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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Thursday, September 13, 2007
New Developments
I would like to bring you up to speed as to what your giving has gone towards. For the last year something new has been developing with ministry to the military here in Hawaii. A Navy CDR, Bryan Burt, with the P-3 community, contacted me with an interest in getting the various para-church ministries together for a monthly fellowship and share time. Out of that came the idea of offering a military track at the Hawaiian Island Ministries (HIM) yearly conference. HIM was developed by the pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Honolulu to help equip pastors and church leaders in their ministries. It attracts about 6,000 people every year and is growing. During the three day conference (Thru - Sat) there are six general sessions and anywhere from 70-90 seminars on various issues concerning ministry. I brought the idea to Bryan and he and I began to see if we could develop a military track for the seminar portion.
As a result we developed an organization, that we first named Hawaii Military Ministries (HMM), now called Hawaii Military Christian Ministries (HMCM). It started with just para-church ministries and now is made up of four para-church ministries, military chaplains including the Deputy PACAF chaplain for the Air Force, the Navy Region chaplain for Hawaii, and the 3rd Marines regimental chaplain. We have a growing number of churches as well; 1st Pres of Honolulu, Faith Baptist, International Baptist, and Kailua Community.
At the conference we offered three seminars in the following areas:
"Ministering More Effectively to Military Families in Your Church"
"Knowing and Working with the Military Chaplain"
"Critical Care for Our Returning Combat Veterans"
It turned out to be a great success as the Lord blessed the work. We hope to offer a full six seminar track at the next conference in April focusing more on "how to develop a military ministry in your church." Our Combat Stress/PTSD seminar will be taught by a Dr. Archibald Hart, a clinical psychologist who is an expert in the field.
As a result of this, we are now involved with a major prayer ministry in connection with the K-Bay Regimental Chaplain and various units deploying. How it works is each church adopts a portion of a deploying unit/battalion and sees them off when they deploy, giving them various care packages. Then, they keep them in regular prayer in their churches while they are deployed, communicating with their chaplains and/or various individuals as opportunity presents itself, and sending needed care packages. Finally, various members from the participating churches will greet them in the hangar the day they return. Hopefully, the unchurched will find the church praying for them as their home church, but most of all, that they will sense the presence of the Lord while they are gone.
We are about to launch a "Professional Mentoring Program." As a result of standing up a Wounded Warrior Battalion at K-Bay, we are developing a list of various professionals representing various career fields from local churches. We will brief/train these folks in the area of combat stress and then, as the request is made for a certain career field, we will match a professional with a wounded warrior. The hope is that this would lead to spiritual issues as well where that wounded warrior might come to know the Lord as their Savior, or in the case of a believer, to know Him deeper.
Recently I was asked to offer a seminar to the Wounded Warriors on life mapping called "Master Planning Your Life." It was through the 2/3 chaplain, but became a 3rd Marine program. I had to neutralize a few religious things but it was not devoid of the spiritual, but in fact it became a focal point. I was then asked to teach the same thing with CREDO but I could be more "religious" with it there. Both proved to be not only helpful to the participants, but helped me develop the seminar on a broader range.
Char's PWOC Bible study on "Enhancing your Marriage" is having a significant impact on some of the wives. Because of confidentially I can't go into any specifics, but I can say there are some very important breakthroughs going on in the lives of many of the ladies and their marriages, praise the Lord.
Finally, in October, we will start a Bible study at the chapel on base with hopes of attracting those who will not go off-base for a study. We will be using the "Truth Project" material (see thetruthproject.org).
So that is what has been happening and we want to personally thank you for helping make that happen through your giving and prayers.
As a result we developed an organization, that we first named Hawaii Military Ministries (HMM), now called Hawaii Military Christian Ministries (HMCM). It started with just para-church ministries and now is made up of four para-church ministries, military chaplains including the Deputy PACAF chaplain for the Air Force, the Navy Region chaplain for Hawaii, and the 3rd Marines regimental chaplain. We have a growing number of churches as well; 1st Pres of Honolulu, Faith Baptist, International Baptist, and Kailua Community.
At the conference we offered three seminars in the following areas:
"Ministering More Effectively to Military Families in Your Church"
"Knowing and Working with the Military Chaplain"
"Critical Care for Our Returning Combat Veterans"
It turned out to be a great success as the Lord blessed the work. We hope to offer a full six seminar track at the next conference in April focusing more on "how to develop a military ministry in your church." Our Combat Stress/PTSD seminar will be taught by a Dr. Archibald Hart, a clinical psychologist who is an expert in the field.
As a result of this, we are now involved with a major prayer ministry in connection with the K-Bay Regimental Chaplain and various units deploying. How it works is each church adopts a portion of a deploying unit/battalion and sees them off when they deploy, giving them various care packages. Then, they keep them in regular prayer in their churches while they are deployed, communicating with their chaplains and/or various individuals as opportunity presents itself, and sending needed care packages. Finally, various members from the participating churches will greet them in the hangar the day they return. Hopefully, the unchurched will find the church praying for them as their home church, but most of all, that they will sense the presence of the Lord while they are gone.
We are about to launch a "Professional Mentoring Program." As a result of standing up a Wounded Warrior Battalion at K-Bay, we are developing a list of various professionals representing various career fields from local churches. We will brief/train these folks in the area of combat stress and then, as the request is made for a certain career field, we will match a professional with a wounded warrior. The hope is that this would lead to spiritual issues as well where that wounded warrior might come to know the Lord as their Savior, or in the case of a believer, to know Him deeper.
Recently I was asked to offer a seminar to the Wounded Warriors on life mapping called "Master Planning Your Life." It was through the 2/3 chaplain, but became a 3rd Marine program. I had to neutralize a few religious things but it was not devoid of the spiritual, but in fact it became a focal point. I was then asked to teach the same thing with CREDO but I could be more "religious" with it there. Both proved to be not only helpful to the participants, but helped me develop the seminar on a broader range.
Char's PWOC Bible study on "Enhancing your Marriage" is having a significant impact on some of the wives. Because of confidentially I can't go into any specifics, but I can say there are some very important breakthroughs going on in the lives of many of the ladies and their marriages, praise the Lord.
Finally, in October, we will start a Bible study at the chapel on base with hopes of attracting those who will not go off-base for a study. We will be using the "Truth Project" material (see thetruthproject.org).
So that is what has been happening and we want to personally thank you for helping make that happen through your giving and prayers.
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