By Roger Drinnon
United States military personnel serving at home and abroad continue to receive donated worship and study resources, thanks to a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod chaplain and the generosity of dozens of LCMS members and congregations.
In addition to copies of Luther’s Small Catechism and Lutheran Service Book eagerly received by service members who were deployed to the Middle East earlier this year, worship and study resources also are being given to troops stationed at stateside military bases.
For an earlier Reporter Online story about deployed service members receiving donated worship and study resources, go to https://reporter.lcms.org/2014/scattering-seed.
“I continue to receive and distribute hard-bound copies of [Luther’s Small Catechism] with our folks assigned to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB-MDL), said Air Force Chaplain (Maj.) Jim Buckman, now a chaplain for the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108th Air Refueling Wing.
JB-MDL is a New Jersey base where members of all the military branches train and serve together. Buckman said he expected to give away more than 200 copies of the catechism at a December event there.
Earlier this year, when Buckman was deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, thousands of donated Synod worship and study resources and some hymnals made their way into the hands of U.S. military personnel serving in combat zones throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia.
Buckman distributed them while he was deployed, with help from Deaconess Carolyn Brinkley, coordinator for the military project at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Nancy Rowley, assistant to the director of the LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces; and Navy Chaplain (Cmdr.) Mike Moreno of the Synod’s Operation Barnabas ministry.
Buckman recently was able to reunite with some of the troops he was deployed with who received the donated worship resources.
“I attended and helped lead a 90-day reunion brief with many of the troops deployed with me — it was great to catch up,” said Buckman. “They and their families were very thankful for the support they received in care packages and catechisms. We have all gone our separate ways, but they took [the donated worship] gifts with them, and these gifts will always be meaningful.”
Buckman said LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces also helped him send a box of 25 catechisms to Fort Hood, Texas, where another chaplain expressed the need for them as soldiers were preparing to deploy overseas.
Buckman said he wants Synod members to know how much he and all the troops appreciate the worship and study resources being donated.
“I just want to thank everyone again for the support they provide,” he said. “You are a blessing to the troops and to the ministry of this LCMS chaplain. And I encourage everyone to continue to provide all of our chaplains with an abundance of hard-bound copies of [the catechism] and LSB.”
Roger Drinnon (roger.drinnon@lcms.org) is manager of Editorial Services for LCMS Communications.
Posted Dec. 30, 2014
