Pastor’s heart for military opens home

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Barnett
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Single Soldiers and Airmen from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson search for parking spots along a winding street in Eagle River through the snow and in the dark on a Friday evening. Some have to park blocks away, and then trudge the hills through knee-deep snow. They all have their minds fixed on the house not far away. The door is unlocked. Inside, the home is warm and cozy, and the kitchen area and tables are alive with people. Some are helping to prepare food, cook, clean dishes and take out the trash. Others are sitting at tables laughing or are engaged in conversation with friends. The food is free and the fellowship is abundant.

When dinner is finished, the crowd heads to another room to begin the events of the night. Creative games are played, often similar to those played in a youth group. Laughter is heard and fun is had. Announcements are made of upcoming ski and snowboarding trips, hiking adventures and other events for the singles and families to take advantage of Alaska.

Finally a Bible study is provided. Even those uninterested in God or choosing not to believe the Bible generally stay. They may not agree with the lesson, but they belong and are with friends.

"Anyone can come," said Dan Evans, pastor and director of the Mountain Chapel Hospitality House. "We've had Wiccans, we currently have Catholics and all different brands of Protestants and agnostics and atheists, Jehovah's Witnesses, we've had everybody. So anyone can come and get the sense of belonging. "

The hospitality house was started by Evans to be a home away from home for single military and young families. Fellow pastor Bob Caudle and his wife Stephanie, Evans' wife, Erin, and his children Caleb and Audrey are also there to be a part of the home. Love and friendship fills the air.

"We're two houses with one mission," Caudle said. "To serve the military community by providing a home away from home. Right now we have some things going on in Dan's house and the big meetings at our house because we have a larger space to accommodate that."

They have three goals they want the atmosphere of MCHH to foster: belong, believe and behave.

"We want to provide an atmosphere where people feel this is a place where they belong right away," Evans said. "They don't have to feel like they need to be extra spiritual; they may have no relationship with God at all, or they don't share any Christian values, but I want them to feel accepted and like they belong. 

"Then God is the one who changes and prompts behavior. So if there are bad habits or some things that are not good in a person's life, God helps them to believe the right things by reading their Bible and being a part of community. Eventually God's going to prompt them and help them change their behavior.

"That's a personal journey and that takes time. That's about having a personal relationship with God. But, it's okay not to have a relationship with God and still belong," he added.

Different people respond to the messages in different ways, he explained. Some people will respond and jump in right away.

"Some people stick around for years and don't fully respond to faith, but they felt loved and accepted, and that's good. It takes a long time to change," the pastor said.

Evans didn't originally intend to run a hospitality house. His original plans went a different direction entirely, but he believes God has a way of directing lives in ways other than people plan.

"When I was 18, I had no way to pay for college," Evans said. "My parents didn't have any money, so someone told me about the military reserves. I signed into the Army Reserve. I graduated high school a semester early in Sparta, Wisc., and then went to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. I was a heavy equipment operator and combat engineer in January 1986."
Disaster struck when he discovered he had medical problems.

"I found out I had some birth defects that no one knew about," he said. "I had a spinal fusion and several surgeries, so I had to get out of the Army Reserve."

Evans has always had the passion to work with the military, but he didn't start out wanting to be a pastor. The seed of doubt was planted, and he received what Christians describe as a "pastoral calling."

"I started college in the fall; I had a business major, but then it just hit me," he said.

"Why? What really changes? When I'm done, when it's time for me to go to Heaven, what impact will really last? In the end, when the world is over, any building that I could have built or any amount of money I could have made ever, it's all going to be gone.

"The only things that really last are God's Word, God, and people's souls," he said. "And I can't change God or God's Word, but if God can use me to have an impact on people, that's lasting. I realized it wasn't all about money. I can't take that home, I can't take it to the future, so I switched to ministry."

Evans said he believes God opened a door down a path he wanted Dan to take.
"As I was graduating," the pastor said, "Cadence came over and asked if I wanted to be a youth pastor to military overseas. So as I was getting out of the Army Reserve, I started working alongside the military as a youth pastor with Cadence."

Cadence International is a Christian ministry that serves military and their families. Working for Cadence, Evans has been able to serve alongside the military and live his passion of ministering to troops. In the process, he started his family.

"Barb and I were married December 1989," Evans said of his first marriage. "We were married less than a year when we moved to Germany.

"I ended up in Pionier Kaserne in Hanau, Germany in 1990 right during the Gulf War," he said. "After that I went to graduate school and then came back to Mannheim, Germany in 1996."

While in Germany, the Evans ministered to the youth, running middle school and high school programs. They arranged and led various trips to places like Ibiza, Spain, and even held friendly wrestling matches where Evans defeated multiple Soldiers but tapped out against a high-school Army dependent.

Growing their own family turned into a challenge when the couple discovered they were unable to have children.

"We couldn't have children and we prayed that God would provide," the pastor.

"Adoptions were $25,000 each."

He believes that God granted their prayers.

"God gave us children," he said excitedly. "It was a blessing to us. We adopted Caleb and, years later, Audrey - got both straight from the hospital."

As they celebrated and welcomed a son and daughter into their lives and ministry, Evans was training other youth pastors in Ramstein, Germany, when he felt God pulling his heart towards Alaska.

"We came to Alaska in 2006," he said. "We started the ministry with the chaplains in May of 2007, the Mountain Chapel Hospitality House."

The job didn't come without challenges.

"Our very first time in our house, they said 'welcome, please don't flush,'" he said.

"There was a well issue, they tried to fix it and the well broke. So we had no water. So we had a bunch of Airmen and Soldiers over and said 'don't flush.' Thankfully, we've resolved that."

The hospitality house turned out to be sorely needed, Evans said.

"The ministry probably started with 12 people," the pastor said. "In the first two years, there was dramatic growth. One night, we had 87 people packed in there. Over the years, we've probably had an average of 50 people weekly. I would say 60 percent singles, 40 percent married, but it just depends.

"When I first started the Mountain Chapel Hospitality House, I named it Mountain Chapel, implying that we work for the chapel as a hospitality house. The chaplain's call it the JBER Young Adult Ministry. "
Disaster struck again and cancer was discovered in Evans' wife, Barb.

"When Barb passed away from cancer, the JBER community and the chapels supported us really well," he said. "There was a lot of peace when she passed on and she was grateful when it was finished. She wanted to go to Heaven."

The family continued to be connected to the community throughout the difficult times.
"We still did ministry with military here and had partners, and we felt like we were on the inside and very much a part the community," he said. "They loved us well; we had a huge memorial service right in Chapel One with probably 300 people or so."

Evans mourned and eventually continued his life as a single father. Later, a friend arranged a blind date.

"How I met Erin was really kind of neat," he said. "A C-17 pilot here in the community had been praying for both of us and when the timing seemed right, introduced us. So I met Erin on a blind date, and God just brought us together in a very unique way."

Erin, now Erin Evans, was an Air Force major serving as a nurse. She served seven years of active service, and then another five in the Air Force Reserves.

She is currently in the Individual Ready Reserve, but not currently drilling.

Together, the Evans family, along with their partners, aim to help single service members and young families feel at home, no matter where they come from or what beliefs they come from.

Years ago in college, Dan Evans had the chance to do something else. He's never regretted his choice or his calling.

"I really consider it a privilege to work alongside the military," he said. "I can't be in the military because my body's broken, but I love the military. It's more than just a job; it's sacred to me.

"It's neat to be part of young Airmen and Soldier's lives. They're lost without parents, they're out of their home, they're just crazy lost and they're lonely, needing friends. I get to point them in the right direction, link them up with other good Christian friends, and be their friend. I get to take them out to enjoy wonderful Alaska and it's adventure and things like that."

In some cases, he was able to help couples meet and form the foundation of their relationships.

"I met Kyle through mutual friends," said Air Force 2nd Lt. Heather Maeger, 703rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant Aircraft Maintenance Unit officer in charge. "He invited me to the hospitality house and that's where our relationship began to grow in Christ because we both had a relationship with God. Through that community we have really developed a Christian family together, we have friends we have spend time with, or people I can babysit for, just to face life's trials and have support from other people along the way," the native of Lindsborg, Kans., said.

"I see a lot of struggling marriages," Evans said. "If God's able to use me to help them along the right path, and to help guys who first meet young gals, I just think it's a privilege to be a part of life with them in that deep, rich way. It is definitely intertwined with relationship and also with faith."

It's why MCHH exists, he said. That's why he's here.

"That's largely why we do things in a home, and not in a building on base. There's nothing wrong with the buildings, but a home is a home. We've got warm dessert baking, we've got a dog, kids, and a garden; it's a home. I consider it a wonderful privilege to be a part of Cadence and that the chaplains allow me to be able to minister alongside them on base."

For more about the Mountain Chapel Hospitality House, which meets Fridays at 5:30 p.m. in Eagle River, visit the Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/mchhalaska.