The light of the world

Students from the Center for Chaplaincy serve at local community center

Students from the Liberty University Center for Chaplaincy volunteer at the Lighthouse Community Center (LCC) in Lynchburg, Virginia where they serve the homeless community several times a week, according to Executive Director of the Center for Chaplaincy Dr. Steven Keith.

Ministry — Students served the homeless several times a week at the Lighthouse Community Center in downtown Lynchburg. Photo credit: RJ Goodwin

Ministry — Students served the homeless several times a week at the Lighthouse Community Center in downtown Lynchburg. Photo credit: RJ Goodwin

Though chaplaincy students are not required to serve at the LCC, students do so in order to accomplish the mission of Liberty’s Center for Chaplaincy.

“The goal of the chaplain program is to see our students bear the presence and message of Christ in secular and pluralistic places around the globe,” Keith said. “To accomplish this mission, students pick up food from donors (for the LCC), help serve meals … provide scriptural insights, pray with them and share the gospel when appropriate.”

In addition to providing a place for students to serve, the LCC helps prepare future chaplains. Working at the LCC places students in scenarios they could encounter after they graduate, according to Keith. He said though the outreach center is a Christian-based organization, its environment gives students experience that carries over to areas chaplains work in that are not faith centered.

“Chaplain ministry is exploding in many sectors,” Keith said. “Our graduates are employed as chaplains in the Army, Navy, Air Force, hospitals, hospice, corporations, sports teams, first responder agencies … and recreational enterprises.”

Keith said chaplaincy students are willing to do more than just talk about their faith and befriend individuals when they volunteer. They also serve meals to the homeless, gather the donated food, and chop wood to fuel warming fires for the homeless during the winter months. Keith believes the range of duties helps students be more effective in carrying out the Center for Chaplaincy’s mission.

“Chaplain students are called to serve, and therefore their training needs to be a mixture of book knowledge and practical experience,” Keith said. “The practical experience gained by serving ignites the students’ passion for putting into action what has been gained in the classroom.”

The LCC has turned out to be a valuable area of service for the Center for Chaplaincy, though Keith said it was not on top of the list of ministry opportunities when he first began his search of somewhere to send students.

“I was searching for a ministry opportunity for our chaplain students when the Lighthouse came up in a casual conversation with Dr. Dan Mitchell, one of my colleagues at the school of
divinity,” Keith said. “We agreed that the Lighthouse would be an excellent ministry for chaplain students to serve the needy and gain experience.”

Army 2nd Lt. Aaron Fabian is one of the student ministry leaders for service at the LCC and has seen change in not only LCC visitors but also in himself as a result of his
volunteer work there.

“A lot of the time we just live in this college bubble even though it is Liberty, and it’s easy not to help the poor and needy,” Fabian said. “Being at a place that specifically targets homeless and underprivileged people is … definitely humbling.”

Because chaplains are welcome in some public and government arenas where other spiritual leaders are not, Keith believes they must be well equipped to “bear the presence and message of Christ.”

“While many religious groups are being closed out, chaplains are being invited into secular environments and workplaces at increasing numbers,” Keith said. “Chaplains are trained to serve in pluralistic environments, without compromise, and are uniquely equipped to befriend all.”

Though the LCC is a small part of a median sized town in Virginia, Keith said the students from the Liberty Center for Chaplaincy who serve are making a difference in the lives of the people there, as well as in their own lives.

Steptoe is a news reporter.

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