2007 Archives
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Chaplain ministers at world’s busiest U.S. military trauma center
Posted: 5/25/07
Chaplain ministers at world’s
busiest U.S. military trauma centerBy Patricia Heys
Associated Baptist Press
U.S. AIR FORCE THEATER HOSPITAL, Iraq (ABP)—At the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital in Iraq, the sounds of Army Blackhawk and Marine Sea Knight helicopters are a call to duty for Air Force Chaplain Shane Gaster.
Gaster, one of more than 90 military chaplains endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, is stationed at the Air Force Theater Hospital—the busiest U.S. trauma center in the world. He works 12-hour shifts, six days a week, ministering to wounded men and women brought in by helicopters and humvee trucks.
Baptist chaplains James Kirkendall and Shane Gaster visit at Gaster’s office at the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital in Iraq. (Photo courtesy of James Kirkendall) See Related Articles:
• Frontline Ministry: Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combat
• Chaplain ministers at world's busiest U.S. military trauma center
• As the war goes on, so does the work of military
• DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
• Cadets learn Islam as part of winning the peace
• Chaplain strives to be the presence of Christ in war zone
• Southern Baptist tapped as Army chief of chaplains
• Family collects tributes to fallen soldier as “sacred relics
• Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
• San Antonio volunteers serve wounded warriors05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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As the war goes on, so does the work of military
Posted: 5/25/07
As the war goes on,
so does the work of militaryBy Marcia Nelson
Religion News Service
CHICAGO (RNS)—Once you’ve seen the brutal face of evil, you start looking for the tender face of God, Chaplain Robert Barry said.
Barry is an Air National Guard chaplain who spends his summers working with injured soldiers at Landstuhl military hospital in southern Germany, where American military personnel are taken after they are wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
Posted: 5/25/07
Chaplain Joel Jenkins prepares to go out on a convoy. Jenkins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va., was called up to active duty last June and has been serving in Iraq. DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
By Jim White
Virginia Religious Herald
HARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Joel Jenkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va., temporarily changed congregations last year—and the relocation was extreme. Jenkins, a longtime Army Reserve chaplain, was called to active duty in Iraq last June with barely a week’s notice.
For the past 11 months, Jenkins has called a forward operating base in Baghdad’s international zone home. He is assigned to the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, which employs military and civilian forces from several nations to train and equip Iraq’s army, navy, air force and police force.
Jenkins with Commander Lieut. Gen. Dempsey of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. See Related Articles:
• Frontline Ministry: Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combat
• Chaplain ministers at world's busiest U.S. military trauma center
• As the war goes on, so does the work of military
• DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
• Cadets learn Islam as part of winning the peace
• Chaplain strives to be the presence of Christ in war zone
• Southern Baptist tapped as Army chief of chaplains
• Family collects tributes to fallen soldier as “sacred relics
• Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
• San Antonio volunteers serve wounded warriors05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Frontline Ministry: Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combat
Posted: 5/25/07
FRONTLINE MINISTRY:
Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combatBy Barbara Bedrick
BGCT Communications
The closer people get to a foxhole, the more spiritual they generally become, a frontline military chaplain observed.
Tough circumstances—and the accompanying escalated interest in spiritual matters—provide countless opportunities for military chaplains like U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Perdue of the 1st Marine Division, who recently returned from a one-year tour of duty in Baghdad and Fallujah as a multi-national Marine Expeditionary Force chaplain.
Ministering on the front lines, U.S. Marine Chaplain Bill Perdue travels with commanding officers near Baghdad. (BGCT Photos courtesy of Bill Perdue) See Related Articles:
• Frontline Ministry: Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combat
• Chaplain ministers at world's busiest U.S. military trauma center
• As the war goes on, so does the work of military
• DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
• Cadets learn Islam as part of winning the peace
• Chaplain strives to be the presence of Christ in war zone
• Southern Baptist tapped as Army chief of chaplains
• Family collects tributes to fallen soldier as “sacred relics
• Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
• San Antonio volunteers serve wounded warriors“On three occasions, rocket and mortar fire landed within 50 yards of our chapel and killed a civilian contractor 30 feet away,” Perdue recalled.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Cadets learn Islam as part of ‘winning the peace’
Posted: 5/25/07
Mohammed Aly (right), a member of the Islamic Center of Jersey City, N.J., introduces himself to West Point cadet Chris Beeler. (RNS/Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.) Cadets learn Islam as part of ‘winning the peace’
By Wayne Woolley
Religion News Service
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (RNS)—The lights in a Jersey City mosque flickered at dawn, and more than a dozen West Point cadets stirred in sleeping bags scattered across the prayer room.
As Imam Hussein Wahdan began the melodious call to prayer in Arabic, bearded men filed past the cadets, kneeled and then bowed to the floor to begin their morning worship.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Chaplain strives to be the presence of Christ in war zone
Posted: 5/25/07
Baptist Chaplain Alan Rogers talks with Marines in Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Alan Rogers) Chaplain strives to be the
presence of Christ in war zoneBy Bob Perkins Jr.
Associated Baptist Press
L ANBAR, Iraq (ABP)—Chaplain Alan Rogers has baptized a Marine in an Iraqi river under armed protection. Needless to say, it was a quick job.
A Marine Corps corporal asked Rogers to baptize in the Euphrates River in Iraq, near the Syrian border.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Family collects tributes to fallen soldier as ‘sacred relics’
Posted: 5/25/07
Family collects tributes to
fallen soldier as ‘sacred relics’By Wayne Woolley
Religion News Service
OUTH AMBOY, N.J. (RNS)—It happens every time a U.S. soldier or Marine dies in Iraq. The bad news immediately spreads across the base like wildfire, and in the troop recreation centers, Internet connections are shut down.
Commanders don’t want word of the death to reach the soldier’s family before military officials personally deliver the news. Once the knock at the family door comes between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., the electronic blockade back in Iraq is lifted and a torrent of e-mails flows from the battlefield to the dead soldier’s family in America.
Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Sebban, 29, died in Iraq this spring. Sebban’s family received a flood of supportive e-mails and letters from soldiers who served with him in Iraq. (RNS/courtesy 82nd Airborne Public Affairs Office.) 05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
Posted: 5/25/07
Chaplains prep West Point
cadets for spiritual warfareBy Gregory Tomlin
Baptist Press
EST POINT, N.Y. (BP)—Southern Baptist chaplains Col. John Cook and Lt. Col. Darrell Thomsen, along with other chaplains at West Point, mourn the loss of 51 academy graduates since the war began.
Still, new cadets keep coming with a desire to serve. Among the cadets are Cook’s twin sons, both “plebes”—first-year students. Despite the risks involved with service, Cook said he is proud his sons, Jonathan and Joshua, have chosen to attend West Point.
U.S. Army Chaplain Col. John Cook, a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, points to the grave site of 2nd Lt. Emily Perez, the first female West Point graduate to be killed in Iraq. Cook is the U.S. Military Academy chaplain and senior adviser to the superintendent on religious affairs. (BP Photo) See Related Articles:
• Frontline Ministry: Baptist chaplain meets spiritual needs in combat
• Chaplain ministers at world's busiest U.S. military trauma center
• As the war goes on, so does the work of military
• DEPLOYED: Baptist pastor ministers in Iraq
• Cadets learn Islam as part of winning the peace
• Chaplain strives to be the presence of Christ in war zone
• Southern Baptist tapped as Army chief of chaplains
• Family collects tributes to fallen soldier as “sacred relics
• Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
• San Antonio volunteers serve wounded warriors05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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San Antonio volunteers serve wounded warriors
Posted: 5/25/07
San Antonio volunteers
serve wounded warriorsBy George Henson
Staff Writer
SAN ANTONIO—Two teams of volunteers at First Baptist Church in San Antonio are working to minister to soldiers and families during some of their most trying times.
Tom and Nell Kolterman lead a team of volunteers who provide and serve a meal to soldiers and their families at Powless House, a residential facility at Fort Sam Houston for wounded soldiers who need long-term outpatient care provided by Brooke Army Medical Center.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: Leave judgment in the parking lot
Posted: 5/25/07
2nd Opinion:
Leave judgment in the parking lotBy Robert Tucker
The challenge of a classically trained musician to adapt to new worship styles without abandoning the old was both daunting and rewarding. My commitment to providing the finest in worship experiences led me to a crossroads in my musical journey. The desire to incorporate and become a part of the emerging church in a praise-and-worship setting meant that I needed to know something about it and to learn how to become a part of it. The old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” has never been more true than in my case of trying to become a part of the praise-and-worship team—“team” in the broad sense of the term.
Specifically, our church had a team—a small group that included a few singers, a drummer, a bass player, a guitar player, and a pianist and organist. Perhaps out of default or due to my jazz background on the piano, suddenly it became my duty and obligation to provide leadership at the keyboard. I met this requirement with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Probably similar to a skydiver on his first dive or in my case a solo French horn player in an orchestra, I was confident of my basic skills but completely at a loss on how to use them. Can I fit in and learn this new system, and am I capable? Will I enhance the worship experience for the people, or will I ruin it? Is this good for the church?
As I played and sought to fit in with the team, I noticed the response of the people was not negative or bored but rather was worshipful and meaningful. In addition, the sounds emanating from the guitar were intriguing due to the added tones used for harmonic color and musical interest. Furthermore, the rhythm was multi-dimensioned, with a syncopated complexity that almost defied notation. The music was engaging, creative, spontaneous and emotionally charged.
In other words, my entire training and musical thought processing were altered, and I began to rethink some things.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
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When it comes to counting church members, the devil’s in the details
Posted: 5/25/07
When it comes to counting church
members, the devil’s in the detailsBy Amy Green
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention, with about 16.2 million members on the books, claims to be the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. But Tom Ascol believes the active membership really is a fraction of that.
Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., points to a church report showing that only 6 million Southern Baptists attend church on an average Sunday.
05/25/2007 - By John Rutledge
