The Army National Guard needs chaplains and is offering nearly $35,000 in incentives to attract candidates.
The Guard is operating at 40-percent chaplain capacity. There are more than 300 open positions -- more than half the total need -- and if the spaces aren’t occupied soon, some guardsmen may be deployed without spiritual care.
The Guard is offering a $10,000 signing bonus on top of a $20,000 student-loan repayment and a $4,500 college-scholarship package to men and women age 21-to-42 who have a seminary degree and the endorsement of their denomination. The Guard has also set up a special recruiting Web site and sent DVDs to prospective chaplains.
Alex Person, who heads Focus on the Family's outreach to military chaplains, said they serve a vital need.
"You’re contributing something to the mission as well as the personal satisfaction," Person told Family News in Focus. "It's the spirituality of serving God's people."
Dr. Billy Baugham, executive director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, said part of the reason for the shortage is that most available chaplains are working with troops in combat.
"We try to fill those units as much as we can, so that leaves the shortage back in the rear areas in the Reserves and in the Guard," he said.
Baugham also noted the Army has not decided whether it will continue to allow Christian chaplains to pray in Jesus' Name.
"I'm very sad to say this prayer issue is still not going away," he said.
One other contributing factor: employers are not required to hold jobs for deployed National Guardsmen as they are for those in the Reserves.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Guard chaplaincy Web site is: 1800GoGuard.com.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
