The Bar Ministry | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Bar Ministry | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ingrid Forsberg
09/12/14
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I was the Chaplain at the two juvenile probation camps in Lake Hughes, but I did not have an office. Usually I had a chair to sit on plus a phone and desk I could use. That day nothing at the camps was available to me, not even the wards. I could not do any counseling. It was becoming a useless, fruitless day. When my car decided not to work my frustration level was such that I stomped the two or three miles back to town. God sure did get an ear full because I unhappily told Him all about it as I schlepped along the mountain road kicking rocks.

Most of Lake Hughes consisted of a small lake and many pine trees on a mountain. It was hardly a dot on the map. There was one stop sign in the entire town. I was angry that I could do nothing at the camps so I decided I would politely introduce myself to the town’s people. I stopped at every house I could. Knock. Knock. Knock. “Hello. I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ingrid Forsberg and I’m the Chaplain at Munz and Mendenhall.” Everyone was pleasant and friendly because I wasn’t selling anything. Unless I was asked a question I thanked them and left.

Downtown Lake Hughes had a tiny post office, two working gas pumps, a church, a mini-market, the rock store and a bar. On my way home I had to pass the bar. As I was about to pass it I thought, I am going to stop in there too! So I did. Never had I been in a bar before, not even once in my life. But I went in that bar, took a seat at the counter and introduced myself. The owner asked if I wanted something to drink. I accepted a glass of water. A Chaplain was the last person they expected to see walking through their doors. I was an oddity. No respectable resident of Lake Hughes wanted anything to do with the patrons of that bar. I was asked about the camps. Those people became my friends.

I stopped at the bar from time to time to say hello, keep them up on the camps and let them know I was praying for them too. It mattered to them that I really did care. That became evident the day the owner said, “You’re the first person in nine years to bother with us sinners.” We had an Easter Sunday morning service in that bar. There was standing room only because the owner informed all her customers they were coming. God so loved the world. This included the people in that bar, the “Samaria” of Lake Hughes.

Since leaving the camps and Lake Hughes I’ve not had another “bar ministry.” But I will not ever forget the marvelous love God had for those people or the grace He so freely offered them.

“I walked today where Jesus walked, and felt his presence there.”

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