Robert Crick - Outside the Gates: The Need for Theology, History, and Practice of Chaplaincy Ministries

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Hebrews 13:12-14 (NIV)

Outside the
GATES

REVISED and EXPANDED EDITION

Chaplain Robert D. Crick, D.Min., Supervisor, ACPE

Co-Authored by Brandelan S. Miller, MACE, MABS

The Need for,Theology, History and Practice of Chaplaincy Ministry

Outside the Gates Theology, History, and Practice of Chaplaincy Ministry
by Chaplain Robert D. Crick and Brandelan S. Miller

Published by HigherLife Development Services, Inc.
400 Fontana Circle
Building 1 Suite 105
Oviedo, Florida 32765
(407) 563-4806
www.ahigherlife.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: King James Version. Cambridge, 1769. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are from The Holy Bible: New International Version . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright 1996 and 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations noted NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. All rights reserved. (www.Lockman.org).

Copyright 2011 by Chaplain Robert D. Crick

All rights reserved.

ISBN 13: 978-1-935245-57-5
ISBN 10: 1-935245-57-0

Second Edition

10 11 12 13 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

In appreciation for

Jeanette, my life and ministry companion, who has ministered with me for more than 50 years in chaplaincy and other ministry assignments. She has loved me unconditionally, but with a critical and discerning spirit of my need for both freedom and boundaries.

Our children and their families: our son David, his wife Robyn, their daughter Samantha, and twins Dylan and Mackenzie; Jonne Lynn, our daughter; and our son Robert Dale, his wife Carmen, and their twins, Rachel and Jonah. My family is my pride and joy.

Our thousands of chaplains, serving around the world, who have helped teach the church that care leads and evangelism follows. They have turned the church toward this vast opportunity for ministry outside the gates.

Brandelan Miller, for her scholarship, chaplaincy research, and love of God, her family, and now, chaplains and chaplaincy ministries. She has been a fast learner in discovering that chaplaincy is at the core of Gods call for a church of compassion and care.

Chaplain Robert D. Crick

It has been an honor to work with Dr. Robert Crick on this writing project. As an educator and minister, it has been my desire to develop a practical theology of care. Through this project I was given the opportunity to express my core convictions. Along the way, under the leadership of Dr. Crick, I was given the additional opportunity to grow in my understanding of how those convictions are played out in critical life situations. Dr. Crick helped me to move from a philosophy of ministry to a theology of practiced care. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Id also like to thank my grandfather, Lester Thomas, who nurtured my spiritual growth with unwavering steadfastness. It is because of his compassion and love that I came to more fully understand the love and compassion of Christ. He was my biggest fan, and, likewise, I am forever his.

To my children, Eliana, Alexia, and Hunter, and my husband, Gregory Miller: thank you for allowing me to work on this project and supporting our efforts to create a document in which we could be fully satisfied.

Brandelan S. Miller

In Remembrance

REVEREND THOMAS J. OFFUTT, JR

Thomas J. Offutt, Jr, (1938-2010) was a relentless supporter of chaplaincy training and development.

During and following a most successful business career, Tom and his wife, Elaine, had a life-changing spiritual encounter which included a deep call to care for others. This special call led them with deep convictions into a ministry of care for those devastated by poverty, disaster, addiction, and both physical and mental illness. Having personally experienced divine deliverance in various areas of their own lives, they passionately dedicated themselves and their resources to their calling to be wounded healers.

It was through chaplaincy training and ministry that Tom and Elaines call was firmly developed and focused with miraculous results. Giving unconditionally of their time, funds, energy, and creativity, this dynamic couple made possible the distribution of this text, Outside the Gates , and other chaplaincy and care materials. Additionally, they gave to the development of chaplaincy and care facilities, disaster response ministries, and chaplaincy training programs around the world.

Prior to Toms untimely death, he, Elaine, and others had established Outside the Gates Ministries, Inc. as a means to carry out care and chaplaincy endeavors into the next several generations. It is our greatest desire to honor Toms ministry by continuing in this ministry through his example of dedication and compassion for individuals in need of care.

Table of Contents

Foreword

by Steven J. Land, PhD

I cannot commend this groundbreaking work from a seasoned practitioner without commending to you the man. As you read this text, you may find yourself asking, Who is this guy? Thats how I felt when I became acquainted with this decorated Vietnam veteran with a strong presence and a good heart. He had returned from his tours in Vietnam and was processing those traumas, his own tumultuous upbringing, and life and death situations that would forever mark and deepen his ministry, while at the same time representing wounds which he kept clean but open. This is a man with whom to reckon.

We were, and are, two different people with obvious differences but a deep affinity. We both strive to be good Pentecostal ministers, teachers, caregivers, husbands, fathers, practical theologians, churchmen (Church of God), and friends. I have known and loved this man and his family for almost 40 years now. As you read this account of chaplaincy (theology, history and practice) you will come to know the author between the lines. So, who is he?

He is a Pentecostal mystic whose wife, Jeanette, led him early on to a Pentecostal Christian commitment. He saw her in a night vision with a kind of Holy Spirit hologram on an old flint rock. So before you think hes too clinical and scientifically skeptical, remember, he is a mystic.

He is a son who grew up, like many of us have, in a difficult family. But rather than becoming bitter, he took the good things and the hard things and came out with a compassionate understanding of those who dont have the advantage of a strong, dependable, idyllic family upbringing. He has remained true to his family.

Bob is a devoted husband who definitely married up to his beloved Jeanette. She is the love of his life and represents the voice of God to him so often. Caring for him, their kids and their grandkids, she has been with him in churches, military posts, schools, and many other settings. But she has remained constant in her devotion to him and the family, because she is constant in her love and obedience to God.