CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA -- The last person most people expect to see at a bar is a pastor. But for one city that’s about to change.

A story by T.W. Burger in the Patriot-News reported that Chuck Kish, 44, a senior pastor at the Bethel Assembly of God in Carlisle, is launching a program at the Market Cross Pub next month to put chaplains in bars. They'll offer help to people who want it.

Kish said the Patriot-News that he and the chaplains will not be there to preach against what he called “the evils of drinking.” Neither will they be there, he said, to evangelize.

“We're simply going to be there to help anybody who wants it. Sometimes people really just want somebody they can talk to who is not going to be judgmental, but be sympathetic,” Kish told the Patriot-News from the dining room of the Carlisle pub. “Some people may think this would be a strange place to find a chaplain. But we need to go where the people are.”

Kish said chaplains will work in teams, one male and one female.

The Patriot-News reported that about five years ago, Kish and a few others became volunteer chaplains for two local police departments. He said he believes that putting chaplains where people's lives are under stress can help.

“Sometimes, just having a chaplain present can de-escalate things,” he told the Patriot-News. “Sometimes people come to a bar because they're really hurting about something. Bartenders and the owners are pretty good about reading their customers, some of whom they've known for years.”

He added, “So on the first Friday of every month, from 9 p.m. to midnight, we plan to be here so somebody can say, ‘You know, there's a chaplain over there. Maybe you'd like to talk to him -- or her.’”

The Patriot-News reported that Kish is starting out in one location to get a feel for what works and what doesn't. He then plans to expand the program to other venues in the Carlisle region.

Market Cross Pub owner Jeff Goss told the Patriot-News he did a “double take” when Kish approached him with the idea.

“I thought, ‘a chaplain in a restaurant and bar?’ And then I thought, ‘that makes sense,’ he said. “I have a lot of regulars, and they've all probably had some tough times now and then.”

Bartender Liz Horn, 24, told the Patriot-News she would have no problem suggesting a customer talk to a chaplain.

“Sometimes a bar is a place where people go when they're down. You can usually feel people out, especially regulars,” she said.

Kish told the Patriot-News, “You know, I'm not going to be walking around getting into people's spaces, handing out religious tracts. It's not that kind of operation. I'll be there if people want to talk to me. I'm there to help. We'll be looking for people who are over the edge.”

© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission