Christ Chapel Conducts Weekly Church Services at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky

It might not be where you would expect to go to attend a church service. It may not be where you would expect to see a wedding or a church food pantry to help the needy. Even though it might not be where you would expect to attend church, you can-at Christ Chapel at Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs, you might be thinking, where the Kentucky Derby is run, and you might ponder the possibility of attending a church service there. That is just what many people do every week, however. There are often 100 people in a service.

Chaplain Ken Boehm, of Christ Chapel, says people don't expect to go to any racetrack, let alone a famous one like Churchill Downs, "and see the Lord Jesus Christ being praised." That's just what will happen if you go to Christ Chapel, however, when a service is being conducted. Boehm and his assistant, Yurian Santiesteban, spend a great deal of time ministering to the spiritual needs of those in the horse racing industry who might otherwise be ignored, with Santiesteban working primarily with the Hispanic community.

Chaplain Boehm says Christ Chapel at Churchill Downs also provides clothes to the needy through a clothing closet and a food pantry to help out those who need it. Chaplain Boehm says those in the church not only want to teach people about the saving power of Jesus Christ, His blood, death, and resurrection, but they also want to demonstrate that love by their actions. Services are on Mondays, because those in the horse racing industry race on Sundays.

One of the horse racers, David Woods, says horse racing is the major part of life of those like him, and it is good to have the chapel to be there for those like him when they have free time.