Wilshire at Lakewood Chapel
Location - 600 NE Meadowview Dr., Lee's Summit, MO 64064. Enter the building at the main entrance on the west side; chapel is held in the main cafeteria room straight ahead, which is called the Wilshire Room. Our drive time from west Lee’s Summit is less than 10 minutes.
Dates and Time – Second Sunday of every month; arrive no later than 2:30 PM in advance of 3:00 PM start time, worship/special music from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM; sermon from about 3:30 PM to 3:55 PM; then we stay and talk and pray with the residents for 30 minutes or more; we are usually home by 5 PM. NOTE: Make 2 announcements at 2:45 PM and 2:55 PM on the cafeteria/Wilshire Room phone on the south wall - simply dial 2000 and then speak the following overhead (or something similar) "Good afternoon Wilshire residents and guests - we would like to invite you to join Summit Woods Baptist Church in the Wilshire Room today at 3 PM for hymns, praise, prayer time, fellowship, and a devotional message from God's Word to turn our hearts to Him on the Lord's Day. Again, we welcome you to join us for chapel service with Summit Woods Baptist Church at 3 PM in the Wilshire Room. Thank you."
Parking - always plenty of parking in the parking lot. Not an issue.
What to expect – usually about 15-20 Wilshire residents will attend - we have had upwards of 40 in chapel at times, including family members. Many are believers, many are not, and the gospel should be clearly shared at the service, because some residents pass away from month to month, or are only there for a short while before they return home. Many of the residents genuinely enjoy hearing the Word preached and rightly divided, and most are in their right minds, love to sing, and love the fellowship. Many say, "this is the only church service I'm able to attend, and it means a lot to me." Sermon topics are up to each individual, but try to limit your sermon length to about 20-25 minutes since many of them get tired easily. Most have been topical pastoral sermons that speak to their hearts and current circumstances and situations, such as Biblical perspectives on loneliness, hope, suffering, and focus on the person and work of Jesus etc. rather than intellectual teaching/Greek explanation etc., and it has resulted in good fruit and genuine joy, as well as some conversations with staff, who sometimes sit in on the services.
Worship Details - since many of the residents can't see as well as they used to (some are blind), I have 13 or so folders of hymns they love with 15-20 copies of the hymn verses in giant print so they can easily sing along. After the opening prayer, sing it with them, then pass the next one out, and do it again, and do 3 hymns per service that way. Folders can be provided to anyone that volunteers to do worship for a particular service. If any resident wants to keep a copy of the words, they are welcome to do so - some have been overjoyed to get the words to hymns that they love in print they can read.
Time Commitment - 20 hours per service in sermon and worship prep, drive time, and the service itself.