Chaplain Of The Month

Doug Campbell

When I was asked if I could share for Chaplain of the Month, my first thought was to say, “No.  I have not been doing real chaplain duties.”  Maybe you have been feeling that way too.  If so, please read on.

My wife, Marie, and I retired from civil service and while she decided to pursue her passion to become a licensed counselor, I stayed home and took care of her.  Upon Marie’s graduation, we moved back to Tacoma Washington so she could work on the state required hours for licensure.  I took a volunteer position with the Tacoma Rescue Mission (TRM) and we moved onto one of their 4 campuses to serve. Since I still had plenty of time, I contacted BBI and went through the Chaplaincy training.

At about the same time, we purchased a home in Maine which we plan to move to in 2019 and will be officially retired at that point.  Now by “officially retired” we mean that although retired; we fully plan to be useful for the cause of Christ during these golden years.  I have received more training in community emergency response team training and gotten a second chaplaincy training to gain more skills.  We should all continue to get training as much and as often as practical as long as we are also putting it to use.

So how am I currently putting my training to use?  At TRM, they have no chaplain position and although I am available, the Lord has not opened that door. What He has opened is a campus full of people with various physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  My title is “Campus Host”. We have 27 town homes housing two programs.  The Women’s New Life Program is an intensive one year program to help overcome addiction, and provide educational, spiritual, and life skills.  The Family Housing program houses low income families in which one of or both parents are in recovery from addictions.  People ask me, “What does the campus host do?”  I tell them, “You can just call me Grampa.”  I shovel snow, fix bicycles, shooting hoops, and host work parties, Christmas parties and Easter parties.  I provide security at night and often get asked to fix things for people.  Now my dad would laugh at the thought of me fixing things and I often find myself thinking “If they only knew how little I know about this, they would look elsewhere.”  One of my favorite things to do is to watch our clients and look for ways to encourage them. After a career in Human Resources, I have become pretty good at reading people and it is such a blessing to be there when someone needs to talk and more importantly to have prayer.  These are moments when I realize why I am here.

So, if you are a chaplain and you don’t have an official group, bible study, or service area; don’t get too down on yourself. God wants us to be FAT: faithful, available, and teachable.  He will give us opportunities to serve where He plants us. It may not look like you would have drawn it, but it will make for a beautiful picture indeed!  God prepared Moses from birth for the task that he would begin at age 80.  He pulled Gideon from the threshing floor to become a warrior, Peter James and John from fishermen to fishing for men.  Surely God can use us to share Good News!

As we head across country in June(ish)  If you live in the Interstate 90 to Sioux City and then I-80 area from Des Moines to Buffalo, let me know and we will see if we can meet you.

This picture is of folks from Our New Life Program at TRM. For security reasons, please do not reproduce or share it outside of our group.