Chaplain School—Week 2

Week 2 seemed like a longer week than the one before. But it’s over, and I’m now a third of my way toward graduation and returning to my family and friends. The weather was a cool 214 degrees Fahrenheit (give or take), but I’m neither in Afghanistan nor getting shot at, so in complete respect for those who are, I won’t complain.

We got trained up and certified in two areas this week:

MarriageCare

Curriculum written and produced by the Air Force to be used by AF chaplaincy when offering marriage retreats. The Army has a great program (Strong Bonds), and I hear the Navy has a good one as well (CREDO), so—in true military fashion—the Air Force decided they needed their own organic program. Since DCC is currently putting together our own marriage-enhancement retreat, I came to this training pretty excited.

• Blah. That was my overall impression of MarriageCare. To be fair, my disappointment comes from my own personal convictions about what a marriage retreat should look like:

1. Guy-friendly (because we’re usually the ones in the relationship who don’t want to go)
2. Entertaining (because I believe it’s a sin take something as awesome as marriage or God’s Word and make it boring)
3. Immediately practical (in other words… “OK, So what?”)

• Later in the week, I was asked by one of the instructors what I thought of MarriageCare. I quickly realized he wasn’t looking for honest feedback (again: in direct keeping with military fashion). Regardless, I’m trained up and have one more tool in my chaplain/pastor toolbox thanks to the research and development of the US Government.

ASIST

A training and education program helping people assist in suicide intervention. ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a wonderful program. I can tell the people who put it together truly care about lowering the suicide rate.

• This two-day training ended on Friday. In an eerie twist of fate, I got a phone call late Saturday night from a member of the DCC Family telling me someone close to them had just committed suicide. Suicide is serious, but hurting people are not without help. If you or someone you know struggles with suicidal thoughts, please get help.
• After Tweeting about this training during the week, I received a couple requests to offer similar training to the DCC family back home. If you’d be interested, please let me know.

More important than any training or certification is the sad news that two members of the DCC Family lost loved ones this week. Mary Arps lost her dear mother, and Susie Locher lost her son. Both deaths were unexpected. Both families need prayer and support. We all need the church.

For the Kingdom,
-pb