Police Shomreem Ministries

The latest major disaster relief deployment news is published at the end of this page.

Our heart is to minister to emergency services personnel and the people that they come in contact with.  Our ministry has served in several jurisdictions throughout the years.  We have served in police chaplaincy and disaster relief chaplaincy.  We have learned that the police are a people group that is often forgotten when it comes to emotional and spiritual care.  There are many police departments in Lake County, Illinois, that don’t have trained and experienced police chaplains working with them.  Police officers may not feel comfortable talking to their bosses or the department’s employee assistance people for fear of harassment, ridicule or the loss of their job.  We chaplains can be there when an officer is in need.  We are able to minister to their needs confidentially.  Also, as chaplains who serve with police agencies, we are able to help that agency minister to the survivors of critical life experiences.  Those negative experiences can crush a person’s emotional and spiritual well-being.  We can be there to help them over the initial crisis and refer them for short term or long term help, as needed.  

This is often illustrated powerfully during a local or large scale crisis or disaster situation.  For example, the first responders and the municipal workers become overloaded seeing their town destroyed and the people crushed.  They become emotionally and spiritually crushed even if they didn’t suffer any personal loss.  They become witness-victims.  Our experience has shown us during the 2008 Midwest floods that a small town can be devastated by the disaster but strengthened by individuals ministering to one another.  Police Shomreem Ministry chaplains were deployed with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team to the small town of Reedsburg, Wisconsin.  Their town was flooded by a river that went through the heart of the town.  During that experience we were able to minister to numerous people who were survivors of the total loss of their earthly homes and possessions.  To be there in those critical times in a person’s life illustrates to them that they are not alone and that someone cares.  Sometimes they would ask us to pray for them, expecting us to pray later.  When we offered to pray with them right there, they were truly comforted.  We were able to direct them back to G-d as their ultimate helper.  We were also able to refer them to all types of resources that could help them in their time of need.  We were able to help restore hope.  Even those who experienced no physical losses in the floods were devastated by watching those people who had lost everything.  In some instances it was just as traumatic for them.  We were able to be there, hold their hand and sometimes cry with them.  They found out that they were not alone.  They had someone who cared enough to be there and listen to what they needed to talk about.  This deployment touched many people in a positive way in the midst of disaster.   

After Katrina one of our chaplains was deployed to bring needed supplies down to Pearlington, MS.  Our ministry coordinated a group of church members all over the USA to make notifications to family members for the Katrina survivors.  This was operated and administered by the amateur (ham) radio, internet and telephone.  This was an excellent example of local religious organizations working together, across denominational and religious faiths to help a community in need.  Some of our chaplains are amateur (ham) radio operators and serve with amateur radio emergency services.

We served in the town of Watseka, IL. during the floods in 2008.  We coordinated the response of disaster services workers to help the town clean up after the waters receded.  We also ministered to the members of a local church in town that suffered the total loss of their church building, above and beyond the damage to their residences.  We helped coordinate the financial aid needed to this local church to survive.  We are continuing to work with them, to this day.  Many lives were touched by this deployment.

We have also served in the aftermath of severe storms and tornados.  We have served in times of crisis following vehicular crashes.  We have been called into local hospitals to help family members in times of loss or critical medical conditions.  We have been there to minister to the attendees of disaster informational meeting and town hall meetings about critical incidents.   

As emergency services chaplains we are also deployed to local hospitals where we are able to be there with the sick or injured and comfort their loved ones.  Sometimes we are required to make death notifications.  During these times it is best to have an emotional and spiritual caregiver, like a chaplain, comfort them as the bad news is relayed.  This is also the case when the police ask us to go with them to make a death notification.  It is much better to have a trained and experienced chaplain make this notification than a police officer who may not have the proper training.  

We have been able to minister to officers who have been involved in shooting related incidents, duty related vehicle crashes and suicide incidents.  Like the other above types of incidents this too is a personal critical incident for the person involved, their family members and their co-workers.  Being there to help in this time of need is a blessing to them.  The people we serve are blessed as we minister to them just like the “Good Samaritan” did in Luke Chapter 10: Verses 30-37.  We are blessed to be of service and witness how the L-rd works.    

Sometimes we are called to minister to people who are at the end of their rope and thinking of suicide.  Sometimes this is a thought for the future and sometimes an immediate threat.  An instance of this is being called by an officer’s sergeant who received a call from the wife of that officer.  Her comment was that her husband is sitting at the kitchen table, cleaning his weapon for two hours and that he wouldn’t answer any of her questions.  If the police responded alone there could have been a critical incident.  A chaplain that he knows and trusts went and there was a positive effect on the interaction and outcome.  He received the help that he needed and he is fine today.  

Members of our ministry have been called upon to minister to leaders of congregations and churches.  They suffer the same types of crisis that police officer experience.  They witness some of the same types of incidents that law enforcement agents witness.  Sometimes they serve their congregational members seven days a week and they are on call 24 hours a day.  They too can be witness-victims or suffer from compassion fatigue.  

We have been able to help local church members through several negative life experiences.  Churches benefit from having trained and experienced chaplains on staff or on-call.  Together with the pastor and professional mental health counselors, we can help these church members during times of crisis.  We are available to the local church in the event of their being involved with people who survived critical incidents.

We minister to the needs of many emergency services personnel throughout the year.  The situations we respond to are vast and many.  

One of the functions of Police Shomreem Ministries is to help local churches train up their members who feel the call to chaplaincy.  We have been working with several new chaplaincy ministries, helping them to learn what is needed to be successful in their ministry of presence to people in need.  Our ministry has specific requirements of those who wish to be serving with us in the mission fields.  We require specific training, certifications, experience and a criminal background investigation.  We have a list of trainings that we recommend to chaplaincy ministers and ministries.  We also have connections with resources where these trainings can be obtained at a reasonable cost.  If a local church is interested in discipling chaplains for service in the community, we will help in any way we can.  We have a list of training and associational resources that a local church can use to plan the training and certification of their chaplaincy candidates.  The chaplains serving Police Shomreem Ministries have been involved in chaplaincy for a long time and they can bring experience to you as you train up chaplains in your local church for service in your community.   

We administer training in chaplaincy to church members who feel called to serve their communities.  This training class helps prepare the chaplaincy candidates to serve effectively in chaplaincy.  We help in the mentoring process of those who are called to chaplaincy service.  We are currently helping two local law enforcement agencies start police chaplaincy programs.  We have been involved in helping several other law enforcement agencies start chaplaincy programs.  We have helped several local churches all over the Midwest in their efforts to be involved in emergency services and disaster relief chaplaincy.  

Police Shomreem Ministries serves in disaster relief chaplaincy under FEMA with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services.  We have been deployed to all types of disasters, natural and manmade.  We continually train with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services.  We recommend that every local church become involved in disaster relief activities.  The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services welcome volunteers who wish to serve in areas affected by all types of disasters.  In the event that there is a devastating tornado we should be ready to respond with an army of trained emotional and spiritual caregivers who can bring a ministry of presence to those in crisis and refer those who need professional mental health care to recover from the experience.

Latest Disaster Relief Deployment News: 

The following is a summary of the events that occurred during SBC IBSA NAMB-2011-0100 disaster relief deployment, in response to the July 11, 2011, Wind Storm.

OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW

On July 11^th there were storms, in our area, that had winds clocked at 95 miles per hour.  These storms did damage in Illinois from west of Richmond , IL . East to Lake Michigan and South from the Illinois - Wisconsin border down to the North side of Chicago .  The worst damage was in Northern Lake County .  The towns of Zion , Winthrop Harbor and Beach Park were devastated with wind damage.  Lindenhurst, Lake Villa , Antioch , Wadsworth , Gurnee, Waukegan , North Chicago and some unincorporated county townships also suffered severe damage.  Chaplains Gwenn and Ric Worshill live in Lindenhurst . Chaplain Mike Brown lives in Winthrop Harbor .

Chaplains Ric and Gwenn Worshill started chaplaincy ministry and recovery service in Lindenhurst the day of the storm.  They started on their block with their neighbors.  Ric went around organizing people on each block to work together to help each other.  Power was out to over 600,000 people in the Lake County area for days.  Chaplain Ric has a large generator and he supplied power to his house and a neighbor.  Ric and Gwenn offered their home to the neighbors as a cooling center because the weather was extremely hot.  Several neighbors also had generators and Ric helped to connect them properly to their houses.  There were many opportunities to minister to people.  They had many ministry of presence contacts and prayed with several people.  This was a time where they were able to contact numerous neighbors.

During this pre-deployment activity there were several opportunities to minister to people and share the gospel.  One of the first few days after helping clean up the neighbor’s yard and cutting up tree branches that had fallen they heard the neighbor yelling up on his porch.  Upon going over they found that his wife was up on a ladder pulling small branches off the roof.  She was on a ladder that was on the rear porch that was 8’ up above the ground.  She pulled on a branch that was stabilizing a large 10” log about 10’ long.  The log slid down the roof striking the ladder, knocking her to the log covered porch.  Then the log landed on top of her.  She was in a great deal of pain but standing up.  Chaplain Ric looked at her and told her husband to call 911.  She was attempting to refuse any treatment, but it was obvious that she was seriously injured.  The police arrived and Officer Gore did a wonderful job encouraging her to go to the hospital with EMS .  The Worshill’s helped clear the surface of the porch so the EMS people could have unobstructed access.  EMS arrived and transported her to the hospital after she was convinced to go with them.  She had a broken pelvis, a concussion and a bruised bone in her forearm.  She was hospitalized for five days.

Ric and Gwenn served helping and ministering in this community until they were deployed by Rex Alexander and Jack Shelby of IBSA SBC Disaster Relief to DR #NAMB-2011-0100. There were three other communities that will be mentioned later in this report.  An activity summery report was submitted to IBSA staff, Jack Shelby, Rex Alexander and Dan Lovin on the 18th of July.

IBSA SBC DEPLOYMENT ACTIVITY #NAMB-2011-0100

On July 18th Zion , Beach Park and Winthrop Harbor asked the Lake County Emergency Management Agency for assistance.  The Lake County EMA requested help from the Illinois Baptist State Association, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.  The planning team was in action setting up for that deployment that same day.  The Deployment lasted until Friday July 29th.  There were five chainsaw teams, plus brush pullers from all over Illinois .  Three people came from Missouri to assist in the recovery process.  Chaplain Ric Worshill was assigned to coordinate the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief chaplaincy response that would assist the chainsaw teams and do damage assessments.  He was also assigned to help with the preliminary setup and planning of the operation with Mike Springer.  Chaplains Gwenn Worshill, Ed Allen and Ric Worshill joined Operations Officer Mike Springer and Three Rivers Chainsaw Team Leader Ken Commins on July 21st to do preliminary damage assessments.  On July 23rd Chaplain McDonald joined his fellow chaplains to continue with damage assessments.  On July 24th Gwenn and Ric went out to do more assessments.  There were many more opportunities to make contact in the late afternoons and on the weekends.

There were eight chaplains total on site during this deployment.  Five of these chaplains were local to Lake County .  Three chaplains came from three other areas in the state.  They helped with assessments and assisted the chainsaw teams in their service to the affected communities that were served.  During this operation the combined DR teams contacted over 130 households plus several of their neighbors.

Chaplain Ric Worshill assigned Chaplain Bob McDonald to serve as Chaplaincy Operations Blue Cap.  Brother Bob was trained as Blue Cap and served in the Reedsburg flood recovery in that position.  Myron Taylor served as the Incident Commander and Mike Springer served as the Operations Officer.  Virgie Brown served as food service Blue Cap.  Rex Alexander IBSA Specialized Missions Mobilization Director also served in the incident command.  On Friday July 29th, Ric Worshill covered as Operations Officer for Mike Springer.  Mike had service at his local church that required his presence.  

The DR teams were lodged at Meadowridge Baptist Church in Zion , IL .  First Southern Baptist Church Winthrop Harbor, Meadowridge Baptist Church and New Song Baptist Church shared the responsibilities of feeding the teams.  Blue Cap Virgie Brown coordinated the preparation and service of the food.

The entire operation went smoothly.  The assigning chaplains to came to do assessments before the chainsaw teams arrived helped to prepare several job orders ready for the arriving recovery teams.  There were approximately sixty jobs ready to be assigned Monday morning July 25th.  Mike Springer had the local agencies do a reverse 911 call to all of the phone numbers listed in the three towns.  This helped advertise the SBC DR Teams arrival into the area and explain the services they offer.  Reverse 911 will not call homes that only have cell phones.  The operation was advertised in two local papers and on three radio stations.  The teams were released on Friday evening after supper July 29th.  The operation was completed by our Lake County Baptist Association Chainsaw Team over the next few weeks.  Over 130 homes were serviced, free of charge.  One home had 17 trees down on their property.  Most of the homes had more than one tree down on the property.

Please view the other pages of this web site for further information.  Our ministry purpose page explains why we serve the way we serve.

Police Shomreem Ministries Brochure

Police Shomreem Ministries does not directly work under nor is it directly associated  with any of the local, state or national Shomrim Society lodges.  We do however strongly support these associations of Jewish police officers.

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