and meetings. And if these activities weren’t enough, Pastor Hart recently released a memoir, describing his parable son’s scenario where he spent almost 20 years homeless and on drugs before finding his way back to his Father’s church and a life of community service.

Pricing Information

“Homeless In My Own BackYard” is $24.95

Business Contact

Facebook: Elder Kevin Hart

Instagram: @elderkevinhart

Website: https://www.khart.org/