Chaplains Commission Weekly Update – 8/28/2009

Friday, August 28, 2009 at 4:34 pm

Choice Christian Greetings!
 
Who was the first Church of God military chaplain, and what country did he represent? It may surprise you, but according to our historical data, the first full-time military chaplain came from the country of Chile, and his name was Chaplain Alberto Kupfer. He was a full-time military chaplain who served a large Chilean military hospital during World War II. 
 
Now that you failed the first question, let me ask you the second one: who was our first full-time US military chaplain? He was, as some of you know, Air Force Chaplain Edward Shoupe, graduate of Lee University (Lee College at that time) who went on to spend 30 years in active Air Force service. And, finally, who was the first ever certified Pentecostal, of any Pentecostal-Charismatic denomination, Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor? Of course, you got this one, it was yours truly.
 
With this little history, let me emphasize the fact that chaplaincy did not start with us. Its principles lay in the very heart of God from time eternal. Chaplaincy is based on the biblical truth that:  1) God is creator of all life and all things; 2) God is a global God; 3) Christ, as the compassionate, suffering servant for all of humanity, is a model of chaplaincy ministries; 4) Chaplains represent the church’s need to take the gospel to every secular area of our world. In other words, all of creation belongs to God; He is no stranger, whether in a prison, a law office, a highly secular university campus, or any place that, unfortunately, the church has often regarded as “off-limits.” It is for this reason that, historically, the church has sent these specially trained ministers to every nook and corner of the world. They are the church’s missionaries, reclaiming these secular areas that the world would call “its own.” If the chaplain, for whatever reason, cannot reclaim the entire corporate agency or institution where he/she is assigned, at least they will bring to these institutions a moral consciousness which makes those who live and work in these institutions know that God has not abandoned them.
 
The Church of God has a great chaplaincy history. We are missionaries reclaiming for God those areas which are often times labeled “off-limits.”
 
 
Chaplaincy News
 
·         Every day we gather, with our Prayer and Family Care Coordinator, Elaine Offutt, to take before Almighty God our Chaplains, family members, and those they serve. This week we prayed for our chaplains’ who are deployed. We also rejoiced over the clean bill of health that Veterans Affairs Chaplain Thomas Phythian just received. We prayed and grieved for the healing of Bob and Libby Dawkins, retired Prison Chaplains. We lifted up chaplains children; some in serious need of a miracle. And, we prayed for our church and country, with the determination that we must hold fast to our strong faith regardless of how the political winds are blowing. My day is always enriched by these special prayer gatherings. I trust that you are doing likewise with your fellow chaplains, family members, and those who depend so heavily upon your deep prayer life. 
 
·         Dr. Hector Chiesa, Ministerial Program Coordinator, Department of Correctional Services, Bronx, New York, was recently a part of a special prayer council that met at the United Nations. The council consisted of 500 New York Pastors. Dr. Chiesa reports that much prayer was spent in lifting up the Republic of Honduras as they are going through a political crisis. Dr. Chiesa recently returned from the Dominican Republic where he provided chaplaincy workshops for prison staff, police department personnel, and to staff and chaplains in a local hospital. As most of you know, Dr. Chiesa has a long history as a pastoral care specialist, pastor, and director of prison chaplaincy ministries.   
 
·         Clinical Chaplain David Bagwell, Rembert, South Carolina, reports: “We have a strong Christian Fellowship of Medics that are serving in the Midland area. This ministry has grown from one county to now six different counties. The ministry was developed principally to give spiritual support to those in these special clinical systems.”
 
·         College and University Chaplaincy Coordinator, Chaplain John Unthank, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, reports: “We have chaplains in many colleges and universities throughout the world, and they are sending great reports of their ministry as students arrive for the new academic year. At the University of Tennessee, we assisted freshmen moving into their dorm rooms, set-up our prayer booth on campus and opened our Extra Helping Program, which supplies household supplies for international students.  Through our Lost Sheep Ministry for the homeless, we distributed clothing, tote bags to children, and other resources. We must pray for the millions of students on these campuses around the world; they need our spiritual love and care.”
 
·         Air Force Chaplain, Major, Eddie Jones, San Antonio, Texas, tells us that his family celebrated their oldest son’s, Eddie II, graduation from the Air Force Basic Training School. Chaplain Jones states, “Mina and I, our other son, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, were extremely proud to watch my son, out front, carrying the US colors for his 600-member class. It was truly a great day.” 
 
 
A Special Report
 
*      Chaplain/Reverend Reginald McCarn, as well as his wife Karleen, recently retired from more than 50 years in pastoral and chaplaincy ministry. This highly committed couple served in churches and chaplaincy positions in Missouri, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, and more recently, Georgia. Chaplain McCarn has been responsible for starting several chaplaincy programs wherever he pastored. Chaplain McCarn discovered a long time ago that pastoring a church and serving as a volunteer chaplain to the institutions surrounding that local church is an unbeatable partnership. He always saw his duties as that of not just pastoring a local church, but rather his entire community. We are honored to have endorsed Chaplain McCarn all these years; and he has honored God in his devotion to those “outside the gates.”
 
*      We extracted a few thoughts from Hospital Chaplain Gerald Smith’s, Titusville, Florida, Weekly Glimmers, a newsletter sent to his staff. He states: “This week, I walked past room 307 and smiled. The man’s chances of ever leaving the hospital were slim from the beginning. His son kept saying, ‘Every day is miracle; and today is no exception.’ I have experienced these miracles time and again, even when I was in training at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.  I remember one night when I learned that a man had been buried in a ditch that had caved in, and he was flown to our hospital. As he was wheeled into the trauma room, it was apparent that he was not responding to any treatment. They opened his chest, fluid gushed out, and I watched as the physician wrapped his hands around the man’s heart and began squeezing it. To my amazement, the heart responded. This was one of my first times to witness such a miracle; the last one happened this past Tuesday.” 
 
 
Finally
 
This week, the Pentecostal Theological Seminary received students for the new academic year; similar to what has been going on here since the time the seminary opened its doors in 1975. In that early beginning, Dr. Wade Horton, then General Overseer of the Church of God, was serving as the President and Dr. Hollis Gause, the first Academic Dean. I was still in the military as a chaplain, Director of our CPE and Counseling Center, Fort Benning, Georgia. Since I was serving on the church’s General Education Board, I was asked to be a part of this seminary’s new Ministry Development Program. One of those first students, Ralph Douglas, who went on to a 27-year career as a Navy Chaplain, was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia as a summer intern. And since that beginning, chaplaincy has been an integral part of seminary life. Most of our full-time chaplains (military, hospital, prison and other institutions) are graduates of the seminary. This fall, Chaplains Week at the Seminary will take place September 28-October 2, 2009. Our special speakers for this event will be Army Chaplain (LTC) Terry Simmons, one of the directors at the Army Chaplains School, Fort Jackson, South Carolina; and, Dr. Darrell Bewley, long-term Law Enforcement and FBI Chaplain, Bristol, Tennessee. I know of no other departments in the church more closely connected together; preparing men and women for this unique ministry in so many specialized areas. Pray that the Lord will keep our seminary strong. Pray especially for Dr. Steven Land, Seminary President, as well as for the seminary’s faculty and staff, and especially its student body. It is a joy to be in ministry partnerships with such a great institution. 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Robert D. Crick
 
Weekly Bible Verse
 
Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
Romans 8:39 (NLT)
 
 
Contacts
 
Director, Dr. Robert D. Crick, cricksot@att.net
Full-time Chaplaincy and Public Relations, Dr. Jerry McNabb, jmcnabb@cogchaplains.com
Community Service Chaplaincy and Training, Dr. Doc Williams, dwilliams@cogchaplains.com
Community Service Chaplaincy Administrative Information, wroberson@cogchaplains.com
Disaster and Compassionate Care, Reverend Tom Offutt, tomoffutt@att.net
Prayer and Family Care, Elaine Offutt, elaineoffutt@att.net
General Information, chapcm@cogchaplains.com
 
Web Site/Page: www.cogchaplains.com
 
RDC/als
 
Correspondence
 
 

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