Meet the neighbors: Charles Rankin

Meet Charles Rankin, 

He an 81 year old male and is the second longest resident having lived here 20+ years. He is a retired and disabled Marine veteran. He is a very social and engaging man and was one of the first friends we made in the community. Charles is a nice Christian man. He is single, but has a long standing friendship/relationship with another senior in the community. He has a love for photography and creating AI art and uses these as outlets to help him cope with his PTSD and mental health struggles. He can often be found at Cola City Market on a Saturday morning taking pictures - - he is able to thoroughly capture the atmosphere of an environment! He also using these artistic methods of expression to highlight many of the racial struggles he and those he knows have faced. 

His kids and grandkids live in Florida. When I invite him to church he says that his family are always on stage at their church, and by watching them online he is able to engage with his family. 

When we first met he quickly found out that I was a military chaplain. Since then, he enjoys joking with me and asking for prayer that a sports game would go his way. He also loving tells everyone around him that I am a minister. I gladly take this free advertising! During the Christmas progressive caroling he was one of the seniors that we visited and he was not able to continue on with us. However, it was evident that he was touched and moved by us coming to his door.

When preparing for this apartment ministry, we learned that we need to find a “person of peace” in the apartment community, and one of them is Charles. The “person of peace” is one who sets the tone in the community and often acts as a gatekeeper of who is allowed in the social circles. Our training told us that if one of these people accepts us publicly, then our credibility in the community increases drastically. So in addition to doing our best to minister to him, we also work to make sure we see him regularly to maintain his endorsement. We have noticed that at times he will advocate for residents to the community manager, Rachel. 

One of the spiritual needs we see in Charles is a lack of depth. We do think he has a personal relationship with Jesus, but we are not sure how deep it is. He enjoys sitting in the chapel at the VA across the street just to have quiet time with God. When we try to talk to him about his personal faith, he tends to keep the conversation light and generic or moves to another point in the conversation (which he does regularly in any conversation anyway). Our prayer for him is that he would use his position in the community to share the love of God. 

Do you have any questions or prayer requests? Please feel free to reach out when the time is right for you. 

In Christ, 

Daniel Maggard

Some of his recent AI art