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Chaplaincy

After four decades of chaplaincy I can truly state, "Chaplaincy is not for the faint of heart. The following are simply my insights over the four decades that may or may not help you. My prayer is that you will take this information and add to it, find support in it, and realize that it has been God, and Him alone, that has brought me through this ministry with His glory, power and might, not me. Chaplain Richard Moyer

Chaplaincy Manual Studies

The correction industry is filled with valuable programs that, if attended and taken seriously, will provide the released inmate with the tools they need to overcome any and all obstacles. The problem is that most inmates fail to recognize their value and simply choose not to participate. Because of this it must be reemphasized that the one aspect of religious programming is that it is unique and different from the other programs being offered to the inmate prior and post release, is the value-added aspect of aiming at and transforming the entire person for all eternity. The physical, the mental as well as the heart/soul are targeted for transformation. And the most influential and dynamic person to bring this type of programming to corrections is the chaplain with strong God anointed leadership.
The history of correctional chaplaincy proves that the added value of the chaplain’s presence historically, currently and in the future continues to be the essential element of corrections for total inmate transformation and reducing recidivism.

Biblical Approach to Crisis Counseling

Crisis - Downcast, Not Defeated

In Phillip Keller’s classic, a shepherd looks at PSALM 23, he provides the divine perspective needed for the crisis worker in a crisis intervention found in chapter 5, He Restoreth My Soul. In this powerful section of this classic work, he provides a glimpse into the passion of the shepherd’s heart for his sheep in trouble. He labels the troubled sheep a “cast” or “cast down” sheep when they have rolled onto their back and their rumens have filled with gasses not permitting them to stand upright. Let’s listen in on this shepherd’s heart as he encounters a cast down sheep. As soon as I reached the cast ewe my very first impulse was to pick it up. Tenderly I would roll the sheep over on its side. This would relieve the pressure of gases in the rumen. If she had been down for long, I would have to lift her onto her feet. The straddling the sheep with my legs I would hold her erect, rubbing her limbs to restore the circulation in her legs. This often took quite a little time. When the sheep started to walk again, she often just stumbled, staggered, and collapsed in a heap once more. All the time I worked on the cast sheep I would talk to it gently, “When are you going to learn to stand on your own feet?”—“I’m so glad I found you in time—you rascal!” And so, the conversation would go. Always couched in language that combined tenderness and rebuke, compassion, and correction. Little by little the sheep would regain its equilibrium. It would start to walk steadily and surely. By and by it would dash away to rejoin others, set free from their fears and frustrations, given another chance to live a little longer. All this pageantry is conveyed to my heart and mind when I repeat the simple statement, “He restoreth my soul! The responder to crisis must always keep in focus that their approach to the person in crisis should emulate heartfelt tenderness, divine compassion, and considerate correction as they assist in restoring souls to live again set free from frustrations and fears instilled by catastrophe.