Video Transcript: Who is an Officiating Chaplain?

Henry - welcome. I'm Henry Reyenga, the founder of Christian leaders  Institute, and with me is chaplain, Reverend Tom Wolcott, and we are excited  about doing the officiating Chaplain skills class. And Tom and I go way back,  back to 1983 I am a first year seminary at Calvin Theological Seminary. My wife  is working at a nursing home next door. I'm there at six o'clock. I get coffee, I get donuts. And entering in the morning is, Tom, he's a student. And why were you  in the coffee shop so early.  

Tom - Tom Well, because I needed to get coffee, I had a whole day of studies  ahead of me, and if I didn't have my coffee, I was not not worth much. And that  was also my favorite place in seminary. Was the coffee shop where all the  people were,  

Henry - and it was fun. And I remember you as being one who loved to chat  about the Lord in ministry. So then you actually went on to graduate from Calvin  seminary that next year. Yeah, even though you weren't in the library that  

Tom - much, not as much as some thought I should have been okay,  Henry - but you did well.  

Tom - I got through and surprised everybody.  

Henry - Okay, so then tell us what happened next. You then tell us how  chaplaincy got into your life and all of that.  

Tom - Well, after seminary, my wife and I were missionaries in the Dominican  Republic for six years. Loved that work and just a life changing experience. After that, I took a call to a church in Jacksonville, Florida, which is a big Navy town.  Jacksonville is so we had a lot of Navy families in our church, and they would  talk to me about the challenges of military life and would encourage me to  consider being a Navy chaplain. We were a little skeptical at first, because that's a big shift in ministry, but we decided to try the Navy Reserves for a couple  years. Did that, found it to be fulfilling. And then the Navy came calling and said,  We really need you to go on active duty for at least one three year tour. And so  we prayed about it. Our kids were old enough to be part of that process. And  said, Okay, Lord, we'll give it a shot. Did that, and then after the three years, did  another three years, and then another three years. And 28 years later, we retired from 26 years of active duty and two years of reserve time. 

Henry - Wow, now you thrived in as a military chaplain, so you actually went  through that whole process of that 30 years and you got it, what? What did you  do it in the military as a chaplain,  

Tom - how many hours do we have to talk about, you know, we want to get well, what I what I really, I really felt that chaplaincy was a great fit, because you do  so many different things. You do the same things that a normal parish pastor will do, but you do a lot of other things. I The biggest difference that I found from  moving from being a pastor of a church to being a chaplain is that when I was  the pastor of a church, I would interact with people in my congregation on  Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and if there was a crisis in somebody's  life, in the military, you are with your people, your flock, all the time. You go  where they go. You eat, where they eat. You sleep, where they sleep. And you  are a part of their life, every aspect of their life. So whereas in my church, which  I enjoyed, almost everybody was already a believer and had been a Christian for many years in the military. The vast majority of the people in my flock, if you will, were not Christians or had very, very little impact any connection with Christians, and never if they had a problem, would they have said, I'm going to go call a  pastor and go talk to him about my marriage. But in the military, they know that  that's what chaplains are there for. So people would come and talk to me about  a whole range of things, much beyond, way beyond the realm of religion and  theology and doctrine. But when they would come to talk to me about their  financial problems or their problems with their children, or their problems with  their marriage or their boss, then we could also talk about the Bible and what the Bible says about those things.  

Henry - You know, it's interesting. The word parish is was now kind of an  organizing place for the Catholic Church, where they have parishes and so forth. But in the early church, the parish meant a soldier. It was a place where you  would get embedded and interesting people did not necessarily know that you  were a Christian, you were embedded. And then out of those parishes,  Christianity started spreading. And eventually Christianity reached critical mass.  And then the Catholic Church organized their entire church ministry around  parishes, but the original was a soldier, so Okay, and we think of that here at  Christian leaders Institute, that when someone's called a chaplaincy, they may  be a ministry chaplain. We're going to talk about that. They may be a chaplain in a motorcycle group. They may they may be become a career chaplain, like you  did and actually got a master's degree. But in a lot of ways, what you're talking  about is that old understanding of parish, like you're called to a soldier, and you  are actually with the people. 

Tom - You get plugged into that community. You become part of that community. One of the difficulties of military chaplaincy is you only have two or three years  to become a part of that community before you get moved somewhere else. So  you need to be very intentional about becoming involved, getting to know  people, becoming a part of the culture, and understanding the history of  whatever unit you happen to be working with, because every place is unique.  And I think that was one of the things I really liked about chaplaincy, is there was a lot of unique opportunities depending on where you worked, what kind of  people you were working with. And it was sort of, in a good sense, like a new  adventure every two or three years.  

Henry - So many of you are called into ministry, and specifically called to be  embedded in your communities as chaplains. And this class is, in a lot of ways,  that intro to chaplaincy, where we're going to talk about these, some skills that  are common to really, all chaplains, no matter how far you might go in your  training and whether you someday become a career chaplain. So in a lot of  ways, it's still at the seed. It's this soul journey. It's coming in and being  embedded. In a lot of ways, it's sort of like this, isn't it. It's sort of like for many  people. How it works is you may be the only Minister someone ever meets.  

Tom - And one advantage that that folks like you're referring to here being  embedded have is they may have been a part of that community for most of  their lives, if not all of their lives. So they know the resources there, they know  the people there, they know the culture there. And so they step into their role as  a chaplain with a whole lot of background that people like military chaplains  don't have, because we're stepping in somewhere new when we go somewhere  new. So there's an advantage to being embedded in that community and having  been in that community for a long time,  

Henry - you may be the only Minister someone ever meets. And here's some of  the applications in a hospital hallway, at a memorial or a home dedication at a  recovery graduation, let's say somebody on your part, embedded with an AA  group. And you're a chaplain there. You know, you may be the chaplain that,  basically, you know, does the ceremony of the one year, you know, coin that  someone receives. And here's something I'd love you to comment on. They  need presence, not perfection. They need you. You are a minister in moments  that  

Tom - matter, I like all three of those, but especially, they need presence, not  perfection. I could tell you way many more stories than we have time for but  times when I've walked into a situation and my first thought was, Lord, I don't  have a clue what I'm supposed to do here. This is way beyond anything I ever 

trained for, anything I have any experience with. But I've also found that the  times when people have later said to me, your presence was very impactful. It  made a difference. It had nothing to do with what I did or didn't say. It had  everything to do with that. In that time of crisis, in that time of need, in that time  of chaos, I showed up and I represented something much bigger than Tom  Walcott walking into a room. So when you walk into a room with Chaplin on your shirt or on your title you come with, you're given access to people that they  would not give to other people, because they, even if they're not people of faith,  they have an idea of what a chaplain is about, and ministry of presence is the  most important Part of chaplaincy. Wow.  

Henry - Well, let's talk about the officiating Chaplain role. So essentially, the  officiating Chaplain role is about being trained to bring sacred meaning. There's  an ordination piece. We'll talk about this throughout this class, serving and.  Public institutional spaces, hospitals, jails, auxiliary settings, VFWs, recovery  clinics, civic ceremonies, clubs, teams, like sports teams, need based locations.  So as you look at define this role to you, see the essence as bringing the  presence  

Tom - to bringing the but the presence of God into a place where most people  would not naturally see that. In addition to my military chaplaincy, I served as a  volunteer fire department chaplain. Oh, wow, volunteer so  

Henry - you understand these various Chaplain roles.  

Tom - I was offered the opportunity, and I couldn't do it, to be a chaplain for a  major league baseball team. You know, you don't think of a major league  baseball team or even a college team as a place of ministry, but there you have  people who are going to have crises. They're going to have situations. They're  not going to know who to turn to. They don't have a pastor who comes to mind  to go to, and then they're going to see you and recognize that because of who  you are and the fact that you are there with them, you're part of them, you're one of them. You're a safe person to talk to.  

Henry - You know, it's all interesting at Christian leaders Institute Tom, we have  chaplains. And some of the interesting spots where chaplains are invited,  inspires me, we have one woman, for instance, who went through the journey of being trafficked, and now in her mid 30s, at CLI is training to be a chaplain for  people that are coming out of that industry, and even a chaplain at strip clubs  where the owners allow a chaplain in. So here she has this journey. She can  bring water, she can share Bible passages, even in a place like that, 

Tom - and especially if you can bring your experience into that kind of a setting  that makes a huge difference, because people are going through something,  and they say, you know, nobody's ever had to face this before or right, nobody  understands me. And if you're able to show that you understand, either from  your studies or especially from your experience, you have an immediate  connection with people that you just can't You can't buy.  

Henry - You know, I was thinking about something, you know, just thinking  about these clubs, whether it's a baseball team, or whether it's a professional  Chaplain thing, if you look at it, where's that calling come from, like, for you  personally, as you look at that, where, like you mentioned something like the  experience, like a woman who was trafficked, who now has been transformed by Christ, who's now reaching that connection. There's something deep about  being a chaplain.  

Tom - Oh, yeah. And then, you know, you talked about sacred meaning, the  word, you know, Chaplain, in its history, the chaplain was the person who  guarded the sacred things. And so when we as chaplains walk into a room, even if we're not conscious of it, maybe especially if we're not conscious of it, we are  the guardians of the sacred things. And part of that is we show people a way to  have access to God that they've never considered before.  

Henry - So you bring access to God in places that are unexpected.  

Tom - Oh, absolutely. You know a ship in the middle of the ocean, the locker  room of a baseball team, a VFW meeting down the street, a motorcycle club, a  motorcycle club, a college baseball team, Fire Department. Oh, Fire  Department. And it's especially in people's time of crisis that they're looking for  someone to help them navigate it, and you're there.  

Henry - It's like someone closes their eyes at night and they are in crisis, and  they wake up and they don't know what to do, and they come to this space, and  unexpectedly, it's like, you know, an angel shows up.  

\Tom - Nobody's ever called me an angel. To my knowledge,  

Henry - you know, again, I'm used as a metaphor, yes, but it's like they don't  expect that to be true. And then God opens that door.  

Tom - And I can't tell you how many times over the decades, people have said  to me, I never would have thought to go talk to a minister or a priest or a pastor  about this, but you're here, and we have access. When I was a pastor, like I 

mentioned, I couldn't go to where people worked and just go talk to them and  have a cup of coffee with them at work. But as a chaplain, you're you're part of  that group, you are one of the team, and you have access to people in a way  that most ministers would would love to have with their parishioners, but they  they don't have that.  

Henry - So we have what's called ministry sciences around here. This is sort of  our term that we talk about, how do we the Biblical Studies? Then we're going to talk about ministry training. And we call it ministry sciences, because we study  this study the science of ministry. But we also welcome in other disciplines, so  we so there's Christian psychology, we welcome Christian psychology. We  welcome Christian sociology. We welcome the study of business. We study all  these things in a lot of ways. Chaplains to be effective, means you're pretty  interdisciplinary. In that sense, you have to come in and be appropriate. So you  have to know what the boundaries are. You have to study people, smart, all of  those things. So ministry sciences teaches such things as ministry training is  needed, officiating chaplaincy for needed places. So we study that officiating  mediates sacred meaning. We study that ministry is showing up for the hurting.  You carry the presence into public life. And in some ways, chaplaincy is not just  about getting a certificate. It's not getting a chaplain hat. It really is about  studying how to be appropriate, to bring the presence of God into a specific  area. Appropriate is very important. And I know when I was studying to get ready to do this class with you, I was surprised how much study and chaplaincy go  together.  

Tom - And you like you pointed out it's very important that it's appropriate. So if  I'm going into a fire station to talk to firemen who've just had a difficult call, that's going to be very different than if I am going to a hospital to visit the family of  someone who's dying, which is going to be very different than if I'm asked to do  a prayer at the community Fourth of July ceremony. You need to know what's  the appropriate type of ministry for that that specific situation. And every  situation is different. And it takes some study. Not only you know we talk about,  well, what does the Bible say, and all these things which are certainly important,  but you need to know the organization that you're part of. And you need to know  what the needs are of that organization, who the people are. And going back to  when we met, the way you get to know the needs of people are, sit down, have  a cup of coffee, sojourn, ask them about their family. Find ways that you can  connect, and you let them know that we're in this together.  

Henry - Wow, that's so amazing. And you mentioned the Bible. There are  biblical models in the Bible that you can check out. Check out the book of 

Daniel. Here's a guy, Daniel. He served in secular places. If you think about  Daniel, just what do you think about a guy like Daniel?  

Tom - I think that he was a person who, against his will, was brought to a  completely foreign country, a completely different world and life view, but he  learned enough about where he was so that he could take the faith that he had  been raised with, that he had grown up with, and he could find a way for the two  of them to coexist. And he did it in such a way that he let's, let's take the country  he was brought to as his institution that he was serving. He became an  invaluable member of that institution, because he understood them, and he  became as much of them as he could, up until the point he couldn't anymore.  And then he said, this is this is what I can do, and this is what I can't do. And  they respected him because of his integrity, and they allowed him to stay true to  his faith.  

Henry - You know, in so many parts of Daniel's life will be taught in this class,  because we're going to talk very specifically, where's that line, like, where do  you do you say in Jesus name at a civic prayer? Or not? We're talking about the there's some discussion about that. We're going to talk about, how long do you  stay at a meeting, you know, where? Like, okay, like, I know I sort of feel like a  country club chaplain, because I'm a huge golfer, so I'm out there, and I've now  done funerals and weddings and all that. There's that certain point where you  they want to suck you in people who and then you gotta where's your line? I  mean, all those things take careful thought. And the military have probably has  that as well.  

Tom - Oh, absolutely. And how you what? What you don't realize at the time is  maybe that interaction you have with somebody which just seemed like we were just chatting. Then a week later, it turns out to be a very important interaction,  because you're helping that person with some of the biggest issues of their life,  and if you hadn't had that initial conversation or that we just happened to run  into each other in the parking lot and chat, that next step of ministry wouldn't  have been possible. So like, what meetings do you go to? What training do you  participate in? How much do you integrate into the organization? And we all,  especially our volunteer chaplains, here, have a lot of other things in their lives  too. So how do you figure out the balance between your day job, if you're you're  at that stage of life, and your volunteer commitments, and your family, how do  you find a way to make those all fit together? And sometimes that's pretty  challenging.  

Henry - Well, in the case of Daniel, he truly was, in the sense, like in the  institution of the Persian government, okay, he was like, high up of there, and 

yet he had another hat, and it mirrors echoes the chaplain for today, but the  Apostle Paul is he's more like that soul journeying model, where he's taking it to  places all over the Roman Empire. And he always had a sort of unexpectedness to him, we go to the, you know, Areopagus, and now he's like talking to the  Greek philosophers. Yeah. So how do you think about Paul  

Tom - when you mentioned him going to foreign spaces in the Navy, when you  go to a ship, we talk about visiting the spaces, because ships are broken up into spaces. So that jumped out at me. So in one of my jobs as a Navy chaplain, I  would fly to a different ship almost every week, and I would spend a day or two  on that ship getting to know those people, but then leaving now, Paul stayed a  little longer than one or two days, but sometimes you're going to have the  chance to build long relationships with people, and sometimes you're not.  Sometimes it's going to be one and done, and you're never going to see those  people again. And so you have to decide ahead of time, what is the purpose of  this visit, what would I like to convey? But most importantly, how am I going to  be sensitive to what people need from me, and sometimes, as people in ministry of any kind, we're very focused on bringing what we think people need. Paul  was great at looking at the community he was in, and taking things from that  community and relating his message to that community. And I think that's an  essential skill of a ministry. Skill of chaplaincy is the ability to take the things that  you know that community will benefit from, but you apply it in a way that it  makes sense to those people. And that really does  

Henry - bring us to this next point that you're introducing, and that's this concept of interpreter of sacred moments. So talk about that a little bit.  

Tom - One of the things that that I believe firmly throughout my years as an  active duty chaplain, and now I'm a volunteer chaplain with the Coast Guard  Auxiliary Chaplain program, is that my job is to bring the sacred wherever I go.  And it's almost as if you know every step I take, that step becomes sacred, not  because Tom's there, but because God is there, right? And I certainly believe  God is there. So how do I bring that sense of the spiritual, the sacred, that sense of God into everything I do, whether it's a child dedication or baptism ceremony,  maybe it's praying at a retirement ceremony, maybe it's helping people  understand that what they're doing isn't just a way to earn a paycheck, but it's a  calling that God has given them and Something that they're doing, not just to get a promotion, not just to move up the ranks, but to fulfill God's calling in their life,  and how they can redeem the situation that they find themselves in, even  though it often seems to be very broken while they're in the middle of dealing  with that. So we make those moments sacred, because God is with us, and  wherever God is is sacred and holy place. 

Henry - So one of the things my wife and I do, sometimes we can't sleep  because we're so excited about something, we'll plan some, like, Bible tapes,  but there's like, one of these applications is like Emily, who talks real slow. So  one of the stories we've. Into many times, is the story of Abraham and Sarah  and Sarai. Abram, Sarai, and there, there's that. Then it goes to the part where  Hagar, you know, is like, treated poorly by Sarai. And finally, she goes out into  the wilderness, and she's pregnant alone, and it's as if God sends a chaplain, an angel. And the key issue that comes is she's noticed the God who sees, the God who sees and and I often feel that as I've studied chaplaincy, and I've been  practicing it as a volunteer now, in the golf setting, the team setting, is it? It's like when all of a sudden they feel noticed. Someone feels noticed by God,  

Tom - that person who represents the sacred noticed me and cares about me.  And then, you know, a lot of institutions that have chaplains, can be very lonely  places for people. I served on a Navy ship that had 5500 people. It's it is very  possible to be very lonely on a ship surrounded by 1000s of people, because  you're just another person in uniform, another person doing a job. Many  institutions are very, very dehumanizing. We don't call people Tom we don't we  don't call them by their name. We call them by their job, and that's where they  get their value from their job. When we look at people and we see them as  individuals, that makes a huge difference. When I was on the aircraft carrier, I  had one sailor who came to see me every week. He would make an  appointment and come to see me. And after about three weeks where we didn't  really talk about anything of note, I said to him, and I don't remember what his  name was, we'll say it was Joe. Said, Joe, I am glad to have you come and talk  to me. But what's this about? And he said, I just need to know once in a while  that there's somebody who sees me as a person and cares about me as a  person. Yeah, God who sees and we can be God's representative in helping  people know that they are seen in a very lonely place otherwise.  

Henry - So we're going to wrap up this first session just a couple of things,  some housekeeping, sort of, as you someone's into this class, kind of give some overview things that this class is going to look at. And this class is going to look  at such things as biblical or nation, like chaplains are ordained. So there is a  spiritual affirmed. This is a study based program. We talked before about study  based this is a relate, relationally rooted program, meaning that to be ordained,  people have to know you, see you, even endorse you. It's, it's a publicly  recognized program. So there will be, like, a profile that you will have so the  people see you. So if, if you are a very private person who doesn't want to get  into the community, probably chaplaincy is not your thing. It is probably that.  Probably not and with CLA and or CLI and CLA, you're trained, endorsed, 

officially credential, enlisted in the clergy directory. Now I say all this now  because you're not going to do all this study if, essentially, is some private thing  you're going to do. This is about legitimacy. This is about saying I am called into  this. So I want you to reflect a little bit on like we both did a lot of study, and now  even in volunteer roles, we're advocating study legitimacy. Why is that so  important, especially with people who don't know God?  

Tom - Well, one, one of the reasons that first comes to mind is that when people come to you with issues, part of them just wants to be heard, but they also  expect that we have something that they need, and we don't have that because,  well, maybe has it because he's brilliant, but Tom doesn't have it because of my  brilliance. I have it because I've spent a lot of time studying right, and I've tried  to learn as much as I can on a wide variety of topics, because you never know  what somebody is going to need when they walk in the door, right? So you want  to be prepared. You want to have at least some knowledge of the things that you can expect people will come to you, and many of them are common  everywhere. People have issues with their kids, with their relationships, with  their finances, with their boss, and you can bring a Christian perspective to  those things. And so you have to be able to give them some reason that they will pay attention to what you say,  

Henry - and I notice and reflect on that. Please. Tom like. I've noticed too, like to believers, credentials in showing that you have studied for this aren't as  important. But to nonbelievers, or people who don't know anything about  Christianity, in that that chaplain, knowing that there's a credential, there's a  study, is important. And I noticed that again and again, like, if without, you know,  I have my little Reverend card and all of that, and they know I've studied and all  of that, some people just unsolicited walk up to me because they know that.  Here's the guy who took this serious. You know, my soul is in the balance. I'm  just not going to talk to my buddy. I'm going to talk to someone who's actually  studied  

Tom - and most people, even if they're not people of practicing faith, will have  heard of a chaplain. Yes, the idea of Chaplain is not foreign to most people.  They know that hospitals have chaplains, hospices have chaplains. Civic  organizations have chaplains. You go to almost any function, and there will be  the participation of a chaplain. So they may not know everything about  chaplaincy, but okay, this person, he or she is a chaplain, they have some  something behind them. You know, for us, one of the main things would be the  calling, but we also have some training, and we have some certification that  shows that we we know how to avoid doing harm, and we're going to do the best amount of good we can possibly do. 

Henry - And so essentially, as you think about finishing this class, who can be  an officiating chaplain? Well, those called to serve outside the church. Just to be clear, our lay I like to call that volunteer, but this is kind of like the restoring the  word lay into the volunteer. But many of you would understand yourself as you  know, I want to serve in lay ministry. There can be then volunteer lay chaplains.  That's in, like, auxiliary would they be called in the military often, you know, that  type of thing, part time. Some people actually receive part time work for their  chaplaincy. Work in, like, fire departments, we've noticed. But there's also, could be a bi vocational ministers. There's even chaplaincy career paths now, again,  that's something further down the line we'll talk about later in this class, maybe  somebody you've already served in jails, shelters, VFWs, and then you get  asked, or schools and but again, it's that core want to officiate in sacred places.  So as we conclude here, I think we're clear. This is what this class is going to be about, and we're going to talk about the principles about that. So I guess the  concluding challenge would be things like this. You know, have you been asked  to pray in a moment that matters? I mean, reflect on that some people, they  don't even know they're chaplains, but they are sort of people see them that  way.  

Tom - And I would also too, have you been asked? Have I would also add, have you ever thought someone should be offering a prayer right now, or is God  asking me to Okay? And because most of the people in that room are not  thinking, I feel like somebody should pray. If you're feeling like somebody should offer a prayer now, that certainly could be the Holy Spirit saying to you, I think  you're you're that person.  

Henry - Walk through grief or joy with someone a soldier. That's a parish idea.  You're not just a helper. You're a minister. You are an officiating chaplain and  training. So really it is walking in a journey and having that sense of calling. So  let's conclude by that sense of calling. What are some of the things that you've  noticed in working with now chaplains for decades that really show you that they have that fire in their belly again.  

Tom - So many, so many things pop into my head. But one of the things is, in  chaplaincy, like in any other kind of ministry, you're going to go through very  difficult times. Okay? You're going to go through times that are emotionally  painful, sometimes physically difficult, spiritually difficult. If you don't have a firm  sense that God called you to that place at that time, it's going to be very, very  difficult to do what you need to be able to do. You know, military chaplains, that's an easy example. We get sent away for a year more at a time from our families.  Wow, when I've had to do that, if I was not convinced that God had called me to 

that, there's no way I would have gotten on that plane and waved goodbye to my small children who were watching. I just couldn't have done it. But knowing that I was called to that even though I didn't like it, that was part of the calling. So  having the calling helps you through those difficult times.  

Henry - And I can just imagine that no matter what sojourn, what parish,  Chaplain, parish you have, what particular people group you have, there are  those moments. I mean, if you were, let's say we mentioned earlier, woman who was came out of trafficking, trafficked, did and now is ministering to those who  are being in that industry. You have to really know who you are. Some maybe  could get caught back up into that. So you have to have an accountability group. I mean, again, we're gonna talk about, you know, that type of like self care  accountability, because being a chaplain is not necessarily easy.  

Tom - No, it's when you say, not necessarily, I can say, clearly, it is  

Henry - not easy. Okay, so you can. You have to really be called and grounded  and have your own personal walk with the Lord strong.  

Tom - And to me, what was all it's always important that I have that calling. But I also am very connected to a local church. I have a group of people who are  praying for me, a group of people who support me, who hold me accountable.  And it's not just Tom's The Lone Ranger out there, which is sometimes a danger  with chaplains, that's a very good point. I can go do my own thing. Nobody cares if I'm at the VFW. I can do whatever I want, and they'll be fine with it. You need  to have people who you can talk to about what am I going to do? Why am I  doing this? How should I be using my time and get guidance from other people  who hold you accountable, just in a very positive way, not to just keep you from  not doing dumb things, but to help you be creative in doing the positive things  that God wants you to do there.  

Henry - This is going to be an exciting class, and we just now started scratching the surface, and I pray. I'm going to offer a prayer at the end of this class that  the Holy Spirit does something in your heart that puts that fire in you if you are  called to be a chaplain. Let's pray, Oh Lord God, thank you so much that we're  beginning this class. We pray, Lord, that you will open our hearts and our minds  and just be so receptive to the training. We ask you this in Jesus name amen,  amen. So until next time