Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
A space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul.
Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
Running The Baton: A Grace-Filled Leadership Transition
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The new year didn’t wait for us to warm up. We step onto the track with a clean handoff, clear roles, and a shared aim: help more of our neighbors move from crisis to a stable home. After a wise succession from longtime leader Don Schisler, Charles Wolford leads Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County into 2026 with focus, humility, and momentum—protecting donor trust while accelerating services where the need is sharpest.
Across our city, capacity is tight and housing vouchers are shrinking. Chapels are full, shelter beds are near 95% nightly, and the stakes are high for people at the edge of homelessness. That’s why we’re launching a dedicated Welcome Center designed to shorten the distance between a plea for help and a real housing plan. With faster intake, strong assessment, and practical diversion, we ask better questions up front: What solution fits this person today? Is reunification possible? Can we stabilize quickly without pushing someone deeper into the homelessness pipeline? Our outreach team meets people where they are—under bridges, in encampments, outside hospitals—and connects them to the best fit across trusted partners in Tarrant County and beyond.
We’re also opening 24 recuperative care beds for neighbors leaving hospitals or behavioral health facilities with no safe place to heal. This bridge matters. A clean bed and coordinated support can prevent relapse, reduce repeat ER visits, and open the door to long-term housing. Through it all, we stay housing focused and faith forward—uniting staff, volunteers, donors, and partners to move in the same direction with compassion and measurable impact.
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New Year And Gratitude
SPEAKER_01Welcome home, Hear Us Now, a podcast of the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, a space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul. I'm Eric Engelman, a volunteer at UGMTC. And beside me is President and CEO, Charles Wolford.
SPEAKER_00Good morning, Eric. Happy New Year to you, my friend.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, sir. It's um I'm looking back at 2025. It was a good year. I kind of miss it in a way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, there's lots of amazing adventures and things that happened in 2025. One of which is we launched this podcast. God gave us the idea and the dream to have this welcome home podcast. And so we have a lot to celebrate and to be thankful for to God for. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, let's talk a little bit about 2026. We're here. Absolutely. And you are now CEO and president of Union Gospel Mission without a CEO emeritus alongside.
Succession Done Right
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can tell there's a little bit of a grief expression just simply to the fact that my friend Don Schisler and I, we had the great pleasure of serving together for two full years. And as we think through the next chapter of Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, the reflection and sharing, Eric, is I am so eternally grateful to the board of directors of Union Gospel Mission who had the foresight and wisdom to allow this type of transition. Many organizations do not have the benefit and the privilege of transitions, and I must say, Union Gospel Mission will be the better for this wisdom and the insight that was given. And so as we unpack it, Don and I, through the last 24 months, really locked arms together. He was a great source, a resource for us as we were looking at all of the amazing accomplishment that Don achieved in his 30-year tenure at Union Gospel Mission. It was a gift to me, and it's a gift to the organization to have such a willing heart that Don gifted to us to be able to spend with me to learn all of the moving parts of Union Gospel Mission. And I must say there's I'm eternally grateful for that. And we hear the stories, Eric, and not just in nonprofits, but companies all around the world who try to have a succession plan and it does not go very well. There's an interesting statistic in the nonprofit world, when there's a succession that uh happens very well, you tend to see only a slight m maybe some, you know, they they say maybe about a three percent adjustment with regards to donor giving. When it's done poorly, there's a 40 percent reduction in donor participation just because Who is this guy? Who is this new guy? There's this allegiance that we had to the former, and they see a significant drop. But but let me tell you, without Phil, there was intentionality with Don
The Baton Handoff Analogy
SPEAKER_00and I collaboratively, and and and Eric, it's just going exceptionally well.
SPEAKER_01So looking at your track background, I see a baton race, and it's like great analogy.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01A new guy picks up the same baton, but he's on that team. Absolutely. Everybody in the stands knows it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00That's absolutely a great analogy. And you know, sometimes the baton gets dropped and you get eliminated from the race from that. But it was a great handoff. If Don is listening, we are grateful to him as friend and brother. He is a saint in the world of UGM, and he will forever be on the Mount Rushmore of Union Gospel Mission of his accomplishments and the things that he achieved.
SPEAKER_01I see at least one big photograph of Don Schisler and some of the things that he said that uh he's wanting to leave behind. Who's still got a shadow here?
SPEAKER_00He does still have a shadow, and that will not change. We forever want him to be a part of the work that we do. Uh he's lend he will lend his time and talent and resources to be able to just have some dialogue. And Don's in Don next chapter, for those who may be interested, Don will be the regional coordinator for Citigate, which is a network of 320 missions. And so he's not forgotten, or will he just ride off into the sunset, but there's a space for him with the Citigate network for him to participate, and he will actually be a part of connecting other missions. And Don and I will crisscross in this region. There's a five-state region that we're part of that's called the Rawhide Region that we will get a chance to share together, and so we will continue to do work together.
SPEAKER_01Praise the Lord. Well, I think it's time to maybe hit some applause. Applause for 2025. Yay.
SPEAKER_00Yay!
SPEAKER_01And now let's pick up the baton and run 2026. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00Let's go.
Capacity Pressures And Full Chapels
SPEAKER_00And let me tell you, 2026, it's already started off with a bang. We had an amazing crossover transition with our staff and our team. And let me tell you, Eric, we're just we're just excited. I can't contain my excitement about 2026. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Well, good. Well, I told you I was excited a little bit this morning, too.
SPEAKER_00And it was just That's why you were doing your happy dance when I came in. I mean I was standing around just tapping my butt here. That's a happy dance to me. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Amen. You're easy to please. What do the numbers for our unsheltered neighbors look like? Is this too uh are we too early in January to ask you that?
SPEAKER_00Not at all. That's a great question. Okay. Our goal, particularly as it relates to capacity. We measured our capacity last year. If we were to be full, it would be 516 of our neighbors residing with us on a nightly basis. Already, as we close it out 25 and enter into 26, we are operating now at about 95 percent capacity towards that goal. We instituted some strategies uh at the end of last quarter that will roll into 2026. We are much more intensive, particularly as it relates to making sure that as our neighbors come and as they are seeking housing, we added four new team members to the intake uh staff and team that's expediting the process. And so we are we're we're incredibly excited about that. So for that goal, we are headfast trying to achieve that 100 percent capacity on a daily basis, and then even looking at overflow as opportunities lend itself.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I volunteer as a preacher at the chapel services, and I know that I've I've heard from uh Father Rogers Meredith, and he's underlining the fact that, hey, if uh if volunteer preachers want to preach, we've got more people now than we ever have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. That is an interesting uh narrative to see unpacked where the 30 plus chapel services that we have every week, those chapel services are completely full where our neighbors are in, and uh those of you who are volunteer chaplains uh have to preach to a full house now because it's just uh standing room only in some of those chapel services. And so God is doing an amazing thing.
Launching The Welcome Center
SPEAKER_00Now, there's an unfortunate reality that we are also confronted that our capacity is at you're we're almost full, that just saying to us that due to the e c economic circumstances that we're living in, we're finding a lot of our neighbors are experiencing homelessness now. Because of the economic adjustments, there's not as many vouchers available for our neighbors seeking housing. And so that's going to almost put fourteen hundred people out of some sort of stable permanent housing solutions over the next uh twelve to eighteen months. That's a scary proposition for us all. And so Union Gospel Mission, we're gearing up exactly for that. And so let me just give the details of what's going to happen in 2026. We are opening up our welcome center. We will do the ribbon cutting on January the 15th. Our welcome center is comprised of a staff and a team who will be solely dedicated towards intake assessments and diversion. And true to form, when you look at the best-based uh practices around the country, if you're bringing our neighbors in, we should have some elements of intake doing an assessment and diversion. Diversion is are we the best housing solution for you at the time? And if not, we divert you to the appropriate place. And already, Eric, we've seen some amazing reunifications where there may have been an altercation in a family's dynamic, and that person sought housing, and as we were able to get involved and get connected with them, that allowed us an opportunity to build a bridge back with a family member that may have been some issues or they may have been estranged for a while. So we're seeing that. A part of the welcome center is also outreach. So we hired two new outreach team members, and their sole responsibility is to be out on the streets to engage our neighbors that are unhoused and find a way for them to get housing. If it's not at UGM, maybe it's Presbyterian, one of our neighbors, maybe it's Salvation Army or Safe Haven, maybe it's the Arlington Shelter or Dallas, wherever that may be. We want our neighbors to be housed. And so we may not be the right fit for them. And so we work
Diversion And Personalized Housing Plans
SPEAKER_00through the outreach team to be able to do that. So that is an exciting opportunity for us.
SPEAKER_01So diversion, that's a new term for me, but I I understand it. I understand it very and it sounds like like there have been solutions where diverting was a properly good thing to do before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00Absolut Absolutely. And and you know, the creativeness of the creativity in our diversion team is we recognize an individual we I have this philosophy, uh, and it's not mine, it's one we've adopted and we believe in, is that as it relates to housing, one size fits one. The one size fits one says that Eric Engelman's housing need and solution is different than Charles's. So when someone comes into our doors and they come into the welcome center, we do not immediately just try to place them in our shelter. We ask, what are the housing, what are your houses plan, and how can we assist you in your housing plan? And the diversion conversation starts by thinking through are there other options for you before you have to enter into the homelessness uh pipeline. So we want to work with them to be able to get them diverted. That's may that may just be as easy as getting them a bus ticket to go to Chicago where they have a family member that's well that would welcome them home. So that's not an uncommon thing. Or we learn that they may have may they may be in transition in their housing solution, and they may only need to stay with us for a couple of days. So we are diverting any opportunity that we can. There may be a family member that will be willing to take them. And so diversion is an exciting part of our ministry now.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Ross Powell And I really liked what you said about the transformation of uh two families or two parts of families at odds and at being reconciled. Absolutely. Praise the Lord. Absolutely. The blood of Jesus has been shed for us to get along. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
Recuperative Care Beds And Medical Discharge
SPEAKER_00And as as we seek to find other solutions, a part of the welcome center will be also we're opening up a recuperative care unit here at Union Gospel Mission that will be embedded in the Welcome Center. That will allow us to help our neighbors who are being discharged from our medical community. So the example would be let's say someone is leaving an emergency room stay or they've had a procedure, and prior to them being admitted into the hospital or receiving a procedure, they were unhoused prior to their emergency episode. And guess what? By the time that they receive their medical care, the discharge planning now has to ask those questions. Where will we discharge you to? And many of them do not have an address to be discharged to. And part of recuperative care is we will be an entity that at discharge from any of our medical facilities, any any of our behavioral health facilities, we will have a bed for them. So we're opening up 24 recuperative care beds for any of our neighbors that if they're leaving a medical facility, we will have a space and place for them to come and to recover and recoup before they and and seek what is the appropriate housing solution. That next housing solution may be UGM. It may be PNS, it could be one of our partners. So we are excited about that. That will open in April, if God says the same. And so we um welcome and solicit prayers as we seek to build that new initiative as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it sounds like uh I mean, I minister in uh nursing homes. Okay. And um twenty-four beds could fill up pretty fast.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. And you know, let me, you know, anecdotally, uh I was um over at the Welcome Center earlier today prior to coming into our podcast to sit down, and there's a young lady who's been on the streets for some time, and um she's she's she's not healthy. You know, there's uh obvious some opportunities there that we would engage in maybe uh on her journey. And I I observed her, she's in a hospital gown, but it appears as if her leg has been amputated. And I'm like, oh my God. Um we we w she would be appropriate for the recuperative care. And so we have the team trying to work with her because she's not uh um been agreeable to come in, and so we've got to work to see what angle we can provide and what medical care we can provide for. That's just an example.
SPEAKER_01Praise the Lord. Wow. Um is it okay if I pray a little bit? Absolutely, please do. Father in heaven, in Jesus' name, you're the refuge. Yes. And spiritually, you have you left where you were to come live on this earth. Yes, and yeah, you trusted your Father in heaven, you trusted the Holy Spirit, you had a refuge
Prayer And Renewed Resolve
SPEAKER_01spiritually, even when there were times where you said the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Jesus, thank you for uh seeing these times ahead of time, for uh causing networks, fellowship, agreement, partnerships, and uh Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness in uh in getting us this far as a group of people who look to you, who trust you, and who receive from your spirit uh the the life, the ideas, the the ways that Jesus lives. Jesus, please live inside us in Jesus' name.
unknownAmen.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Um Well the race has started, I guess.
SPEAKER_00It's time to lace up those tennis shoes. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I was hoping I was hoping to maybe take a little bit of a victory lap, and uh we uh and we did, or we are, uh but it's uh you know, it it's like the race is on.
SPEAKER_00It really is. And and we are clear-minded as it relates to trying
Housing Focus And Unified Strategy
SPEAKER_00to help end homelessness in Tarran County. We're clear-minded about that, and we want to be innovative, but we want to be intentional about our strategies.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Uh and that requires we as a collective, as an organization, uh, that everyone knows the target that we are aiming at is we are housing focused at UGM. That's our target. We're housing focused. And so the more that we can collectively, whether it be from the volunteers to the staff to all of our neighbors, uh we are all in this boat rowing together. And hopefully by the grace of God we will find solution, housing solutions for our neighbors, so that um night after night no one has to sleep under a bridge or out on the parking lot. So that is our goal.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Well, I d I remember the Apostle John said he saw the holy city coming down and had a beautiful foundation with uh with jewels that I think represented the uh the tribes of Israel, or I'm sorry, sorry, do represent the tribes of Israel. And there was a oneness in that city as it comes down out of heaven. Absolutely. May the city that's coming down out of heaven flow through us. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_01And may we uh live in that.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Can I piggyback on that? I am grateful that you know you are such a scholar around God's word, Eric, and uh I'm reminded of Revelation the 21st chapter, verse 21st chapter, verse number five.
Faith, Renewal, And Mission
SPEAKER_00And there's a declaration that he makes, and he says, Behold, I will make all things new. And he didn't say some things, he said he will make all things new. And he said, Write these things down because they're right and they're true. So as we uh seek to hear the declaration that uh Jesus Christ has made, as we seek his return, there is a promise that he's making to us that he's gonna make all things new. There's a renewal, there's a restoration. And let me say to this that we can be um assured of this, that he's not coming to do an extreme makeover. He says, I will make them new. And the newness of that is an exciting thing. And so as we want to hear the voice of God clear clearly for us in this next year, uh, we want to be focused on hearing God call us to this mission and this ministry. Uh, we have to be unashamed and make sure that we're leading in such a way that men, not only are they getting housed, but they're finding an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's what we believe that um through the work that we're doing, the staff and the team members that are here, we're we're we're head first for that. So we're grateful. Looking forward to these next this next season of preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and let's get some more people housed.
SPEAKER_01I agree in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen. God bless you.
