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Missions

Ministry in the Military

"Don't Marry a Jerk." The warning is aimed at tech training students during in-processing at Keesler Air Force Base and is delivered by Chaplain Melissa Ollendieck. As a chaplain at the base hospital, Melissa's ministry stretches far beyond comforting the physically ill. Designed to prevent incoming airmen from involvement in unhealthy relationships, this briefing is one of many opportunities Captain Ollendieck has been given to touch lives.

When she first arrived on base, Chaplain Ollendieck ministered to nearly 4,000 students and found herself involved in counseling 19- to 24-year-olds dealing with homesickness and adjusting to the military environment. Some carry unresolved issues from unhealthy parent-child relationships.

"I think we have a lot of unhealthy parents in society who don't know how to function properly. If they don't want to talk to their spouse, they talk to their children. I see too many [grown] children taking on the responsibility of a spouse in the relationship—from emotional to financial support."

At a deployed spouse's meeting, Chaplain Ollendieck emphasizes the role of the remaining spouse to set the tone for the children. She reminds them to speak positively of the deployed spouse and the military while the spouse is deployed.

Chaplain Ollendieck shares that although there is "a spiritual darkness over this base," there is also great opportunity for the light of the gospel to make a difference in lives.

As Chaplain Ollendieck routinely crosses paths with certain people she realizes it is "a sign to me that the Lord has something in store for these people and that their hearts are ready to receive something from Him. The Lord is preparing something for this place on a base level."

Her varying ministries also encompass the base hospital, where she ministers to the staff by providing lectures on bereavement and educates mental health professionals on what to do in the absence of a chaplain during impending death. In addition, Chaplain Ollendieck serves on a medical ethics committee—an important ministry because of the interest in the role of faith in healing. (Chaplain Ollendieck has experienced God's healing touch a number of times, including healing of an eye tumor.)

Military chaplains are in a unique position to serve the wide range of needs of the men and women in the Armed Forces at critical times in their lives. Pray that God will give them favor with people they contact daily. Chaplains also need our prayers for wisdom, discernment, and their protection at this critical hour in history.