April 7, 1999
Texas woman first to head VA chaplains
___By Jerilynn Armstrong
___Special Correspondent
___HAMPTON, Va.--Texas Baptist Jeni Cook, 43, has become the first Southern Baptist and the first woman to serve as director of the National Chaplain Center in Hampton, Va.
___She was appointed to the post effective March 1 by Togo West, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. In her new position, Cook oversees the work of more than 650 chaplains employed nationwide by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
___"I am honored to be in this position and still catching my breath," Cook said fromher Virginia office. "I received the call, and within three weeks my family moved from Dallas to Virginia. It has been a whirlwind, but I felt the hand of God on our lives during the entire process."
JENI COOK
___For the past 14 years, Cook has served positions with VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas, where she was chief of chaplain service.
___She has worked in federal service for 16 years--14 years through the VA system and two years as a chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Fort Worth.
___"I am a federal em-ployee blessed with en-dorsement from the Southern Baptist Con-vention," Cook said. "I deeply believe in the Baptist principle of religious liberty and attempt to honor this commitment daily in my ministry.
___"When people are ill, often their normal defenses are failing and they are more willing to discuss their spiritual needs. Chaplains are available to assist patients with spiritual support during times they need it most," she said.
___Cook comes to the position at a critical time in health care.
___"The chaplain ministry is facing a major challenge," she said. "As hospitals look for ways to reduce costs, some administrators are eliminating chaplains. This is a tragic mistake and disservice to our patients and their families. Chaplains provide critical spiritual care during times of crisis.
___"Science is discovering what we have known for a long time. A healthy spirit contributes to the prevention of disease and the recovery from illness," she ex-plained. "We can reduce resources or eliminate chaplain services, but we cannot eliminate the spi-ritual needs and the im-pact these needs have on people. There must be a spiritual and moral emphasis in the hospital setting."
___Cook earned the bachelor of arts degree from the University of Oklahoma, the master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the doctor of ministry degree from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.
___She also was the first woman ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in Oklahoma in 1980 by her home church, First Baptist of Enid.
___"My calling to the ministry as a chaplain is a clear one, but a calling I believe God shared kindly and slowly," she said. "There were no female role models in clergy positions when I graduated from college, but my father was attending seminary and his interest and enthusiasm sparked my interest.
___"I entered seminary with a plan to become a Christian counselor. However, the Lord led me in a different direction as I took other courses and received CPE (clinical pastoral education) training," she said.
___"I love chaplain work and believe it fulfills my calling. It is very rewarding work, and it is a special honor to serve our nation's veterans.
___Cook said she already has drawn renewed inspiration from a stained glass window in her new office. The message in that window says: "American Veter-ans are God's gift to us. Free-dom is their gift to the world."
Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!