COLUMBIA – Prairie Grove Baptist Church here has always considered itself a military-friendly church, so it was ready to join in the “Partners in Care” program with the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and the Missouri Army National Guard (MONG).
Pastor Sam Timbrook said that the church’s location on Interstate 70 makes it easily accessible to military families going to Columbia for medical care and other needs.
MONG Chaplain Col. Gary Gilmore was invited to speak at Prairie Home as part of the church’s Sept. 11 observance this year. Since then, the church has identified several ways in which it can support military families.
“They can park a trailer on our property,” Timbrook said. “They can use our fellowship hall for family gatherings. Sometimes military families just need a place to meet.
“Some church families are willing to volunteer their time to talk or to babysit.”
Ministry to the military is not new at Prairie Grove. The church consistently welcomes Honor Flight veterans as they make their midnight return trips from the nation’s capital.
“We gather on our parking lot under one of our street lights and we have our church family waving American flags as they pass,” said Timbrook. The entourage usually includes 200-300 motorcycles and busloads of veterans.
To date, 10-15 churches and individuals have joined the effort and signed the memorandum of understanding (see related story). One of the first churches to do so was Potosi Community Church where Bill Brammer is the pastor. Brammer and the church made the commitment in two phases.
“Instead of volunteering my church the day I was with [Col. Gilmore], I signed the paper for myself,” Brammer said. “I wasn’t going to volunteer my church without going to them.” The congregation later gave its approval.
“We didn’t create any new services. We offer regular church services, Bible school, and Awana. We are inviting them to participate at their own will,” said Brammer.
He provided Gilmore with a list of church ministries and a list of what he can do personally. A military retiree, Brammer has been a chaplain in the military, in hospitals, and in prisons. “I can serve as chaplain, pastor, counselor, whatever the need is,” he said.
“He’s done everything I asked,” Gilmore reported. “I haven’t had a soldier to refer yet, but now I can.”
Gilmore and his other chaplains are willing to present the “Partners in Care” program at churches that want to know more.
He noted that “Partners in Care” must be open to other denominations, and he has made some contacts in that direction.
“It has to be bigger than Baptists,” he said, “but I’m proud that the Baptists are leading the way.”
BARBARA SHOUN/contributing writer