Prison chaplain and author headlines Landiss Lecture

Janel Shoun-Smith | 

Chris Hoke, author of "Wanted," speaks at Landiss Lecture, April 16

Lipscomb University’s annual free Landiss Lecture Series presents prison chaplain, pastor and author Chris Hoke on Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m., in the Swang Chapel in the Ezell Center.

Hoke is a pastor to gangs and violent offenders in Washington’s Skagit Valley. He has written about his experiences – comic and heartbreaking tales of sacred moments in unlikely situations – in the book “Wanted: A Spiritual Pursuit Through Jail, Among Outlaws and Across Borders.” His other writings have appeared in the journals Christian Century, Sojourners, Good Letters, The Sun and on National Public Radio.

Through his work with the organization Tierra Nueva, Hoke cofounded a coffee-roasting business, Underground Coffee, which employs men coming out of prison and addiction, and connects them to agricultural partners in Honduras. Hoke received his BA from the University of California Berkeley and his MFA in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University.

“Wanted” explores Hoke’s pursuit of God among gangs, prisons and in society’s forgotten places as a volunteer night-shift chaplain at a men’s correctional facility. Gang members soon dub him their “pastor,” and as he comes to terms with this uncomfortable title – and embraces the role of a shepherd of black sheep – his adventures begin.

Hoke describes singing with someone who attempted suicide in the jail’s isolation cell, dodging immigration and airport security with migrant farm workers and fly-fishing with tattooed gangsters. In his stories, Hoke offers a new vision of the forgotten souls who have been cast into society’s dumpsters, helping readers see that beneath even the hardest criminal is a fragile desire to be wanted.

The Landiss Lecture Series, presented by Lipscomb’s Department of English and Modern Languages, has brought programs from outstanding writers to the Lipscomb campus for three decades. It was established in 1984 by Morris Landiss to create opportunities to stimulate intellectual growth for Lipscomb students, faculty, staff and administration as well as for the community surrounding Lipscomb.

A reception and book-signing will be held following the lecture. For more information, contact Kenna Tomberlin at 615.966.5960 or at kenna. tomberlin [at] lipscomb.edu.