I\u2019ve had readers ask what happens at the chapel services we\u2019re required to attend if we stay at the Mission. So I decided to type up this summary.<\/p>\n
We attend chapel every evening at 6, following dinner at 5. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The chapel is in a brand-new building known as \u201cPhase 2\u201d of the shelter\u2019s redevelopment. One of the pastors told us the entire redevelopment project cost about $40 million, all privately-raised funds, not one government dollar taken.<\/p>\n As a result, the new chapel is state-of-the-art.<\/p>\n Confession: I want SO BAD to get on those drums and bang out the intro to Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cRock and Roll.\u201d I suppose that\u2019d be frowned upon, though.<\/p>\n Men start arriving from the dining room as much as 40 minutes before the service is set to begin. Our pastors get on their YouTube Premium account and play contemporary Christian videos on the screens.<\/p>\n The service starts with annoucements<\/strong><\/p>\n Unless it\u2019s his day off, our main pastor starts the service. He asks the audience to put away cell phones, earphones, newspapers, and anything else not pertaining to the service. (Bible apps on smartphones are allowed.) \u201cAnd please, guys, for the love of Jesus, keep your shoes on.\u201d<\/p>\n He often takes a few minutes to tell new guys about the shelter\u2019s faith-based drug & alcohol recovery program. It\u2019s entirely free of charge and lasts 7 months, 6 of which are spent in a country-style facility near Shelby Forest. While in the program, men have the chance to get their GED and a two-year college degree, free of charge.<\/p>\n If there is a guest speaker, our main pastor leads the room in prayer for him, that the word of God may be revealed through him. (I can\u2019t recall ever having a female guest preacher.)<\/p>\n After that, one of three things generally happens:<\/p>\n Option 1: The guest speaker delivers a lesson<\/strong><\/p>\n One of my favorite church groups that volunteers at the shelter has a pastor who couldn\u2019t be much over 30. He preaches in a T-shirt and jeans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s currently leading us through an exploration of the Bible book of James. \u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite books because it contains so many life lessons that are still applicable today,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Recently, he spoke about one of those life lessons: the need to accept those who are different than us. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, not only do you hurt the \u2018other\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cYou hurt yourself, and you weaken the church.\u201d<\/p>\n By no means am I implying that all the best guest speakers are young. One of our favorites is 81. He speaks at 201 Poplar as well, where he is given a rock star\u2019s welcome, the inmates chanting his name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He likes to do a \u201cword of the month\u201d and expound on what it means. A recent word was \u201cfaith.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are those who went through the same drug or alcohol addiction many in the audience are battling. They have inspiring stories of redemption to share. Their sermons are usually fiery and emotional.<\/span><\/p>\n As a former teacher, I love learning things. So I like it when our guest speakers come bearing lessons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Option 2: The guest speaker delivers an invitation<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cEvery head bowed, every eye closed,\u201d said the gray-haired preacher visiting from a suburban church. \u201cI have a question. I\u2019m going to survey the room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow many in this room know that you know that you know that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are saved? That you\u2019re a believer? That you\u2019ve accepted our Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, and if you died today, you\u2019d go to heaven?\u201d<\/p>\n I hate that little survey for a couple of reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One is that I was raised to believe that whether you\u2019ve accepted Jesus is a conversation between you and God – no one else. If you choose to include someone you trust and respect, like a parent or a pastor, in the conversation, you can certainly do so – but that decision should be YOURS AND YOURS ALONE, free from the influence of that third party.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A second issue is that while I do believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, I do not hold EXACTLY the same beliefs as the people who preach to us at the shelter. There\u2019s one belief in particular –\u00a0 <\/span>I won\u2019t go into it here but it\u2019s a pretty big one – on which I differ from them and most of mainstream Christianity. So I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d be considered a believer or unbeliever in the guest preachers\u2019 eyes. And again, I consider the matter none of their business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The guest preacher continued, \u201cNow, to those of you who didn\u2019t raise your hand – meaning, you haven\u2019t accepted Jesus as your savior or are not sure you have – I\u2019m going to give you the opportunity to take care of that at the end of this service.\u201d<\/p>\n And sure enough, toward the end, the guest preacher invited anyone who wants to be \u201csaved\u201d to come up to the stage, where he led them through a prayer. \u201cMen, if you said that prayer and meant it in your heart of hearts, congratulations,\u201d the preacher said. \u201cYou\u2019ve been saved.\u201d<\/p>\n But you wanna know the funny thing about all this?<\/p>\n Most of the 13 or 14 men who came up to be \u201csaved\u201d were the SAME PEOPLE who came up to be saved when there was a call to the stage two nights ago, and five nights ago, and eleven nights ago!!!<\/p>\n Do they not get that \u201csaved\u201d only has to be done once? Are they simply seeking attention from the speakers and pastors? I don\u2019t know.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUT HERE\u2019S THE THING\u2026 As much as the surveys and the calls to the stage annoy me personally, I concede they are not a bad strategy for two reasons:<\/p>\n One – Most of these men have never been told about religion or pondered their connection to the spiritual world. Whereas, I was taken to church from age 3 and have spent considerable time in my adult life focusing on spirituality.\u00a0 So I\u2019m not exactly the target audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Two – The shelter is a TRANSIENT shelter. Some men have been there for 10 years, but you can\u2019t guarantee any particular man will be there longer than tonight. So there\u2019s a need to strike while the iron is hot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Option 3: No guest speaker; an in-house pastor speaks<\/strong><\/p>\n These are some of my favorite days in the chapel. The pastors (and one shelter supervisor who has been ordained) know us well and have developed a personal connection with us. They reach us through humor and preach relatable messages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They also understand that 25-40 minutes is the sweet spot for sermon length for this audience. I wish a few of our monthly guest speakers understood that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wrapping it up<\/strong><\/p>\n If the main pastor is still in the chapel, he comes back up to \u201cpray us out.\u201d He prays that the speaker\u2019s words fell on fertile ground. He asks the Lord to bless us, keep us, and smile upon us as we sleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He then dismisses our guest church, if there is one. Next he dismisses those in the recovery program; they have chores to do around the building. \u201cHoly Rollers, you can start rolling out too,\u201d he says, meaning those who have a wheelchair, walker, or cane. After they have a minute or two head start, he reminds the rest of us to go get a shower if we haven\u2019t had one yet that day. Then we\u2019re all dismissed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Miscellany\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s also a morning chapel service at 11, but I\u2019m hardly ever there for that one – I\u2019m most always at the library with my MacBook, typing a post for this blog. The incentive to show up for morning chapel is that attendees get lunch afterward. And it\u2019s not the typical soup kitchen lunch of a peanut butter sandwich and a cup of water. It\u2019s a hot meal with an entree, a side, and dessert.<\/p>\n Some of the men staying at the shelter – way more than I\u2019d have expected, actually – get really into the chapel services. They know all the words to the Christian songs that play on the big screens and they sing along. They respond to the sermons, holding their palms out and shouting, \u201cCome on with it, preacher!\u201d \u201cAmen, preacher!”<\/p>\n By shelter policy, you won\u2019t get thrown out if you get caught falling asleep in chapel. Sleep is considered by the pastors to sometimes be the blessing a man needs the most.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The drum set and piano do get used. A few times a month, guest church members perform live music. Shout-out to Brother Lance who sings and plays guitar the first Monday of the month. One of his songs convinced me to kick a long-time \u201cfriend\u201d out of my life. Music really does make a difference.<\/span><\/p>\n Our pastors are no slouches. One has a Ph.D. and the pastor who runs the recovery program is working on his.<\/p>\n In the 6 months I\u2019ve been coming to the shelter, chapel has only been canceled once. That happened the night of the Super Bowl.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That wraps up my summary. Let me know if you found it enlightening. Maybe I\u2019ll do more posts like this. Feel free to share with anyone you think should see it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s free to read this blog, but I gratefully accept donations. Donations are used for essentials like shampoo, toothpaste, pizza, and the expenses to keep this blog running.<\/em> I\u2019ve had readers ask what happens at the chapel services we\u2019re required to attend if we stay at the Mission. So I decided to type up this summary. We attend chapel every evening at 6, following dinner at 5. \u00a0 The chapel is in a brand-new building known as \u201cPhase 2\u201d of the shelter\u2019s redevelopment. … Continue reading “What happens at a homeless shelter chapel service”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28098,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097\/revisions\/28098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n<\/strong>Venmo:\u00a0@Paul-Ryburn<\/a>\u00a0(8113 if it asks for digits)
\nCash App: $PaulRyburn1
\nApple Pay: paul.ryburn@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"