Chaplain Ministers to troops Through Local Church
By Dr. Jerry McNabb, Assistant Director, Chaplains Commission
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Chaplain Staggs |
Chaplain (Cpt) Timothy Staggs, 1/81st AR Battalion Chaplain, Fort Knox, Kentucky, is a graduate of Lee University and the Church of God School of Theology, Cleveland, Tennessee. Chaplain Staggs shared the following story about what awesome things began to happen when Christendom (Chaplaincy/Local Church) united in a common bond of providing ministry to those in need—”for if you do it for the lest of these, you do it unto me. ” (Matthew 25:40)
“As I reflected back to when I first went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, as a chaplain to AIT Unit, 1-81st Armor, I soon realized that none of the AIT Soldiers were attending chapel services. Even after making a personal appeal to the troops, still no one came. I wondered, what the problem was, the program, the chapel—what exactly was it? How can I get these Soldiers to Church? I attended the local Church of God New Vision Ministry Center, pastored by Reverend David Boggs. While I was there, an idea came to me to bring the Soldiers here and ask the Church to provide a good home-cooked meal for every Soldier that attended. I contacted the Pastor and he gladly accepted the opportunity to minister to our Soldiers. We began on a trial basis and I immediately secured a 15 passenger military van in the hope of bringing up to that number of Soldiers to church. Several of our Soldiers had never gone to church in their entire lives. To my amazement, at the very first service, 6 of the group made their way to the altar for personal prayer. Each Soldier enjoyed the worship service and especially the meal that followed. God had once again taken the simple act of offering a glass of water, a free meal and turned it into a moment of eternity for each of the Soldiers that attended that day.”
In UNITY the pastor and chaplain brought about a miracle “outside the gates.” As the Word of God says, “…if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
To learn more about the Church of God Chaplains Commission chaplaincy programs, visit the Chaplains Commission website at: www.cogchaplains.com .
