Loud music at San Angelo church performs miracle

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
A young autistic boy faithfully attends the Miracle on 18th Street worship service at Wesley UMC, San Angelo.
When Ralph Thompson, San Angelo District lay leader and a founder of Miracle, first met him, the boy would shout or scream if anyone came near him. He was withdrawn, a loner, unable to communicate with those who loved him.
Today, Thompson said, the boy requests worship songs like “Magnify Jesus” and knows every one by heart. He shouts out lyrics before the congregation sings them. He is friendly, open and able to communicate with those who prayed for him.
“We find these miracles all the time,” Thompson said.
Begun a few years ago, Miracle on 18th Street attracts many of the destitute and homeless who frequent Wesley’s Daily Bread Soup Kitchen. They are former drug addicts, alcoholics and criminals whose lives were redeemed by Jesus, Thompson said.
The story of Miracle’s creation is a miracle in itself.
Thompson noticed that those served by the soup kitchen—100 or more each day—didn’t return to Wesley services or express interest in becoming active members of the congregation. He knew he needed to do something about it.
“It is intimidating (to come to church),” Thompson said. “The perception is that, to come to church, you have to smell, dress, talk and look a certain way. They don’t smell, dress, talk or look like church.”
Thompson began playing songs on his keyboard during hours the soup kitchen was serving meals. He started out in the sanctuary but turned up the music loud enough so that those eating in the adjoining fellowship hall could hear.
Then the church’s Wesley Nurse began singing with him.
Eventually, soup kitchen patrons began requesting songs. Thompson soon was asked to move into the fellowship hall.
One day Thompson felt an uncontrollable urge to purchase a guitar, though he didn’t know how to play one. During his song set at the soup kitchen, he put the guitar on a stand beside him and let it sit there, never touching it.
Halfway through his performance, a man approached him to ask who was going to play the guitar. Thompson said, “I guess you are.”
It was the beginning of their praise team.
That Miracle on 18th Street praise team now leads worship at Wesley every Saturday at 6 p.m. The mission is to “change lives, save souls and make disciples by offering Christ to all.”
Some weeks, Thompson said, the Saturday service may draw 18 to 20 participants. Other weeks, the count may be as many as 100.
Worshipers sing and play music, pray, read Scriptures, give testimonies and enjoy fellowship. A meal is served every week, Thompson said, a model “designed to help establish and maintain a sense of dignity and purpose for many who feel they had lost these traits.”
It is truly a “come as you are worship experience,” Thompson said.
“They’ll leave the slaughter house and come straight to church,” he said. “We want this to be extremely welcoming, all the things that the book of Acts says it should be. We’ll do whatever it takes to get people here.
“And, as a result, we have people who have been eating in the soup kitchen for 10 to 15 years—who never came to Wesley before—joining our church.
“These are former crack addicts, coke addicts, alcoholics. They’re our worship team. These are all people who said they were rejected by other churches and never imagined that they’d be leading worship in a Methodist Church.”
Some Wesley members who attended regular Sunday worship have begun attending the Saturday night services, Thompson added.
For many, Thompson said, the Saturday gathering is the only family they’ve ever had.
“They cry, pray, talk together,” Thompson said. “It can be storming outside, and they will walk here. They never thought they would be a part of something like this.”
After one man joined Wesley, he put himself through rehab, Thompson said. Others who attend Miracle are active in United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women.
Thompson said he takes the Miracle worship team to other churches for church festivals or worship services whenever they’re needed. Two San Angelo District congregations and the Southwest Texas Conference Ethnic Local Church Committee have donated some money to the group. The funds enabled the team to purchase a trailer that transports their music equipment and doubles as an emergency relief vehicle.
The team could use a 12-to-15-passenger van, Thompson added.
It would make traveling easier
As a result of Miracle, Thompson said, nine or 10 people have joined Wesley. All are still active members, attend worship Saturday night—and sometimes Sunday morning—take part in Bible studies and Sunday school, and help clean up around the church.
“They originally came to get their food and go home,” Thompson said. “This has been a good thing. When it first started, I wrote out a vision—about how this ministry should grow. Everything I wrote, we’ve done—and it’s not by planning.”