Church of God Chaplains Commission

Choice Christian greetings!

During this week in Cleveland, we are conducting our ninth college/university chaplaincy course.  As a result of the partnership with the Youth and Christian Education Department, we now have chaplains on many secular universities throughout the United States and in several countries.  The recent Virginia Tech catastrophe underscores the need to have clinically trained Church of God chaplains on every major university around the world.  My commendations go to Reverend Mark Abbott, Director of the Church of God Youth and Christian Education Department; Reverend Mark Swank, Coordinator of the Campus Ministries through the Youth Department; and Dr. Doc Williams, our College/University Campus Ministries Coordinator.  It is a team effort and rightly so.  When our sons and daughters attend a secular university, we know they will face highly liberal professors and campus structure.  Their faith will be challenged from the beginning; and if they are not prepared before they go there and have a strong support system while there, they will not spiritually survive.  Thank God for other partners in this endeavor, including InterVarsity Ministries, Baptist Student Unions and all the other Evangelical denominations with a strong presence on these campuses.  We are going to win this battle!  My special thanks go to University of Tennessee Chaplain John Unthank, who also serves as our Field Campus Coordinator. He has ten years of experience as a full-time campus chaplain.  If you are interested in this vital ministry, contact the Youth and C.E. department at:  mswank@churchofgod.cc.

MILITARY CHAPLAINCY NEWS:

Our sincere congratulations go to Army Chaplain (MAJ) Mickey Jett, currently serving in Iraq; and Army Chaplain (MAJ) Joseph Melvin, currently assigned to Baumholder, Germany.  These two Army chaplains were recently selected for the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  Send your notes of congratulations to Chaplain Jett at:  mickey.jett@us.army.mil; and Chaplain Melvin at:  joseph.melvin1@us.army.mil.   The Commission’s Assistant Directory, Dr. Jerry McNabb, just returned from an extended trip to the Far East.  He had the opportunity to visit chaplains and military personnel on mainland Japan and Korea.  While in Korea, he visited three of our Church of God Chaplains, including Chaplain (CPT) Heather Landrus, Chaplain (CPT) Jon Wilson and Chaplain (CPT) Clayton Gregory.  Dr. McNabb had the opportunity to not only visit the chaplains, but to receive briefings from Command Chaplain Personnel and a very meaningful trip on the Korean DMZ.  Army Chaplain (CPT) Heather Landrus made the following comments concerning Dr. McNabb’s visit:  “I deeply appreciate this visit, and the tremendous support I receive from the Chaplains Commission.  Your presence and encouraging words remind me of the Apostle Paul, who did not forget his own, but traveled in order to bring encouragement to his younger pastors and congregations.” Army Chaplain (CPT) Megan Hodge, Iraq, requests that we not forget to pray for her troops who have been extended several months.  Also, we would encourage you to pray for our chaplains.  They, too, have been extended, along with their soldiers.  Army Chaplain (COL) David Moran, recently assigned to Washington, D.C., is on his way to a new assignment at Heidelberg, Germany.  He reports:  “Cindy and I are on leave prior to going to Germany.  We had the great opportunity to be at our daughter, Jennifer’s graduation from the University of Texas.  Before leaving Washington, D.C., I was able to bring together a critical conference concerning A Coordinated Response to Terrorist or National Crises in the D.C. Area.  This conference brought together 65 civilians and military chaplains, representing Metropolitan Washington Council of Government – fire, safety, police and the Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard and Air Force.  You can view the far range of conference topics at:  www.mdw.army.mil/content/anmviewer.asp?a3D1902&z3D72. Army Chaplain (1LT) Danny Claypoole, Cleveland, Tennessee, will leave shortly for his first Active Duty assignment.  In a beautiful ceremony at our Church of God General Headquarters facilities, Chaplain Claypoole was Ordained as a Bishop in the Church of God.  Dr. Tim Hill, Second Assistant General Overseer, and Dr. Dennis McGuire, General Overseer, conducted the service.  Following the formal ceremony, Danny and his wife, Leah, knelt for the traditional laying on of hands ritual and prayer of commitment.  Army Chaplain (CPT) Thomas Baize, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, recently attended the C-Stars Training.  This training exposes chaplains to an inner city ER for three nights to get them used to functioning around a lot of serious/trauma injuries. Army Chaplain (LTC) Calvin Eastham, Fort Leavenworth, KS writes: “My former Commandant, Col James Harrison, was one of the two soldiers killed at the Afghanistan prison.  I was the lead chaplain in ministering to the family and in preparing the memorial service, funeral and committal. The Post poured out love and compassion to the family; over 500 attended the memorial service.  The Patriot Guard lined the route from the front gate to the chapel.  Keep this family in your prayers.”

INSTITUTIONAL CHAPLAINCY (Prisons, Hospitals, Hospice, Campus, Industry, etc.:

Pastoral Counselor Randy Imhoff, Syracuse, New York, gives the following report on his daughter, Sheena, who is recovering from extensive injuries due to an automobile accident.  He reports:  “Thank God, Sheena’s fever broke.  She is digesting her food better.  Her white blood cell count is down.  We continue to believe God is working in the healing process.” Hospice Chaplain Thomas Phythian, Falls Church, Virginia, reports:  “This past week was National Nurses’ Week.  I conducted a Blessings of the Hands ceremony for the two interdisciplinary teams which I serve.  All of our nurses participated.  I also opened the blessings to other disciplines on the team:  three doctors, a social worker, volunteer coordinator and our dietician.  All wanted their hands washed and blessed.” Chaplain of Pastoral Care, Mary Withers, Celebration of Praise Church of God, reports:  “Let me share with you a short testimony.  A couple who had been living together for many years, a 70-year-old Catholic and a 59-year-old Pentecostal, came to me for pre-marital counseling.  God used this occasion to bring them back to the Lord with renewed commitment.  I had the privilege of marrying them last week.  This is but one of the many blessings given to community chaplains.  They now attend our church.” Dr. Thomas Grassano, Bronx, New York, a long-term supporter of chaplaincy ministries, gives this update on his dad, Reverend Thomas Grassano, Sr., a long-term friend to this ministry:  “My father began radiation therapy two weeks ago.  The good news is that it appears there is already a little reduction in the size of one of the tumors.  The radiologist confirmed this, but then added it was entirely too early for such a thing to take place.  I responded that it was only too early without God; nothing is impossible for those who believe.”

UPDATES AND SECURITY:

As most of you probably know, we always send out the Updates under what is called “Blind Copy.”  This protects you from having your email address spread among other chaplains; just in case there is a security breech on their part.

Another matter has come to our attention.  Occasionally, we encourage fellow chaplains to send notes of support to those sick, congratulations to those who have been promoted or other such personal interest matters.  Chaplains tell me they deeply appreciate receiving notes from fellow chaplains when their email address is posted.  A couple chaplains have stated that this has exposed them to spam email, or possible some other security breech.  Do we give up this support and congratulatory notes from chaplains in order to fill these “security gaps?”  Like all of you, every day I receive anywhere from 5-10 spam messages that range from those in Kuwait who want to give me $10,000,000 or others offering me a reduced price for a supply of Viagra.  I do what most of you do, simply delete them without even reading them.  It is a little aggravating, but that seems to be the nature of the beast in doing business by internet/email.  While I want to accommodate the few of you who are upset when we post, for good reason, your email address; yet, I do not want to give up the benefits of having our chaplains corresponding with each other when there are matters of illness, promotions or prayer requests.  I would appreciate some feedback from you regarding this matter, along with suggestions as to how we can better secure your need for privacy.

FINALLY:

We recognize, due to the tremendous stress of our times, that our chaplains need rest, time off and, in some cases, a refocusing of their ministry responsibilities.  You do not send military chaplains on back-to-back deployments without recognizing what a tremendous burden you are placing on that chaplain and his/her family.  The same is true for many of our other chaplains.  On almost a weekly basis, hospital and prison chaplains tell us of all the “extra duty” now loaded on chaplains in these institutions.  One chaplain, in addition to being the director of pastoral care at his institution, oversees a department that includes a number of other professional disciplines.  Chaplains get tired, too.  When chaplains send in a report of their ministries, family and personal needs, we take time out to pray for that chaplain and his/her family.  We must find a way to avoid being a casualty of this intense journey.  We have to pace ourselves, take time to read a good book, visit a friend or simply take a walk and try to flush out all the excessive baggage that weights us down and zaps our energy.  Chaplains, pray for each other.  Chaplain supporters, pray for all of us.  And let us all join together, united in prayer, asking God for His daily bread and His daily strength.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert Crick

Director, Chaplains Commission

Director’s e-mail: cricksot@worldnet.att.net

Office e-mail: chapcm@bellsouth.net

Web Site/Page: www.cogchaplains.com

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