Home > Today's Christian
> 2003
> March/April
Homeland Prayers
As the war in Iraq heats up, churches and ministries are bolstering their efforts to serve the soldiers and their families.
By Ken Walker
 1 of 3
For some, it's as simple as fixing a broken toilet or lawn mower. For others, it's holding a monthly dinner where military spouses can take a break and share their feelings, or calling them regularly to offer encouragement.
Churches in the shadow of Fort Campbell-home of the Army's famed 101st Airborne Division-know that regardless of how long the war with Iraq lasts, military families always have needs.
"There's plenty of hands-on ministry opportunities," says pastor Todd Gray, whose southwestern Kentucky church sits less than a mile from the massive installation's gates. "This is a great chance for the church to minister, whether it's mowing yards, changing oil in cars, or taking kids out for pizza or to a baseball game."
For Gray's congregation, that has meant such good works as starting a free, weekly childcare service to give parents time to run errands. Repairing a woman's dryer. Taking families out for dinner. Visiting a pregnant, bedridden spouse struggling to care for two boys on her own.
Their outreach also includes prayer. In addition to several community prayer services, during Sunday school in mid-March children wrote the names of 54 soldiers affiliated with the church on yellow ribbons then hung them in the church's prayer garden.
Too close to home
Sometimes these ministries to others can take a very personal turn. That's what happened to one church secretary whose congregation formed a military outreach last August.
As the wife of a career Army enlistee, Lillie Dearman wanted to help other families when needs arose. She volunteered to chair the "SOSaf" (Support Our Service members and families) committee at her church in nearby Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
But when her husband, Eddie, left for the Middle East on March 1, Dearman found herself struggling with a mix of conflicting emotions. She stepped aside to let a retired Naval seaman oversee the outreach.
Left with two teenage daughters to care for and plans of retirement this fall on hold, Mrs. Dearman suddenly encountered the toughest struggle of the couple's military career.
"We're just now getting out of the shock phase of deployment," she said last week soon after the start of the war. "This is the hardest time I've ever had. I don't know if it's because the girls are older, or because we were getting ready to retire, or because we remember Desert Storm and the fears are higher this time.
"I think it's a combination of things. I talked to two other wives and their feelings are the same. I empathize with younger wives because I know what they're going through."
Though taking a lower profile, Dearman still participates in SOSaf. Each week, she calls at least three spouses from among the 30 military families involved in the church.
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