City Union Mission Men's Center Chapel
Location – City Union Mission Men’s Center, 1108 E. 10th Street, Kansas City, MO 64106. Enter the building, check in at the front desk, chapel is on the first floor to the left immediately after the front desk. Via 71 Highway, our drive time from West Lee’s Summit is 25 minutes.
Dates and Time – Third Thursday in January, March, May, July, September, and November; Arrive no later than 6:15 PM for prayer and setup in advance of 6:30 PM start time, worship/special music from 6:30-7:00 PM; sermon from 7:00 to 7:30 PM sharp; then men start filing out for the evening meal; we stay and pray and talk with the men; we are usually on the road by 8:15-8:30 PM.
Parking – park front of the mission on 10th Street if there is room, or if not, circle the block and enter the automatic gate to their parking lot along the east side of Troost just south of 10th Street. 10th Street is one-way eastbound.
What to expect – usually 250+ homeless men in attendance of all ages from all walks of life; the men must attend chapel before the evening meal, so you have a captive audience; expect questions and interruptions now and then, and be prepared to handle and stay on message. Be prepared to shift on the fly; sometimes someone wants to tell their testimony during worship time, asks for prayer during the service, etc. Service usually has a significant number of believers as well as unbelievers in attendance. The mission expects the gospel to be delivered, at least in brief, in every service. Excellent real-world pulpit training.
Future Chapel Sermon Topics (next 2 years) – all assigned sermon topics mesh/intertwine with City Union Mission’s New Beginnings Discipleship program (6 week program for new believers) as well as their long term discipleship program in their CLP (Christian Life Program), and are staggered between all chapel speakers. Therefore, many men attending chapel are also getting the same overall discipleship curriculum in these other programs and at other chapel services. Assigned topics for the next 18 services (3 years) are:
- Man of Character – Peter
- God’s Worldview vs. the World’s Worldview
- Dealing with Stress Biblically
- Cut Down the Root of Bitterness
- Biblical Decision Making
- Idolatry
- Dealing with Anger Biblically
- Commitment
- True Life Change/Transformation in Christ
- The Bible is True
- Godly Humility
- Christ is My Example
- Healthy Living God’s Way
- Breaking a Bad Habit/Dealing with Sin
- Dealing Biblically with Grief
- Dealing Biblically with Guilt
- The Believer’s Sanctification
- Living Skillfully By God’s Wisdom
Time Commitment Required – normal sermon preparation time required to research, draft, revise, practice, and deliver a 30-minute message on the required topic and arrange music/worship/hymns. In my experience, including drive time and delivery, this is realistically a 25 hour time commitment per chapel service for men that are used to preparing sermons.