The 2010 Chaplains Equipping Conference, held Sept. 27-28 at White Oak Conference Center, focused on suicide prevention. Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death in America, and the third-leading cause of death for youth.
Approximately 80 chaplains from several disciplines attended.
Naomi Paget was keynote speaker for the Chaplains Equipping Conference held recently at White Oak Conference Center.Naomi Paget, an expert on suicide prevention, was keynote speaker. Paget has been a crisis interventionist for the FBI and has served with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and American Red Cross. She is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate Seminary.
Among those attending the conference were David and Linda Aspden of Beaufort, who work as chaplains with Military Ministry, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ. Their goal is to mobilize churches to minister to military families.
“Confidentiality is a big issue in the military,” Linda Aspden said. “This conference is helpful to us as we are seeing more and more service people who are dealing with post traumatic stress syndrome, which impacts their entire family.”
Jack and Judy Dorn also attended and are Mission Service Corps volunteers at Camp Marietta. Jack Dorn is a fire and rescue chaplain and has also been involved in disaster relief through his church, Taylors First Baptist.
Brian Hipp, interim pastor of Salem Baptist Church, Saluda, attended the conference to be more informed about suicide, having been impacted by this issue when a teenage girl committed suicide recently in his community.
The conference was also attended by several people from the Ohio Baptist Convention, as well as non-Southern Baptists from within the community.
The conference was also a time of encouragement and fellowship for chaplains. Frank Page, former pastor at Taylors First Baptist and newly elected head of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee, spoke to the group on Monday night.
For more information about chaplain ministry in South Carolina, visit www.scbaptist.org/southcarolina, or call 800-723-7242, ext. 3801. – SCBC