A faith-based ministry, made of mostly volunteers and former guests.
inExcelsis is a Missouri nonprofit founded in January 2020 to serve unhoused individuals, families, and veterans across the St. Louis area. We are faith-based in origin and character, and humanitarian in purpose. We serve people regardless of religious background, political affiliation, housing history, or any characteristic other than need.
EIN 84-4181227 · 501(c)(3) since 2020
Two lessons. Four years apart
The Genesis
In 2015, after intensive missionary training in Zimbabwe, Severin Pelekara joined his placement in Brazil, serving as a social educator with the Shade and Fresh Water Project of the Methodist Church — a nationwide program providing academic, recreational, and Christian education to children ages 6 to 14 outside school hours.
One afternoon, Severin was playing Pick-a-Stick with Gustavo, a nine-year-old in the program. The game uses a bundle of small sticks released onto a tabletop in random disarray; each player takes turns removing one stick without disturbing the others. Within a few rounds, Gustavo had collected nearly all the sticks. He could have claimed victory. Instead, he quietly shared his pile with Severin so the game could continue.
That gesture from a nine-year-old was the seed that led to inExcelsis.
Finding Purpose
Four years later, in July 2019, Severin attended the Wild Goose festival in Hot Springs, NC, representing the Global Mission Fellow program. There he met Savanah from Toledo, OH, representing Fresh Expression. They talked about the uncertainty the United Methodist church was wrestling with after the 2018 General Conference, and they brainstormed how young Christians could make a tangible difference in their own communities.
Back in St. Louis, Severin began telling friends about the burden growing in him — to serve those experiencing homelessness. In December 2019, days before Christmas, he was invited to volunteer at an outreach event downtown. When asked about the experience, he said:
“I found my purpose in life. I feel alive. This is what I am going to do for the rest of my life.”
The Call to Act
Shortly after, on a lunch break, Severin saw a young man reading under the South Kingshighway-McRee bridge. He invited him to lunch. After declining a few times, the man accepted. His name was Eric, from Dallas, TX, father to a three-year-old daughter. Eric was working to leave behind a previous lifestyle — one that had cost him time in prison — and to become the father his daughter deserved.
When Severin asked how he could help, Eric said:
“I do not want to be given any charity. My deepest desire is to contribute to society. I want to work. I just want the feeling of being useful to others — that luxury of being a productive member of the community.”
Thus the inExcelsis Theology of Mission was born. On January 6, 2020, Severin filed the paperwork that made inExcelsis Inc. real.
What began with a child’s generosity and a man’s request for dignity continues every Saturday at 4265 Shaw Boulevard.
inExcelsis exists to retrieve the dignity of individuals, families, veterans, and displaced youth experiencing homelessness; to ignite their reintegration into community; and to walk alongside them as they achieve lasting stability.
A St. Louis where every neighbor experiencing homelessness is met with dignity, accompanied into lasting stability, and rebirthed as an agent of transformation in their community.
What we live by, in the order we learned them.
01
Faith in Action
Faith is the source of our work, and service is its form. We live what we believe by showing up — week after week, season after season.
02
Radical Hospitality
Every neighbor who arrives is received as a welcomed guest, not a case file. No test for entry, no quota for return, no time limit on belonging.
03
Patient Compassion
We move at the pace of the person in front of us, not the pace of our metrics. We listen before we advise, sit before we speak, and stay when others have moved on.
04
Intentional Respect
We treat every person we encounter as the most important person we have ever met on earth. We use names, never labels.
05
Unconditional Love
No one earns our welcome and no one is asked to pass a test of worthiness. Our humanitarian services are offered without conditions of religion, sobriety, behavior, or background.
06
Dignity
Dignity is the inherent worth of every person — given by God and never lost. Our work is not to bestow dignity but to ensure no system or interaction obscures it.
The people behind the work.
Some of us came to serve. Some came for help. Most stayed. The volunteers, staff, former guests, and friends below are the family this work made and the family that makes this work possible. We’ve stopped keeping track of who joined how. We just know we belong to each other.
STAFF
Severin Pelekara
Executive Director
Severin was born in the Central African Republic, raised in Cameroon, and served as a missionary in Brazil with the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. He came to St. Louis in September 2017, is a member of Webster United Methodist Church, and works full-time at Merck (Millipore Sigma). “Serving at inExcelsis has been a humbling privilege in God’s vineyard — alongside those then strangers, and now family.”
Betty Vazas Kreider
Holistic Care Team Lead
Betty has been part of inExcelsis for over five years — since the days when the ministry met in parks where unhoused neighbors gathered. A part-time nurse and member of One Family Church, she finds peace in hiking, the gym, and time with family and friends. “I have a deep need to share the Love of God with people who feel hopeless — starting with me, loving them, letting them know our Lord gave it all for them and seeks them.”
Dawna Kenkel
Community Outreach Manager
Dawna brings more than a decade in community programs and healthcare operations, including referral relationships across St. Louis and systems for safe, effective outreach. A Certified Professional Compliance Officer with Community Health Worker training underway, she pairs operational discipline with compassionate care. “I care about practical dignity — not drive-by help, but consistent presence, safe systems, and relationships built on consistency, respect, and trust.”
Nancy Mack
Public Relations & Communications Manager
Nancy grew up in Ferguson, attended Washington University, and earned her Master’s at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Her career has spanned teaching high school social studies, juvenile court probation, YMCA membership leadership, and marketing communications — a range she now brings to telling inExcelsis’s story. “I love to write and edit, called by Jesus to work for — and with — the unhoused. My favorite verses are Romans 8:31 through 39”.
Barry Garber
Discipleship Coordinator
Barry grew up Mennonite in central Missouri and spent over 25 years working downtown, long struggling with how to help unhoused neighbors who lacked the family and church support he was blessed with growing up. He found his way to inExcelsis through Wellspring Family Church and shares life with his wife of 30+ years, three adult children, and two golden doodles. “My passion is entering people’s stories — and growing my faith by witnessing how God is at work in those I serve.”
John Cunniff
Holistic Care Team Lead
John grew up in St. Louis — a staunch supporter of Mizzou basketball, Mizzou football, and (of course) the Cardinals. He joined inExcelsis about five years ago as a guest of the first Winter Safe Haven, and now coordinates Saturday meals, setup, breakdown, and coffee service — and many things in between. “They welcomed me as family, made space for me to give, and helped me find purpose in serving coffee every Saturday.”
Jack Kennedy, PhD
Board Chair, Happy Bar
Michelle Sanders
Board Secretary
Claren O’Bannon, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA
Board Treasurer, Manager Wipfli Advisory LLC
Matt Ruta
Board Member · Associate Vice President / Director
IL, IN, KY, MO. Labcorp
Lauren Garber
Board Member · Director of Education , Heritage Christian Academy
Kwaku D. Tawiah, Ph.D, DABCC
Board Member · Sir. Scientific Manager, Roche
Sean Heskett
Board Member
We’re accountable to the people we serve, and the people who support us.
inexcelsis Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity recognized by the IRS since January 2020. EIN 84-4181227. Our annual reports, financial compilation, and Form 990 filings are publicly available. Our governance manual — which describes how the Board oversees programs, finances, and ethics — is available on request.
Where the work happens.
4265 Shaw Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63110
Saturdays, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Last Saturday of the month: street outreach, Outreach Center closed)
For correspondence and donations by mail.
INEXCELSIS INC. 217 Lambeth Lane. St. Louis, MO 63125
All checks payable to inExcelsis Inc. Please do not send physical donations to this address.