THE PROGRESSIVE STORY
By Pastor Thomas A. Barclay
As a social worker that was being trained at the
Yale Child Study Center, God began to develop purpose
and direction for my life. On a cool sunny Sunday
morning in February, 1995, my father, Bishop Fitz Barclay, Sr.,
shared with the congregation the he would be retiring from the pastorate in 30 days. The elders of
the church went into prayer and meetings because for the previous 37 years Bishop Barclay had
led Progressive Beulah Pentecostal Church as pastor and spiritual overseer.
As the elders of the church met to arrange the process of selecting a successor to the Bishop, one
elder suggested that we should not publicly open our pulpit to parade potential candidates back
and forward. She said that God had told her that the next pastor was among us. We anxiously
asked her to share with us who God had chosen, she said the pastor’s son, Thomas. As she said
my name, I could feel God giving me inner peace. They asked me what I thought. I humbly said to
the groups of elders that I felt a need to discuss the matter with my wife.
As the weeks passed, I accepted God’s will for me to lead His people at Progressive Beulah. I
began to ask God to lead and guide me to be an effective leader. I promised Him that I would
always follow His lead. I was officially installed on May 18, 1995. I recall preaching my first
sermon as the new pastor on the theme, “Let’s Go Fishing for Men.” In that sermon, I encouraged
the small membership to share God with others (working people) so I could become a full-time
pastor. As I completed my sermon and sat down, I heard God saying to me, “Wrong men.” He
instructed me to go after the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the prostitutes, and the homeless, to
invite them to church, and to give them some assistance for their issues.
I told God that I did not know how to reach out to the people he was identifying for my ministry, but
God told me that He would show me. The next evening, I went to the church when God told me to
go outside. I did that and immediately encountered a man called “Batman,” (his real name was
Calvin Smith). He was the neighborhood alcoholic. I asked him how long he had been drinking,
and he informed me for 30 years. He shared with me that he would be 41 years old on September
8th, which means he was 10 years old when he began drinking. I told him that I was going to have
a birthday party for him. He did not understand why, neither did I, but it was out there. I told him
to invite a couple of his friends. He said to me, “You really don’t know me.” No, I did not know that
every alcoholic and drug addict in the neighborhood knew him. Every day he would come and ask
me for additional invitations.
I announced to the church that we were going to sponsor a birthday party for a neighborhood
drunk. My congregation thought I had lost my mind. A few thought they had made a mistake
installing me as pastor. I convinced them that God told me to have this party, and enlisted their
support – the men cooked the dinner, the women decorated the dining room, wrapped special gifts
for Batman and door prizes for all guests. Everybody pitched in to warmly welcome our guests and
to do whatever needed to be done.
When the day of this special party arrived, over 60 of Batman’s friends attended. During the party,
we had a special song dedicated to Batman and the entire group that attended. While the song
continued, almost 95% of those in attendance began to weep. While the tears came down their
faces, they asked God to forgive them and help them with their addictions. One young man had
been on his way to kill himself when he was asked to attend the party. He turned over his
anxieties to the Lord. A pharmacist turned drug addict was reunited with his estranged wife and
seven children. There were many other such stories. I have spent time on Batman’s story
because it became the foundation for all that we have done these past few years.
After the party, many of the participants began coming to our church, asking us for more help with
their problems. As pastor, I also spent more time on the streets than in the church, heeding God’s
call to get outside the church walls and go where the people were. Of course, we had to prepare
our church for this new group. We began sending these needy men and women to residential
rehabilitation programs, such as Teen Challenge programs around the country and New Life for
Girls, also located in different areas. Most of these programs are for a year. So far, we have sent
over 150 men and women to Teen Challenge and other drug rehabilitation programs. Our church
has fully supported them financially and spiritually. Within the last four weeks, we have sent away
about 8 men. Many of the men and women we have sent away have graduated and are doing well.
Again, there are many outstanding stories of changed lives resulting from these programs. As one
prime example, we sent away another man known, like Batman, as a neighborhood drunk for 30
years. He has been back now for six years working actively in the church, even being one of our
worship leaders; and recently he was appointed as a deacon.
Eleven years after I became pastor, our mission has not changed, and we are still reaching out to
this community racked by pain and helplessness. We have grown larger although our membership
is still about 100. We consider ourselves a little church with a big heart. Every Sunday, we send
out buses and vans to homeless shelters to pick up 80-100 men. We feed them breakfast and
dinner, give them showers (in our recently purchased “halfway house,” which we prefer to call our
“wholeway house”), and give them fresh clothes. Some have begun to attend other church
activities on weekdays. One mother, when informed that her son was attending Progressive,
exclaimed, “That’s not my son; he would not be caught dead in a church.” When persuaded to
come and see, she was flabbergasted that her son was there praising God.
In 2006, a preacher from New York gave the church a motor home, which we intend to use in a
night ministry. A member and I flew to New Jersey in order to drive it back to Chicago. Our plan is
to invite the addicts, the prostitutes, the homeless, the desperate, to come into the motor home
for coffee and other refreshments, counsel and evangelize them, perhaps taking them to detox
centers, and otherwise attempting to meet their various needs.
In addition to the many expenses associated with our current ministry, there will be many more
expenses involved with this motor home endeavor. We are, however, excited about the great
potential of offering hope and redemption to folk desperately seeking a way out of their depressed
states. We invite others to join us in this rescue operation.
By Pastor Thomas A. Barclay
As a social worker that was being trained at the
Yale Child Study Center, God began to develop purpose
and direction for my life. On a cool sunny Sunday
morning in February, 1995, my father, Bishop Fitz Barclay, Sr.,
shared with the congregation the he would be retiring from the pastorate in 30 days. The elders of
the church went into prayer and meetings because for the previous 37 years Bishop Barclay had
led Progressive Beulah Pentecostal Church as pastor and spiritual overseer.
As the elders of the church met to arrange the process of selecting a successor to the Bishop, one
elder suggested that we should not publicly open our pulpit to parade potential candidates back
and forward. She said that God had told her that the next pastor was among us. We anxiously
asked her to share with us who God had chosen, she said the pastor’s son, Thomas. As she said
my name, I could feel God giving me inner peace. They asked me what I thought. I humbly said to
the groups of elders that I felt a need to discuss the matter with my wife.
As the weeks passed, I accepted God’s will for me to lead His people at Progressive Beulah. I
began to ask God to lead and guide me to be an effective leader. I promised Him that I would
always follow His lead. I was officially installed on May 18, 1995. I recall preaching my first
sermon as the new pastor on the theme, “Let’s Go Fishing for Men.” In that sermon, I encouraged
the small membership to share God with others (working people) so I could become a full-time
pastor. As I completed my sermon and sat down, I heard God saying to me, “Wrong men.” He
instructed me to go after the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the prostitutes, and the homeless, to
invite them to church, and to give them some assistance for their issues.
I told God that I did not know how to reach out to the people he was identifying for my ministry, but
God told me that He would show me. The next evening, I went to the church when God told me to
go outside. I did that and immediately encountered a man called “Batman,” (his real name was
Calvin Smith). He was the neighborhood alcoholic. I asked him how long he had been drinking,
and he informed me for 30 years. He shared with me that he would be 41 years old on September
8th, which means he was 10 years old when he began drinking. I told him that I was going to have
a birthday party for him. He did not understand why, neither did I, but it was out there. I told him
to invite a couple of his friends. He said to me, “You really don’t know me.” No, I did not know that
every alcoholic and drug addict in the neighborhood knew him. Every day he would come and ask
me for additional invitations.
I announced to the church that we were going to sponsor a birthday party for a neighborhood
drunk. My congregation thought I had lost my mind. A few thought they had made a mistake
installing me as pastor. I convinced them that God told me to have this party, and enlisted their
support – the men cooked the dinner, the women decorated the dining room, wrapped special gifts
for Batman and door prizes for all guests. Everybody pitched in to warmly welcome our guests and
to do whatever needed to be done.
When the day of this special party arrived, over 60 of Batman’s friends attended. During the party,
we had a special song dedicated to Batman and the entire group that attended. While the song
continued, almost 95% of those in attendance began to weep. While the tears came down their
faces, they asked God to forgive them and help them with their addictions. One young man had
been on his way to kill himself when he was asked to attend the party. He turned over his
anxieties to the Lord. A pharmacist turned drug addict was reunited with his estranged wife and
seven children. There were many other such stories. I have spent time on Batman’s story
because it became the foundation for all that we have done these past few years.
After the party, many of the participants began coming to our church, asking us for more help with
their problems. As pastor, I also spent more time on the streets than in the church, heeding God’s
call to get outside the church walls and go where the people were. Of course, we had to prepare
our church for this new group. We began sending these needy men and women to residential
rehabilitation programs, such as Teen Challenge programs around the country and New Life for
Girls, also located in different areas. Most of these programs are for a year. So far, we have sent
over 150 men and women to Teen Challenge and other drug rehabilitation programs. Our church
has fully supported them financially and spiritually. Within the last four weeks, we have sent away
about 8 men. Many of the men and women we have sent away have graduated and are doing well.
Again, there are many outstanding stories of changed lives resulting from these programs. As one
prime example, we sent away another man known, like Batman, as a neighborhood drunk for 30
years. He has been back now for six years working actively in the church, even being one of our
worship leaders; and recently he was appointed as a deacon.
Eleven years after I became pastor, our mission has not changed, and we are still reaching out to
this community racked by pain and helplessness. We have grown larger although our membership
is still about 100. We consider ourselves a little church with a big heart. Every Sunday, we send
out buses and vans to homeless shelters to pick up 80-100 men. We feed them breakfast and
dinner, give them showers (in our recently purchased “halfway house,” which we prefer to call our
“wholeway house”), and give them fresh clothes. Some have begun to attend other church
activities on weekdays. One mother, when informed that her son was attending Progressive,
exclaimed, “That’s not my son; he would not be caught dead in a church.” When persuaded to
come and see, she was flabbergasted that her son was there praising God.
In 2006, a preacher from New York gave the church a motor home, which we intend to use in a
night ministry. A member and I flew to New Jersey in order to drive it back to Chicago. Our plan is
to invite the addicts, the prostitutes, the homeless, the desperate, to come into the motor home
for coffee and other refreshments, counsel and evangelize them, perhaps taking them to detox
centers, and otherwise attempting to meet their various needs.
In addition to the many expenses associated with our current ministry, there will be many more
expenses involved with this motor home endeavor. We are, however, excited about the great
potential of offering hope and redemption to folk desperately seeking a way out of their depressed
states. We invite others to join us in this rescue operation.
