Holy Spirits: A Faith Shaken and Stirred

Friday, 1:00pm | Landing

A belief in the Holy Spirit should mean a willingness to find God anywhere— especially the unexpected places. In this session, which is one part storytelling and one part cocktail demonstration, Tom Chappell Lewis (also known as “The Bar Chaplain”) shares his own journey from the church to the hospital to the bar and the lessons learned along the way. What is church when there’s not a building? What does it mean to have a “ministry of presence” in a place many Christians won’t go? How can God use bartenders for the Kingdom? And what’s really the difference between whiskey, bourbon, rye, and scotch? Tom explores these questions and more while sharing his cocktail knowledge. So do spirits and the Holy Spirit really mix? Come to the Bar Chaplain’s session and find out!

Tom Chappell Lewis

In 2015, Tom Chappell Lewis accepted an unusual call: to leave a seven-year career in church-based youth ministry and step out as a chaplain to the bar scene. Embracing the concept of ministry of presence, Tom turned his mixology hobby into a serious study and acquired the nickname “the Bar Chaplain” from his time spent listening atop a barstool. As a PRN hospital chaplain, Tom’s ministry takes him everywhere from patient rooms to homeless shelters, but his passion is for taking this same skill set into Jacksonville’s breweries and cocktail bars. Tom consults with churches and bar owners and writes on theology, cocktails, and other topics at barchaplain.com.