Ardmore Baptist Church offers a place of comfort to families in need
By Les Gura
When Carl Hanlon was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in his brain in January 2015, he and his wife, Judy, hardly had time to prepare for the surgery and six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation to follow.
In fact, Carl Hanlon underwent surgery just one week after he was diagnosed. Fortunately, his neurosurgeon, Dr. Adrian Laxton of Wake Forest Baptist Health, was able to remove 98 percent of the tumor. But the Hanlons, who live in West Jefferson, only had three weeks before Carl’s daily regimen of chemotherapy and radiation began. That included figuring out where to stay in Winston-Salem.
Through FaithHealth Connector Diane Dixon, the Hanlons (pictured above) learned about the J.L. Wilson Guest House, a home owned by Ardmore Baptist Church just a few blocks from Wake Forest Baptist. The home is part of the church’s hospitality mission. It is offered free of charge to patients and family members of any faith who need short-term lodging during treatment and cannot afford the typical hotel expense.
“It had everything we needed,’’ Judy Hanlon says. “Carl was able to rest and sleep during the day. It was very, very convenient and everyone was so nice to us. We were even visited by some of the church members.’’
The Guest House was a free gift
There are options for people such as the Hanlons. For example, in Winston-Salem, the SECU Family House offers 45 rooms to patients who require treatment. But the SECU house has a small daily fee; it also does not offer the single-occupancy privacy sought by some patients.
Rev. Paul Mullen, minister of congregational care for Ardmore Baptist, recalls a patient fighting an aggressive cancer who he spent time with at the J.L. Wilson Guest House.
“I remember visiting with him and his wife in the living room. He was receiving 30-plus outpatient radiation treatments and lived nearly two hours away,’’ Mullen says. “They faced enormous physical, mental, emotional and financial stress. Their faith, the care they received at the Medical Center and the support of Ardmore Baptist were like anchors in the storm. They talked mostly about gratitude for God’s grace.
“God’s love was apparent to them through the compassion of strangers at our church. The Guest House was a free gift. Church members and some of our ministers checked on them. We prayed for them. They could hardly find words to express their gratitude. The support eased their minds and allowed the patient to focus on doing his best to survive.”
Would you like a place to stay?
The home was purchased in 2000, says Peggy Neal, who heads Ardmore Baptist’s J.L. Wilson Guest House Committee. The goal was to keep family members from sleeping in their cars or campers, as many did when a loved one was in the hospital.
“The chaplains were seeing people sitting in waiting rooms for a long period of time,’’ Neal says. “The idea with the J.L. Wilson Guest House was for the chaplains to be able to ask such people, ‘Would you like to have someplace to stay?’”
That was the nature of ministry provided by Dr. J.L. Wilson, pastor at Ardmore Baptist for 18 years. He died in May 1996, just before his retirement.
“He was the ultimate pastor,’’ Neal recalls. “There are preachers and there are pastors. He was a melding of the two. He was just a very compassionate person.’’
The fully furnished J.L. Wilson Guest House has two bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room and den. People who stay in the home are invited to Ardmore Baptist’s weekly community dinner on Wednesday evenings, and Neal says the people who stay in the home “are always on our prayer list.’’
People are typically referred by members of the pastoral care teams at Wake Forest Baptist and Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. They also may be referred by the SECU Family House when that facility is fully booked.
Carl Hanlon says he and his wife were pleased to give a donation to support the J.L. Wilson Guest House once they were able. More than a year after his treatment, he is grateful for his good health.
He’s also grateful that the J.L. Wilson Guest House provided a chance for friends to visit while he recuperated.
“It was private, absolutely private,’’ he says. “We could not have asked for anything nicer.’’
