Unchanging Truth in Changing Times

When Former Men’s Shelter Chaplain Jim Carson told us he’d like to host a Facebook fundraiser in honor of Union Gospel Mission’s 70^th anniversary, we were surprised.

Jim has been an integral part of the Mission since 1980—decades before social media took off—and we had no expectation that he would want to hop on Facebook and rally his 117 friends to give in honor of our seventieth  year.  

But he was the first to call as the anniversary approached. “I want to do a fundraiser. And I want to reach as many people as possible,” he said. “The Mission changed me. Supporting UGM changes lives. Many, many lives.”  

Always Adaptable

Jim’s fundraiser is more than an effective method to rally support for the Mission: It’s another in a long line of evidences that Jim is endlessly willing to meet people where they’re at, even if it’s not easy.  

After we showed him how to start a fundraiser online, he asked how many people would see it. We told him we’d share It on our page and that well over 12,000 people would have the chance to view and engage with his post. He beamed. “Good.” He is so excited that the UGM community obeys the Great Commission by reaching the poor with the gospel, that he’s eager to share his passion as far and wide as possible.  

Starting in Chapel services in the 80s, and moving into prison ministry, then the chaplaincy, Jim has seen first-hand the heart- and life-change that take place in men and women who are given compassionate care and the gospel of Christ.  

“When I came to the Mission, I saw myself in the men and in their hurts. I could communicate with them, and they ministered to me without even knowing it.”

Gospel Truth

Jim said, “In prison ministry, I’d go up to the sex-offenders’ floor and I’d ask, ‘What’s your identity, who are you?’ And they would say, ‘I’m a sex offender, I’m this, I’m that.’ Not one of them knew what their identity was except what the world told them they were. So, I tried to explain to them, ‘Yes, you’ve done those things, but that doesn’t have to be who you are.’” 

Jim says his own identity used to be caught up in bowling. “I wanted to be a professional bowler, but all I got was a filthy mouth and a temper. All I was doing was trying to copy other bowlers instead of being Jim.” This was in Jim’s upper teens and early twenties. He was coming out of a toxic upbringing. His father was a violent alcoholic, and his mother was a hardworking alcoholic. Neither of them told him or his siblings they loved them. “They didn’t teach us anything about life. I wasn’t prepared for anything. Spent twenty-two years in the Army National Guard, struggling with identity a lot of that time.”  

From the first day at the Mission, when he came to lead Chapel with a friend from church, to today, forty years later, Jim has been on a quest to see himself purely through the eyes of God, and to let that be his sole identity.

“I grew so much, serving the men at UGM. I was a lousy preacher at first, they called me ‘Big Wind.’ But I grew as I got more into the Word. I learned that Christ doesn’t see sinners, He sees beloved people who need a Savior. He doesn’t see homelessness or addiction or sex offenders, he sees people.” 

Jim is adamant that there is no foundational difference between him, a preacher, and every man in line for free lunch, or every man and women in prison or battling an addiction. “Never judge anybody, that’s what I learned here. The whole idea, here at the Mission, is that the gospel can change a man’s thinking and change the heart. And that’s what we all need. Every man, woman and child.” 

The Holy Spirit changed Jim’s identity from unloved child, bullied schoolboy, and world-wise bowler to servant of the King.

“I love people. I really love people. And I told God, I committed to him, ‘I’m yours.’ Whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do. I don’t think that working in missions is necessary to be saved, but it’s what I wanted. It’s what I wanted to give my life to.” 

Kingdom Work

Union Gospel Mission is an army of Kingdom workers, all filling in parts and pieces of a whole, beautiful family driven by the longing to see men, women and children find their true identity as children of God.

From the beginning, we did not desire to be a shelter only; we have sought to love people well by seeing their greater needs and moving into areas of ministry that can best meet those needs. It is this willingness to meet people where they are, paired with the unchanging truth of the gospel, that has made Union Gospel Mission the community pillar it is today.  

Jim is one of hundreds of men and women who are happy to go the extra mile to meet people where they’re at, whether that means learning a new skill on social media, going up to the sex-offenders’ floor and seeing felons through the eyes of Christ, or letting men at evening Chapel just talk and be heard.  

“As chaplain, I got to share with a lot of people that these guys need to know that you care about them before they can listen to what you know. They’re just asking, ‘Do you care? Do you really care?’ 

1, 2... 3 Anniversaries!

Not only is Union Gospel Mission celebrating seventy years serving homeless men in the Inland Northwest, and fifty years serving women and children at Anna Ogden Hall, but Jim himself has a big reason to celebrate: He and his wife Mary are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. Since their wedding day on June 3, 1961 (just ten years after UGM’s inception) they have grown together, served together and led many people to Christ together. Happy anniversary, Jim and Mary Carson! Thank you for your faithful, righteous example. 

On Jim’s Facebook fundraiser, he says, “I’d like to use this opportunity to challenge you to send a donation between $7 and $70 to this ministry that has had such a big impact in the Inland Northwest. And if you’d like to contribute to the UGM in honor of our marriage, we would greatly appreciate the gesture and be grateful that you’re supporting the homeless in our name.”

We thank everyone for all their contributions. Seventy years is a huge milestone. Let’s aim for seventy more!