Col Oliver North

“We are deeply gratified by the outpouring of good will and financial support from our friends in Texas,” said Military Ministry Executive Director Bob Dees.

Guests at Generation in the Balance heard a series of stories from warriors and their families about the many challenges they face and the spiritual solutions which have made a difference. Colonel North spoke about his own battle experiences and the importance of faith as part of the solution for the hidden wounds of war. The healing and restoration that comes from knowing Jesus Christ has made all the difference to so many, North said.

Nearly $1 million was given and pledged from generous Texas donors. A highlight of the evening was the unexpected announcement by Interstate Batteries Corp. founder Norm Miller of a matching funds opportunity the company if offering. For every dollar raised between now and August 31, Interstate Batteries will give another dollar, up to $250,000.

Military Ministry offers faith and hope to troops, familes and veterans and provides services and resources to chaplains and churches.

For more information assistance - to help your church reach military members and families in your community - or to join the fight personally, visit www.generationsinthebalance.com to get more of the story!

Chief of Chaplains Carver further encourages Army chaplains to “maintain a season of prayerful relection during these challenging times.”

Download the Proclamation of Prayer and Fasting

We asked ourselves: Who’s helping these and other families affected by PTSD? We discovered that while many government and medical agencies are working the problem hard, few are including the spiritual dynamics of God, the Bible, faith, love, and Christian com­munity in their treatment programs.

Hence, Military Ministry has begun a program to provide spiritually rel­evant preventative measures and post-trauma spiritual solutions. Here are the initiatives we’ve begun so far:

• A Military Ministry staff and volunteers task force to begin ministering in person and online at PTSDHealing.org (see Standard Bearer Online/Pro­files).
• A pilot program with the U.S. Navy to “Care for Returning Warriors.”
• A church-based effort to mobilize churches around this need, which began with Times Square Church in New York City in January 2007.
• A widening network of people and organiza­tions aligning with the Bridges to Healing vision.
• God’s continual confirmation that we are addressing one of the most significant spiri­tual needs in the U.S. armed forces.

We need your prayers and support in this important battle on behalf of our troops and families. Jesus said “Come unto me all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest (peace).” May our troops and their families have this peace which only Jesus can provide.

From a recent visit to MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina

• Church & Chapel Engagement Coordinator

Location: Virginia.

Description: Serve as a liaison and coordinate Military Ministry activities with church leaders and military chaplains.

• Director/Field Staff @ Ft. Hood

Location: Texas.

Description: Provide military evangelism and discipleship leadership to military personnel.

• Media Coordinator

Location: Virginia.

Description: Coordinate, plan, and execute media events for Military Ministry.

• Associate International Director

Location: United States.

Description: Provide ministry and leadership to international military personnel assigned in the US.

In the month of May at the gateways, or military boot camps, over 745 of the newest generation of military men and women prepared to graduate with not only core values, physical fitness and basic combat skills, but also with assurance of their being saved by grace as a child of God.  Each of them made decisions to become committed followers of Jesus Christ. 

Military Ministry guest evangelist Keith Shealy throws discipleship resources during Fort Lee coffee house concert

From the Army boot camp at Fort Jackson, SC, many graduates will show up next at Fort Lee, VA for specialty training where they will have another opportunity to grow in their faith.  On their off-time, they will get to kick back and relax and talk about life and their future at the Coffee House at Fort Lee through At Ease Ministries.  Thanks to chaplains, local churches and more than 100 volunteers supporting the outreach, more than 14,000 young Army troops have been served friendship, encouraging music and The Gospel of Jesus Christ since 2006.

MilMin staff Gary Padgett, who leads Bible studies at the Fort Lee Coffee House, said he himself has seen more than 700 soldiers receive faith in Christ through this outreach. 

Former Army member Steve Zachry of Richmond, VA, supervisor for the growing outreach, says plans are under way for a second coffee house next year at Fort Lee.

The Faith and Hope Gap

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is on the extreme end of the spectrum of trauma-related symptoms and conditions. PTSD was not an official psychological diagnosis until the early 1980s, but it has existed over the history of warfare, being referred to as “Soldiers Heart,” “Battle Fatigue,” or “Shell Shock” in former conflicts.  Today, PTSD along with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is called by many the “signature injury” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government agencies are working hard to help wounded warriors from past battlefields of WWII, Korea, Vietnam and wounded warriors from current conflicts in the Persian Gulf and around the world.  In particular, the Armed Forces and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as numerous civilian organizations, are working tirelessly to help with the mental wounds of war.

A Department of Defense Mental Health Task Force report found that 49% of National Guard members, 38% of active duty Soldiers, and 31% of Marines are experiencing mental health issues after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Task Force recognized that programs within DoD are not adequately reflecting the increasing demand. The treatment shortfall is partly caused by a lack of resources, but the fear of stigma to military and civilian careers is also a significant hurdle blocking requests for treatment.

In response to the need for more PTSD care, Veterans Affairs is seeking to add 40,000 new mental health hospital beds costing roughly $3 billion dollars, and also on significantly increasing the numbers of available mental health professionals.

The Services are likewise scrambling to reach the capacity needed to handle the PTSD challenge.  In spring 2007, the Army surveyed over 100 combat-tested company commanders who indicated that “dealing with combat stress/PTSD among soldiers” is a major area in which they and others need deeper understanding. The Army, seeking to better train its leaders, recently conducted “chain teaching” for all echelons of command regarding PTSD. All the Services are working PTSD issues and related family issues hard and fast.

The reality, however, is that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense simply don’t have the capacity or the means to address the magnitude of this national challenge, particularly for the many National Guard, Reserve, and former troops and families who often suffer invisibly because they are not eligible for the same programs as active duty military.

The reality, also, is that wounds of the heart, soul, and spirit are not addressed adequately by government services.  Despite the valiant efforts of chaplains and many organizations and the commitment of billions of dollars, there remains a serious gap - the faith and hope gap.

For Christians, addressing this gap starts with the premise that God is the true healer and that Jesus Christ is the avenue to experience true recovery from the ravages of combat trauma, particularly those visited on the mind and emotions.  For many of our veterans and returning warriors, this will be a long road - but there is hope.  In my own life and in the lives of many wounded warriors, I have observed the peace, the calm, and the healing that God can bring to war-ravaged souls.

Whether it’s the Veteran who has lived in the lonely isolation of combat memories for decades, or young Warriors just returning from their first combat horrors, the power of God, the power of God’s written word, and the community of God’s people around our nation can become powerful resources in this healing process. And this healing can certainly extend to military families and many others impacted by these mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds of war.

As an example from the Bible, David was honored as a “man after God’s own heart” and as a “mighty man of God.”  Yet, David’s Psalms indicate he was also a serious PTSD sufferer.  For instance, consider his following lament:

My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.  Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. Psalms 55: 4-5 (NASB)

And we read about David’s trust in God for his ultimate healing:

He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me. Psalms 55:18 (NASB)

Faith is absolutely a critical factor in resilient recovery from combat trauma, every bit as relevant today as in David’s age.

Campus Crusade for Christ Military Ministry (http://www.militaryministry.org/) seeks to bring Faith in the Foxhole and Hope on the Home Front to the Ends of the Earth.   It is said that there are “no atheists in foxholes.”  This is certainly true.  Daily we receive reports from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other corners of the earth that testify to the importance, the eternal importance, of “faith in the foxhole.”   We hear constantly from troops, chaplains and commanders about the power of prayer before dangerous missions, about the value of the Bible to their sense of hope and comfort, and about the healing that comes from faith. They believe wholeheartedly, with David, that God is their “Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer.” Psalm 18:18 (NASB)

Whether in peace or in war, American troops (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen) seek faith to anchor their souls.  And families on the home front need the same anchor as they wait in fear and uncertainty.  This anchor is available through faith in Jesus Christ.

Military Ministry

At Military Ministry (militaryministry.org), our privilege and responsibility is to assist chaplains and commanders with caring for the spiritual well-being of troops and their families.  We do this at our armed forces initial entry training sites (boot camps) and operational locations, on ROTC and academy campuses and on the Internet, with military family seminars and small groups and by publishing and distributing spiritual resources direct and through chaplains, to troops and families.  In addition, we seek to help every troop, every leader, and every family member hear, receive, and draw hope from the life-changing message of Jesus.  Only in this way will these ones who selflessly serve us at home and abroad be truly ready, spiritually ready, to face the challenges which will certainly come their way.

In our present time of war and the aftermath of war, Military Ministry is working diligently to provide spiritual solutions relevant and sensitive to the needs of combat trauma and PTSD sufferers.  We seek to accelerate the spiritual healing of many thousands of veterans and returning warriors.  Hence, we have established the Bridges to Healing Ministry to mobilize, equip and support Christians in churches across America creating a “corps of compassion” that will help heal and restore PTSD sufferers, families, and caregivers.  In the early stages of this Bridges to Healing Ministry, we have seen churches and communities in New York, Texas, California and elsewhere capture this vision.  We are also developing relevant Christ-centered content for PTSD sufferers and caregivers.  Our Church Guide for Ministering to the Military provides a basic orientation for churches and civic organizations seeking to come alongside our military at such a critical time in our nation’s history.

We have published the Combat Trauma Healing Manual to offer PTSD sufferers a roadmap to for spiritual healing. By combining the latest insights from the medical and psychological communities with the timeless principles of God’s Word, this book outlines a step-by-step program that will help PTSD sufferers . . .

• Understand their trauma - spiritually, psychologically and physiologically
• Adopt therapeutic spiritual disciplines to bring them closer to God
• Process their loss and grief
• Experience the freeing influence of giving and receiving forgiveness
• Rebuild their identity based on what God says about them
• Strengthen themselves spiritually against future attacks
• Connect with those who will support them in many ways
• Define plans to fully reintegrate into society as a strengthened man or woman of God, to include becoming an asset to other trauma sufferers

Military Ministry’s partnership with the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) is particularly relevant to reversing the PTSD epidemic in our land.  The 50,000-plus Christian counselors within the AACC community will have a far-reaching impact in the lives of many military men, women, and families.  AACC and Military Ministry are jointly producing a 30-hour video series and certification program that will help prepare professional, pastoral and lay counselors for serving military members and families. Together, Military Ministry and the AACC will join forces to deploy tens of thousands of Christians from thousands of churches in the fight to build bridges between PTSD suffering and God’s love and healing power.

Copyright © 2008, Military Ministry. All rights reserved.

We will soon surpass the two million mark in RDK (Rapid Deployment Kit) deliveries since Sept. 11, mostly through military chaplains who ask for them.

We are seeing great demand for God’s Word also through increasing requisition of our 170-page Combat Trauma Healing Manual (CTHM), providing spiritual solutions for combat trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This featured resource has made its way into the hands of more than 7,000 troops, families and caregivers since Veteran’s Day 2007. This past February and March alone, more than 400 chaplains from various branches of service were introduced to this resource and branded it “the only printed book of its kind.” After reading the CTHM for about 15 minutes, one senior Army chaplain said “the guidance and principles in this manual are what we [chaplains] have been telling the troops about for years, and this is the first time I’ve seen it in print in one study book.” The Army purchased a copy for every chaplain who attended its recent FamilyLife Chaplains Conference.

Chaplains are also recommending the CTHM for all Army Warrior Transition Units where wounded warriors heal, and for the Army medical community training programs where wounded warriors are offered resources for healing.

Thanks to all whose prayers and support fuel our efforts to love our troops and Jesus.