A little disappointed...
I am a little disappointed in my fellow clergy in the Little Rock/Jacksonville area. One of my projects at the Air Force Base is coordinating a Clergy Day to bring in area clergy (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, & others) and give them information to help them better minister to the Airmen and families in their congregations. The day will include presentations at the chapel in the morning, lunch on us, and a tour of the base and a C-130 cargo plane.
We mailed nearly 200 letters of invitation and have only gotten responses from about 15 persons or so. Now, I realize that from a marketing perspective that is not a bad percentage but from a pastoral perspective I don't like it. Considering that I will be an active duty chaplain next summer I know that many Airmen don't attend the base chapel but find an off-base church to attend. It disturbs me that so many churches that should have Airmen in their pews are not taking advantage of an opportunity to learn how to better minister to them and their families.
We mailed nearly 200 letters of invitation and have only gotten responses from about 15 persons or so. Now, I realize that from a marketing perspective that is not a bad percentage but from a pastoral perspective I don't like it. Considering that I will be an active duty chaplain next summer I know that many Airmen don't attend the base chapel but find an off-base church to attend. It disturbs me that so many churches that should have Airmen in their pews are not taking advantage of an opportunity to learn how to better minister to them and their families.