Emergency Chaplains 10-33 Fund to help family after tragic fire loss

Durham, NC
August 17, 2010


The Ledwell family needs your help.

On Sunday morning the Ledwell family was awakened to find their home in flames. Today they are staying in a motel provided by the Red Cross and planning the funeral services for their 12-year old daughter, Destiny, who died in the fire. The grief they are facing today is almost unbearable.

There were three generations of the Ledwell family sharing the home that caught fire on Nebo Street. Destiny lived there with her brother, her parents and her grandparents.

Destiny's brother, Chris, was the first to be alerted to the fire by the smoke detectors going off. Everyone else in the house was awakened by Chris as he frantically tried to get into Destiny's room to save her. When it was too hot inside, he went outside and tried to get in through her window. Although he doesn't feel like a hero today, Chris is a real hero for saving the lives of his family and for his valiant effort to save his sister.

Right now, the family is receiving help from their church, friends, family and neighbors...but they desperately need the help of the community to make it through this. They want to give Destiny a proper funeral and burial. They need to replace burned items. They need to find a new place to rent that is large enough to hold their family. They need to replace lost income. Can you help them today?

Emergency Chaplains has an emergency fund for situations like this. It is called The 10-33 Fund. 10-33 is radio code for "Emergency--help needed immediately at this location."

For the rest of the month of August, all donations to The 10-33 Fund will be used to assist the Ledwell family with their expenses as they struggle through this most difficult time.

Please consider making a donation to Emergency Chaplains 10-33 Fund today. Make your checks payable to Emergency Chaplains 10-33 and mail to PO Box 14762, Durham, NC 27709. Donations can also be made via Pay Pal. Go to www.echap.org and follow the link to make a donation with Pay Pal.

The Triangle community is home to almost one million people. If only 1,000 concerned neighbors were to send $10 each today, we would be able to help the Ledwell family with $10,000 to help toward their expenses. Your gift, no matter what size, is significant. Would you consider being one in a million today to help this family make it through this tragedy?

Praying for the Ledwell family,

Chaplain Ralph

Women Serving Jesus

"Serving Jesus By Serving Others"

Two years ago, Women Serving Jesus (WSJ) started as a missions group from Cross Culture Church. Today WSJ includes members from 5 different churches and they have partnered with us to serve as an auxilary organization dedicated to the ministry of Emergency Chaplains.

WSJ helps us get our newsletter out but most of their time is spent showing appreciation for our First Responders by providing meals, stocking pantries and praying for us and the people we serve. They are always looking for new ways to encourage our Public Safety Community.

A new project that WSJ wants to get started soon is called "Shield A Badge With Prayer". They will be linking Law Enforcement Officers, Fire Fighters, Medics and Telecommunicators with members of WSJ and local churches who will become their prayer partner. Look for more info soon about WSJ and "Shield A Badge With Prayer".

If you are interested in being a part of WSJ, contact Carter Thompson at (919) 596-6345 or carter6345@yahoo.com

Fundraising Banquet on Thursday, May 20, 2010

You are invited to attend our very first Fundraising Banquet on Thursday, May 20th at 7pm. The banquet will be held at the Bethesda Ruritan Club, 1714 South Miami Boulevard in Durham. Tickets are $10 per person.

Durham Police Officer Damon Youmans will be our special guest. Damon was wounded while answering a call in July last year and is now back on the streets in District 3 after a lengthy recovery. Officer Youmans will be presented the Emergency Chaplains' Hometown Hero of the Year Award at the banquet.

Our keynote speaker for the evening will be Rev. John Butler from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Before he became the Executive Leader of Business Services for the Convention, John served as Sr. Pastor of First Baptist Church in Matthews, NC.

Pastor John will be remembered by many around Durham because of his service to Bethesda Baptist Church where he served as Sr. Pastor during the 1990s. When you hear him speak on May 20th, you will hear from a man who has encouraged me in ministry since 1993. Sometimes his vision for the ministry of Emergency Chaplains scares me...because he sees big things happening...bigger than I am prepared to think about. Be there and be ready to hear Pastor John share what he believes God can do through us.

Dinner will begin at 7:00pm with the program to follow. Dress for the event will be business casual. (translation: no dress code...but dress up if you want to)

You can reserve your tickets by clicking here to send me an e-mail. Bring a friend or two who needs to hear about Emergency Chaplains. Seating is limited so reserve your tickets today.

See you at the banquet!
Chaplain Ralph

CASWELL FIRE DEPARTMENTS NAME FIREFIGHTERS OF THE YEAR

By Angela Evans, Managing Editor/Caswell Messenger, Yanceyville, NC

More than 100 firefighters and their guests gathered at the Southern Caswell Ruritan on Saturday to honor Caswell County's firefighters of the year.

Eleven were named from 10 departments, and EMS Director Jimmy Gusler was on hand to present the Ernest Paschal Award.

Mitch Foster, president of the fireman's association led the banquet.

Foster told those gathered that countless hours go into being a volunteer fireman and many miss important events like family functions to make their communities safer.

"I want to personally thank all the firemen here tonight for everything they have given their communities over the past year," Foster said. "I also want to thank someone else, the families of these individuals ... without the support of our families we would not be able to do the job that we do."

Members of the Southern Caswell Ruritan prepared and served a meal of ham, chicken casserole, potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls and desserts.

Guest speaker for the event was Ralph Thompson, a Caswell native who is now director of Emergency Chaplains out of Durham.

Thompson grew up in Providence and moved to Durham in 1985. He had served as an associate pastor in Durham, became a chaplain in 2001, and formed the Emergency Chaplains in 2008.

Emergency Chaplains serves the EMS, police and firefighters by ministering to the public at emergency scenes.

Thompson told the group about his father, who had been a firefighter and farmer in Caswell, and about his upbringing here. He spoke of the influence life in Caswell and its people had on his life, and how through Emergency Chaplains he takes a piece of Caswell everywhere he goes.

"I now work on the streets of Durham taking the comfort of Jesus Christ to people who are in crisis," Thompson said. "I'm taking a little bit of Providence Fire Department; I'm taking a little bit of Caswell County ... the people here and the foundation you've built in in me ... God has used you to touch people all the way in Durham."

"If you are a firefighter or work in public safety, I believe God has called you to that as a ministry," Thompson said. "Never underestimate the influence you have on other people ... the people that you serve and the people you serve with."

The ceremonies ended with a presentation of awards to firefighters who have influenced their peers in the past years, enough to be elected from among them and named 2009 Firefighter of the Year.

Winners from each department include:

Gary Chandler, Yanceyville; Lynn Lunsford, Milton; Chris King, Casville; Butch Barts, Providence; Keith Vernon, Prospect Hill; David McGee, Pelham; Randy Whitt, and Jeanette Dodson, Semora; Derek Watson, Cherry Grove; Harvey Rudd, Anderson; Bryon Reagan, Leasburg.

The Ernest Paschal Award - named for a former Cherry Grove firefighter and given to an outstanding medic responder in the Caswell fire service - was presented to Brian Massey, of the Yanceyville Volunteer Fire Department.

Counseling Announcement

Emergency Chaplains, a nonprofit ministry to the area's first responders like law enforcement officers, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel, is establishing a counseling center where not only first responders, but their families, can be served.

Grey Stone Baptist Church, 2601 Hillsborough Road, is providing space on its campus for the counseling center to serve individuals, couples and families.

"We want to thank the staff at Grey Stone for their kindness and understanding and especially for their commitment to Biblical counseling and our local ministry," said Chaplain Ralph Thompson.

This service is offered by appointment. Call (919) 280-8908 or send an e-mail to Ralph@echap.org to set up a time. The counseling is provided free of charge to first responders and their family members.

Chaplain Thompson is certified by International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and has a master's degree in Biblical counseling from Master's Divinity School. His wife, Chaplain Carter Thompson, has a BA in psychology/Christian Counseling from Louisiana Baptist University and is currently working on her master's degree.

Hometown Hero: Paul Boyer

Back in October we advised you of an EMS line of duty death at Fort Bragg. Paul Boyer, a career paramedic who formerly worked for Durham EMS, died in that accident.

(Click here for story)

Paul Boyer

While Paul was in Durham he became good friends of Paramedic Rob Stabbe and his son, Ben. They continued their friendship through the years. They attended Carolina Hurricanes games together and Paul also became one of Ben's biggest fans when he played youth hockey.

Earlier this month Ben's team, the 18U Sharks, took second place in the 2009-2010 Canes Cup of the Triangle. Ben and Rob received silver medals and immediately dedicated the season and their medals to the memory of their biggest fan and encourager, Paul Boyer.

Rob describes Paul as a man who loved God, loved people, loved hockey and made a

Ben and Rob Stabbe

profound impact on him and an even greater impact on Ben's life.

We salute the memory of Paul Boyer in this issue. A man who lived his life wide open and gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving others.

In Jesus' Name,

Chaplain Ralph

J.D. GREEAR AT SEBTS 20/20 COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE

Naming some of the cultural objections to Jesus' claim that He is "the way, the truth and the life," Greear said most see this approach to God as archaic or arrogant.

"It's not being arrogant, but being convinced that Jesus is who He says He is. There can be just as much arrogance among the people who say Jesus isn't who He says He is."

Greear said many claim a more postmodern approach, saying whatever works for each person is fine for them.

"To say that religion is subjective and has no objective truth doesn't make that true," Greear said. "We can't just define God as we want Him to be -- He is what He is. You don't get your own personal Jesus. He gets to define Himself."

One of the most widely-used excuses may be that Christianity is divisive and unfair.

"All religions are exclusive, but the Gospel of Jesus is unique. It's not based on what we have done but what Christ has done for humanity." Greear said. "The Gospel, if you really understand it, doesn't lead you to exclusivism. It leads you to grace."

Depression

Spurgeon on Depression

It's a good thing he wasn't born in the 20th century.

Many believing brothers and sisters would label his tendency to melancholy sinful, or evidence of a lack of self-discipline, or even the result of shallow faith. A psychologist would probably send him away with a prescription and a self-help book with twelve easy steps to overcome depression.

But Charles Haddon Spurgeon, perhaps the greatest preacher of the 19th century, had a different attitude toward his affliction. Spurgeon knew "by most painful experience what deep depression of spirit means, being visited therewith at seasons by no means few or far between."

He warned his students, "Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy."

Although he said, "Spiritual darkness of any sort is to be avoided, and not desired," he never assumed that a Christian suffering depression must necessarily be in sin.

Instead, he wrote, "I note that some whom I greatly love and esteem, who are, in my judgment, among the very choicest of God's people, nevertheless, travel most of the way to heaven by night."Spurgeon goes on in his book, Lectures to my Students, to give some of the reasons believers fall into sadness. He also provides hope for those so overtaken.

"Is it not first, that they are men?"
Spurgeon acknowledged that being a Christian did not make a man or woman immune from suffering. In fact, he said, "Even under the economy of redemption it is most clear that we are to endure infirmities, otherwise there were no need of the promised Spirit to help us in them. It is of need be that we are sometimes in heaviness.

Good men are promised tribulation in this world." But he points out that through this suffering, we "may learn sympathy with the Lord's suffering people."

Paul says something similar in 2 Corinthians 1:4; God "comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

"Most of us are in some way or another unsound physically."
Spurgeon suffered terribly with a joint disorder that was diagnosed as gout. He was forced to stay in bed, sometimes for weeks at a time in excruciating pain.

"I have been brought very low," he wrote to his congregation during one long bout, "My flesh has been tortured with pain and my spirit has been prostrate with depression. . . . With some difficulty I write these lines in my bed, mingling them with the groans of pain and the songs of hope."

With characteristic balance, Spurgeon understood that physical pain and natural temperament contribute to depression, but did not allow his students to use them as an excuse for despair.

"These infirmities may be no detriment to a man's career of special usefulness," he said. "They may even have been imposed upon him by divine wisdom as necessary qualifications for his peculiar course of service. Some plants owe their medicinal qualities to the marsh in which they grow; others to the shades in which alone they flourish."

"In the midst of a long stretch of unbroken labor, the same affliction may be looked for."
Spurgeon's schedule was exhausting. In a typical week, he preached ten times. He answered approximately 500 letters, taught in a ministerial college, administrated an orphanage and dealt with dozens of individuals concerning their souls. He wrote for publications, entertained visitors at his home, taught his own family and encouraged his bedridden wife.

It is no wonder that his health suffered under such a workload. Spurgeon's church finally insisted on regular vacations for him each year. Spurgeon told his students, "The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body. . . . Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength."

"One crushing stroke has sometimes laid the minister very low."
On October 19, 1856, the 22 year old Spurgeon spoke for the first time in the Surrey Gardens Music Hall in London. The church was no longer big enough to contain the crowds of people who wanted to hear him preach. Thousands packed into the music hall, seating themselves in aisles and stairways after all the regular seating was full, and hundreds more waited outside, hoping to hear part of the sermon through the windows.

Just after Spurgeon began to pray, someone in a balcony shouted "Fire!" People pushed and shoved to get out of the building, and a stair railing gave way under the pressure. Seven people were killed and 28 more were injured.

The tender-hearted Spurgeon never completely recovered from the emotional impact of this incident.

He wrote, "I was pressed beyond measure and out of bounds with an enormous weight of misery. The tumult, the panic, the deaths, were day and night before me, and made life a burden."

Many have experienced a natural disaster, the death of a loved one, devastating financial loss or overwhelming disappointment when a child or a fellow believer has fallen into sin.

Spurgeon offers hope from his own experience. "The fact that Jesus is still great, let his servants suffer as they may, piloted me back to calm reason and peace. Should so terrible a calamity overtake any of my brethren, let them both patiently hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God."

"The lesson from wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble."
In the end, Spurgeon acknowledged that depression may come to some believers for no discernable reason. He did not consider it an illness, a sin, or surprising condition, but an inevitable season in the life of a Christian and an opportunity to demonstrate trust in the God who will one day wipe away every tear.

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Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light: faith's rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide.

-Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students

Copyright © 2007 Susan Verstraete.Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in exact form including copyright and web address. Other uses require written permission.