Men's Development Center

My name is Dick Druary. I am the Director of the Men's Development Center (euphemistically known as the "Men's Shelter") for Star of Hope. I am an ordained Presbyterian pastor and have served churches in Houston, TX, Orange, TX, Montgomery, AL, and Hollywood, CA. I am delighted to be helping shepherd in and through Star of Hope what is arguably the most diverse and dynamic flock imaginable. In our shelter, the Son of God displays His great and lavish love for our men as He daily meets them at their various points of impossibility and proves Himself to be both on their side and able.

The Bible says that the Messiah will "turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:6). At the Star of Hope Men's Development Center we teach our men that there is a galactic difference between paternity and fatherhood. Paternity requires no relationship and no sacrifice. Fatherhood does. Paternity is the compromise of the Godless. Fatherhood is the mantle worn by sons of the Kingdom.

Many of our men have children from whom they have become estranged. Beneath the surface of their bluster and bravado gnaws the grief of knowing that their sin and self-serving lusts have separated these men from their boys and girls. In our shelter they come to understand that it is through the love and power of Christ alone that the grace of harmony has hope. Our men, knowing that they have demolished the blessing of fatherhood, look to Him for a miracle. So they pray for a spirit of forgiveness. They search for some opportunity to humble themselves before their children. They seek an avenue by which to demonstrate to those innocents whom they have wounded that they are new and trustworthy creations through the renewing mercy of Jesus Christ.

In three weeks, 51 men who have come here to begin again will have a simple gift to give to their children. Though not one of them has earned the money to purchase it, all will have something to give precisely because they have made the best decision possible: to come to Star of Hope where they may be cleansed and equipped for the walking of a new way. One man will have a football to give a young son. Another will have a doll to give his little girl. Each - through the generosity of Christ-honoring donors - will be supplied with a tangible expression of love's yearning. The father's hope is that his child's present will serve as another brick helping pave the pathway advancing toward a day of reconciliation.

At the Men's Development Center we expect Christ to undo the arrogant works of hell as He establishes, through the servant-leadership of redeemed fathers, multiplied houses built upon the rock. That will be an Advent-level miracle. That is what Star of Hope is about. That is what you support and love.

In Colossians 3:19 the Bible instructs Christians that we are to "sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God." Here at the Men's Development Center that challenge is taken seriously. At virtually any time of the day, the sound of rejoicing can be heard emanating from some corner or corridor of this sacred building. There is an inbuilt gladness attached to being in a place owned by the God Who puts sins behind His back.

The recent upsurge in our nation of a capella singing has found a home here. We could rival "Glee" at a moment's notice. Several months ago we began singing at our Noon Chapel service some of the familiar old hymns and camp songs. Without instrumental assistance, our men stand and let it fly. At times, we enjoy a vigorous round of "The Old Rugged Cross" or "It Is Well With My Soul" offered in beautiful harmonies betraying within our flawed flock a soul-deep love for Christ.

Today, only about 48 hours into Advent, our song leader for the day closed the time with "O Come, All Ye Faithful". My first reaction was to lament the notion that we had fallen into the trap being set for us by our culture's retailers. As several hundered men gave voice, however, to the heavenly call to "come, let us adore Him," I immediately understood that they were not forcing the issue or jump-starting the season or capitulating to the sentimental. I found myself almost overcome by the nobility of a great and glorious hope pouring out of them. These men meant what they were singing. To them Jesus is not a hobby, a sociological phenomenon or the mascot of the church. He is everything and He loves them. I do not know that I have ever been more forcefully invited or more honestly compelled to worship.

As I sing this year the wonderful songs that are anchored to the Christmas season, I will pray as I sing. I will ask the Lord to give me a penetrated understanding, an infused discernment, one which seems seated in the hearts and lives of our men, men who have thrown away, sqaundered or have otherwise lost virtually everything, yet who hang all on a miracle come to earth on Christmas Day. Star of Hope exists for the purpose of introducing the broken and loveless to Him. Their resolution to forsake the past and move toward eternity in adoration of Him is nothing short of awesome.

My first experience with the Star of Hope Men's Shelter (or with any shelter, for that matter) occurred when I was 17 years old. Without knowing what a rescue mission was, one Sunday evening I joined several older men from my church who regularly made their way to an old brick building in the bowels of downtown Houston. Having recently been brought to faith in Jesus I was hungry for the witness of life-changing ministry. I was assured that I would not be disappointed at Star of Hope. I wasn't.

Our little band of missionaries arrived at 7:15PM for a season of worship with the men. It was an oppressively muggy August evening and, as was the habit at the time, showers were subsequent to the chapel service. 350 homeless men were packed into a relatively small space, the resulting odor unlike anything I had ever before encountered. I immediately fell in love with it. To this day, 42 years later, I can still pull up the fragrance. It was the aroma of despair and hopelessness. It was the scent of wasted lives and unbelief. It was the smell for which He died.

Each and every day at the Men's Development Center we are given front row seats to the Gospel drama as the stench of the world rises up like incense to our Great High Priest. He  draws the lowest to Himself, bathes them in forgiving grace, sets them up as a chosen generation, and then prepares them to be world-changers for His glory.