Chaplains Commission Weekly Update – 7/16/2010
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Choice Christian Greetings!
The Church of God has been historically blessed with an outstanding Law Enforcement chaplaincy ministry. It began with, at that time, local pastor Jake Popejoy, who oversaw basic chaplaincy involvement and training in Knoxville, Tennessee. Two of those in these early classes were Parkwest Church of God Senior Pastor Gerald McGinnis, and Powell Church of God Senior Pastor Jerry Cox. From this early beginning, law enforcement chaplaincy began to spread throughout the United States and around the world. Those in the Knoxville area are responsible for establishing what is now considered to be one of the most effective and outstanding law enforcement chaplaincy programs anywhere in the US. Chaplains Popejoy, McGinnis and Cox are responsible for training hundreds of chaplains in Knoxville and other areas.
Another outstanding chaplain is Law Enforcement Chaplain Roger Daniel, pastor of the Coffee Junction Church of God, McCalla, Alabama. While pastoring in Fresno, California, he was responsible for helping to develop a nationally recognized law enforcement chaplaincy program. Chaplain Daniel led a team of chaplains in the development of a law enforcement chaplaincy manual, which is now a standard training manual for chaplaincy programs throughout California. Chaplain Daniel was part of a chaplaincy team that responded to the gruesome murders by Marcus Wesson, the dominating patriarch of a large clan he bred through incest. He murdered nine of his children, whose bodies were found in a bloody pile at the end of a police shoot-out. Chaplain Daniel, along with other chaplains, were at the scene ministering to remaining family members and the law enforcement personnel whose task it was to untangle the bodies that were in a pile, consisting of children ranging in ages from one to 17. One report stated, “In the bedroom was a bloody pile of corpses, each shot through the eye.” Officers pulled out the bodies of these family members; a gruesome task that left painful images in the minds and hearts of family members, law enforcement personnel, and the chaplains who dealt with this tremendous chaos and grief.
We have many law enforcement chaplains throughout the world. They are at the scene of tragic automobile accidents and suicides; they minister to law enforcement personnel who witness a fellow policeman’s murder and many other disasters. Ask any law enforcement chaplain, and they will tell you, “This is my passion and calling.” Having earned the trust and credibility of law enforcement personnel, these chaplains are able to enter a world where most clergy would never be privileged to go. This week’s update honors the hundreds of law enforcement chaplains, trained and committed, who have a passion to be present when a community incident occurs.
Chaplains/Family Pre-Assembly Conference Notes
Beginning Saturday evening, July 24th, through Monday evening, July 26th, some 400 chaplains, family members and guests will come together for our Pre-Assembly Chaplains Conference. The theme for this conference is “Outside the Gates: Maintaining Our Pentecostal Base While Extending Our Ministry Boundaries.” This conference will be a time to strengthen the special bonds that connect those whose ministries take them “outside the gates” of the traditional church. It is a time to share and recharge those batteries that keep chaplains reaching out to a lost, lonely and hurting world. It will be a time to encourage each other as we go through those times of joy and pain.
For Jeanette and me, this gathering is indeed special. We will be completing 32 years as your Chaplains Commission Director. We leave this assignment with a heart full of great memories; rising from that initial step you took with us, to accept the call to chaplaincy, through your training, and eventually that first assignment in one of our 42 different types of chaplaincy ministries. We have had the privilege to be your greatest supporter during your deployments, the birth of your children, good and difficult assignments, and those occasions when you received a special award or recognition. The pictures of you and your ministries will be forever burned into our hearts.
In addition to worship service speakers Robert Crick and Donnie Smith, we are privileged to have R. Lamar Vest, currently President and CEO of the American Bible Society, to lead us in two keynote sessions around the theme “Maintaining Our Pentecostal Base While Extending Our Ministry Boundaries.” Our gathering will end with a Monday evening Honors Dinner, celebrating this great ministry, as well as, giving recognition to mine and Jeanette’s 50 years of chaplaincy ministries. Other than our full-time chaplains, who are already registered for this Pre-Assembly Chaplains Conference, special guests should contact this office and speak with Ashley Shoemake (chapcm@bellsouth.net or 423-478-7706) for a schedule of events. You MUST register for the events ahead of time.
Chaplaincy News
· Chaplains Drew and Cherry Landrus, Crab Orchard, Tennessee, sent a report of significant activities during this past month, to include: ministering to 121 different families, with a total of 803 meals, including meals for 252 seniors and 223 children; a summer backpack program for at-risk children, and ministries with and through the Second Harvest Council of Counties, Second Harvest Food Bank of Knoxville, Cumberland Wellness Complexes, Bread of Life Mission, and the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
· Golden Living Center Nursing Home Chaplain Garth Hauger, Fredericksburg, Virginia, reports: “This is a ministry of deep and compassionate care. Several of our regular attendees passed away this past month, but we have many new faces. Patty, a young lady in her forties, had her leg amputated; yet, she is so hungry for Jesus. And then there is Ms. Bok, a dear saint, who speaks little English, but rejoices throughout every worship service. It fills my heart with joy and gladness to work with these, who are often forgotten by family and church.”
· Newly assigned Army Chaplain (CPT) Michael White, Fort Hood, Texas, reports that he recently planned and carried out a spiritual fitness training event with guest speaker COL Dave Grusin, who is considered a renowned expert in this field. While demonstrating physical fitness, he also lets them know that he is a strong, encouraging, follower of Christ.
· Army Chaplain (CPT-P) David Hall, Fort Eustis, Virginia, reports that he recently had a prayer breakfast with 450 in attendance. He also held a marriage retreat for 18 couples.
· Clinical Chaplain John Corcoran, Miamisburg, Ohio, serves as a specialist on the debriefing team of a local police department. Recently, he and others responded to an execution style shooting where two died and two were seriously injured. Chaplain Corcoran was a key member of the debriefing team for the officers who were personally involved in this tragedy.
· Prison Chaplain Joseph Miller, Newland, North Carolina, sent this testimony: “Last year I reported of an inmate that was miraculously saved at our Christian coffeehouse ministry. He has a terrible history. He had been a hired killer for a biker gang. He also had been confined to a wheelchair, due to many injuries. After being saved, he began to request prayer that God would make it possible for him to walk again. We prayed a number of times for him. Last weekend, he was able to share the testimony of walking around the yard without a walker, or even a cane, for seven miles. Praise God for His great mercy.”
· From Army Chaplain (COL) Charles Howell, San Antonio, Texas, we received a report on retired Army Chief of Chaplain (MAJ-Gen) Gaylord Gunhus. As most of you know, Chaplain Gunhus was diagnosed more than a year ago with cancer which, beyond a miracle, could very well cut his life short. In a recent report from Chaplain Howell, we learned that the cancer treatment has worked, and during the last six months, Chaplain Gunhus has returned to a normal routine of travel, work, and physical activity. He gives God the praise and credit for this marvelous healing.
· Our prayers go out for Army Chaplain (MAJ) Roderick Swanson, Fort Hood, Texas. Roderick’s brother, Larry Dwight Penick, of Birmingham, Alabama, was killed in a single vehicle crash recently. I just spoke to Roderick upon his return from the funeral. Chaplain Swanson participated in the funeral citing his and his brother’s love for each other, love for the Lord, and love for their family. You can send your notes of prayer support to Chaplain Swanson at: roderick.d.swanson@us.army.mil
· Scouting Chaplain James Brinkley, Zionsville, Indiana, reports: “During May, 2010, I had the privilege of conducting conferences around the theme, ‘Scouting as a Ministry of the Church.’ In April, I received approval from the National Council to serve as chaplain for the 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree, which is to be held this month. I will be with chaplains of many different denominations conducting worship services, providing religious instruction, and counseling to over 40,000 Boy Scouts and leaders.”
· We recently learned that Chaplain (COL) Charles Howell, who transferred from his duties as the Command Chaplain at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to San Antonio, Texas, where he will serve as the Command Chaplain, Installation Management Command (IMCOM), was awarded the Legion of Merit for three years of “exemplary ministry service to troops, wounded warriors, staff, and a host of others.”
Update on Roy Humphrey
We just received, July 6th, 2010, an up-to-date report on the recovery of Ministry to the Military Leader Roy Humphrey. As you know, he has been undergoing critical cancer treatment in a hospital in North Carolina. This latest report comes from Lena Barber, his daughter. She states:
Dad is doing much better. They will soon take out the tubes since the infection has healed and he is eating a little better. But, he continues to minister. After much insisting, mom and I went out for an hour or so since dad was doing much better. While we were gone, the woman who brings him food each day came by to talk with him awhile. She told him that she had tried Catholicism, Mormonism and several other religions. He pointed at her and shouted, “It’s you! You are the reason I have been here so long! It sounds like you have tried everything but a relationship with Jesus Christ.” When we returned, dad told us that he led her in the sinner’s prayer and that she cried as she left his room.
I am not leaving North Carolina until dad is ready to travel. We are all chomping at the bit; but, we see God’s hand at work in planning each day as we are in His perfect will, and see how God has ordered our steps before we even knew what was coming. Each new day, we wonder what miracle awaits us and who God will send our way. Be blessed as you bless others.
On July 15th, 2010, we received this news from Lena:
We are on our way home from the hospital, and dad has been driving the past hour!
Finally
Since the 2008 General Assembly, 23 Church of God military chaplains have deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Persian Gulf areas. As I send you this update, there are presently nine chaplains still deployed. A couple of those could be back in time for our Pre-Assembly Chaplains Conference. Many of these, and lots of other chaplains, have had multiple combat deployments. In fact, it is most unusual for any of our military chaplains, who have had more than three years active duty, not to have experienced a deployment. In a sense, when one of these chaplains deploys, their families go into their own unique deployment. That is, like the chaplain, they make many sacrifices, such as, taking care of all the business that the chaplain would have assisted them in. For many, it includes being uprooted to other areas to wait out a deployment, lots of tense moments, awaiting that email message or phone call, and all those other stresses that go with these deployments. That is why the military is beginning to recognize the fact that not only does the military person need debriefing, but their family needs to be debriefed as well. A lot can happen in a family during a one-year deployment. Kids get older, our lives get more complex, and the mom or dad left behind very quickly reaches their “stress limit.” Family members will experience many special days without that mom or dad who is serving out an assignment in a difficult, far-away place. For chaplains who have experienced deployments, they know very well that you just do not walk back into the home, with “business as usual.” In some situations, because the chaplain has been gone, family members, forced to get along without him or her, almost feel like there is a stranger in their midst. You have to become reacquainted with all those common factors of family life: communication, intimacy, just the business of who is in charge and who is not. With good debriefing, within a few months, normality comes again. But, for a few chaplains and other military personnel, because of the complexity of who we are, and those unresolved issues that we take into deployments, the recovery is much longer.
I look forward to seeing all of our chaplains at the General Assembly. Those military and civilian chaplains will have many stories to tell of how God’s grace – even through these separations and other crises – has sustained us and kept intact our relationships of trust and integrity. Thank God for Church of God chaplains; they go through much, but are offering some of the best ministries known in the church today.
Sincerely,
Robert D. Crick
Weekly Bible Verse
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him! Let the Lord’s people show Him reverence, for those who honor Him will have all they need.
Psalm 34:8-9
Contacts
Director, Dr. Robert D. Crick, cricksot@att.net
Full-time Chaplaincy, Dr. Jerry McNabb, jmcnabb@cogchaplains.com
Community Service Chaplaincy and Training, Dr. Jake Popejoy, jakepopejoy@aol.com
Public Relations and Recruitment, wroberson@cogchaplains.com
Special Projects, 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
Categories: Weekly Update
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