Posted on: Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Help for churches helping the troops
| • | Coming to grips with coming home |
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
Kevin James Gilbert, an instructor with the Tropic Lightning Academy and senior pastor of Wahiawa Church of Christ, has received inquiries from several churches about his program, "Prepared Community," which helps congregations cope with deployment issues.
A free program to churches and other organizations to learn about soldier reintegration.
621-7295
He's offering the program to interested churches and groups. They mirror the Tropic Lightning Academy classes that soldiers attend, but are designed for civilian members of the community.
Any donations he receives will go into his church's missions fund, though Gilbert's not asking for a fee.
"I want to offer myself as resource, to prepare them by helping understand as much as they can," he said. "It's something they can't fully comprehend unless they've had the same experience."
Gilbert knows his material. He is a combat vet from the first Gulf War and a paratrooper who dropped from the sky over Grenada 20 years ago to secure an airfield.
"I speak to that from experience, from someone who hopes to manage symptoms as well," said the minister, who also has training in therapy and Christian theology.
"Churches have not faced the potential for these kinds of combat-related challenges of this intensity since the Vietnam era," he said. "Ministers are going to be unprepared, the entire nation is fundamentally unprepared. What I want to do is give the churches opportunity to know the types of challenges as their members in Iraq and Afghanistan return. Many of these challenges won't manifest themselves for months, perhaps years — particularly issues related to posttraumatic stress."
Prepared Community
