firstresponders_63003

Posted: 6/27/03

THREE ALARM GOSPEL:
Ministry to first responders

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

TEMPLE–Twenty years ago, when Michael Haynes left the pastorate to become an author, speaker and chaplain, he vowed he'd never go back.

“I swore I would have to have a stamped letter from heaven to even consider going into the pastorate of any sort,” said Haynes, who had served four churches in 17 years.

That letter recently arrived in Haynes' mailbox.

After a plane crashed into a house in Temple, firefighters arrived on the scene and saved three victims but lost two. One of the firefighters on the scene that day struggled to understand why he hadn't been able to save the other two.

As a chaplain to the Temple fire and police departments, Haynes was called in by the fire chief to help, which he did.

But then he got the letter–maybe not directly from heaven, but close enough to get his attention. The wife of the firefighter he helped wrote to thank the chaplain for his care, and she added, “Now, if we can just get him back in church.”

“I thought, 'Man, that's my stamped letter,'” Haynes said. “I couldn't run away from home on this one.”

In that letter, Haynes heard God's voice telling him something he believes he already knew: Firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and other “first responders” need a church of their own.

The result is First Responders Fellowship, a mission congregation sponsored by Immanuel Baptist Church and Memorial Baptist Church in Temple.

The fellowship meets at 10:30 Sunday mornings in the chapel at Memorial, beginning with coffee and doughnuts, followed by worship and Bible study.

Haynes, having received his stamped letter from heaven, is pastor.

In addition to the two sponsoring churches, the mission is supported by Bell Baptist Association and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The spiritual and emotional needs of first responders are unique, according to those involved in launching the new effort.

Surveys show about 70 percent of police officers have no church affiliation, reported Roy Parker, pastor at Memorial and also a police chaplain. “Their divorce rate is the highest of any profession in the United States. They have built shells around themselves; they've got barriers; they don't trust people; they're suspicious; they are in high-stress situations constantly.”

“Traditional churches aren't meeting their needs,” added Haynes.

But what these first responders need is more than a visit from a chaplain or counselor, he added. “First responders will commit to structure. They won't commit to something that is not institutional. For the most part, they're structured people in their professions.”

The First Responders Fellowship offers a level of institutional structure while allowing enough flexibility to meet the peculiar schedules of emergency workers. Workers on duty can drop by for the initial conversation and refreshments, and those not on duty can stay for the Bible study.

And, more importantly, they're welcomed into a community of people who understand the occupational stresses they and their families live under.

The first service was held May 4, and average attendance is about 20, Haynes said.

Currently, he's teaching a series on controlling and conquering anger.

Haynes is well-equipped to minister to this subset of the Texas population.

In addition to his pastoral experience, he's been a police chaplain nearly 20 years. He got an intensive dose of experience in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing and then working at ground zero in New York City after the World Trade Center attack.

In New York, he worked with Texas Baptist Men and Victim Relief Ministries to minister to emergency workers and train others in how to minister and counsel.

Out of that experience, he wrote a curriculum for victim chaplains.

Haynes also operates a school called the Faith Based Counselor Training Institute that offers training for counselors in 35 states and a ministry called Crisis Chaplaincy Care.

First Responders Fellowship, he said, takes what he already was doing with emergency workers and applies it in a church-based context.

And it's a model he believes could be duplicated across the nation. He compares it to the highly successful cowboy church movement in Texas.

Supporting the mission work has brought new enthusiasm to the sponsoring churches as well.

Memorial is the church that lost five members in a bus crash on I-35 on Valentine's Day. Based on that experience that brought many members closer to the work of first responders, the church has enthusiastically embraced the outreach.

“They just felt like life has come out of tragedy, that light has come out of darkness,” Haynes said. “They got behind this like nothing I've ever seen.”

On Aug. 3, Memorial plans a “First Responders Appreciation Day.” The church has invited police, fire and rescue workers to attend its morning worship in uniform. After being recognized and thanked in the service, the guests will be served lunch.

Michael Harkrider, pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church, has walked with Haynes through the conception and launch of the new ministry. Haynes is a member at Immanuel.

“It's been received very well,” Harkrider said. “People are excited about it.”

Some, he said, questioned why the first responders couldn't just come to their existing church services. “We just had to tell them we are living in a day when specialized needs need specialized ministries,” Harkrider explained. “We're seeing all kinds of new types of churches that are doing that.”