Chaplains Create New Service for Congregation

An interesting, if somewhat prosaic, article at Army.mil discusses two Army Chaplains creating a new Sunday night service at Fort Jackson, SC (home of the new joint Chaplaincy center).  Notably, the article highlights the motivations of Chaplains who are trying to serve the needs of the troops:

[Chaplain (Maj) Daniel] Middlebrooks explained that one of the goals was to add to the worship options on post by starting a Sunday evening service aimed at those who may not be able to attend service on Sunday mornings, as well as those who would like to participate in a second service that day…

“I’ve talked to my Soldiers, and overwhelmingly, there is a great majority that would prefer to come on a Sunday evening after they’ve had a couple of days of rest, rather than a Wednesday night when we were doing our service,” [Chaplain (Capt) Jerry] Wagner said. “I feel as a chaplain it is my job to support my Soldiers – not when I think they should have service, but when a service would best meet their needs.” (emphasis added)

In their initiation of the new service, however, the Chaplains never strayed from the point of the religious exercise of the troops they were serving:

“We need people who (have that) desire to sing, that desire to play, that desire to serve,” Middlebrooks said. “We want people who want to be a part of God’s kingdom and God’s body, right here at the local church – literally – to be extra hands and extra voices and hearts.”