Pastor’s active duty a ‘ministry of presence’

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BANGOR – It didn’t look as if the Rev. David Michaud was doing very much as he wandered Monday from one section of the Maine Air National Guard base to another, just talking to people.

The Passadumkeag pastor’s “ministry of presence,” however, is vital to the men and women of the 101st Refueling Wing based at Bangor International Airport.

As the cold fall wind whipped at his dress blues, Michaud stopped to chat with a small group of fatigue-clad, middle-aged men building a pavilion outside the dining facility. After checking on the progress of the construction, designed to be used as a picnic area, he and his assistant headed inside to chat with the cooks.

Two young men sat at a table in the dining hall playing cribbage as a news report from CNN blared on a TV in the background and a young woman filled napkin holders for the evening meal. Their greeting to the minister was friendly but low-key, and in sharp contrast to the welcome he got from the women who work at the base clinic.

They greeted him with smiles and jokes about how he treats the soul while they treat the body.

“When they check in for active duty, our tables are right next to each other,” medic Deborah Smith of Brewer said about the incoming Guardsmen, as she stepped out from behind the counter and stood facing the minister. “And after he gets through counseling them, they come to us and we give them a shot.”

“That explains why they linger so long with me,” Michaud countered.

While Smith joked about how the chaplain does his job, she knows exactly how important his presence can be.

On Sept. 11, the medic was on a training mission in Germany. There was no unit chaplain with her group.

“I’ve deployed with these guys,” she said of Michaud, 39, and his assistant, Adam Hurlburt, 37, of Hermon. “What they do is not necessarily all spiritual, but they bring people together for a lot of fun activities.

“Being with people when you can’t be with your families is important. It would have been really helpful in Germany to have one of these guys there with us.”

In churches of all denominations, much of what Michaud and Hurlburt do is called fellowship. Last month, they organized a lobster bake for the 600 men and women now stationed at the base. As the weather grows colder, they plan to take hot chocolate to the soldiers guarding the base perimeter.

Like the members of many other Guard units around the country, the chaplain and his assistant were called to active duty in the wake of events on Sept. 11. Michaud and Hurlburt are about three weeks into a 92-day tour of active duty.

The chaplain is pastor of the Passadumkeag Baptist Church and lives with his family in the parsonage. He continues to preach most Sundays, but church members are pitching in to help with visitations and other pastoral duties while he is on active duty. Hurlburt is on a leave of absence from his job at Federal Express.

In addition to checking in with men and women stationed in Bangor, the pair’s responsibilities include coordinating efforts with the Family Support Program to keep in touch with the families of those called to active duty. They also meet with soldiers who are being deployed overseas for Operation Enduring Freedom. Last month, they spoke with the members the 243rd Engineering Installation Squadron a few days before they left South Portland for an undisclosed location.

“Things happen so suddenly that people’s thoughts are scattered,” Michaud said during a recent interview. “Sometimes it helps just to bring them back and remind them that this is why we are in the military and this is what we raised our right hand for.

“At the same time, we can step in with some very tangible things, like ideas on how to communicate better with their families,” he added. “I suggest that in addition to letters, they send audio cassette tapes back and forth. Letters are great, but hearing someone’s voice is so much better. If they have young children, I suggest they make a videotape of themselves speaking directly to the child. That way, when a child asks about Daddy or Mommy, they can pop the tape in a VCR.”

Michaud and Hurlburt, who attends Hermon Baptist Church, described themselves as evangelical Christians. While both agreed that bringing people to Christ is an important part of their faith, inviting their colleagues to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior was not part of their jobs, they said.

“I live my life to be an example,” said Hurlburt, who functions as an administrative assistant to the chaplain. “If people ask me why I am so happy all the time – and they have – I say why, but I don’t seek people out.”

Both men had military careers before joining the MeANG. Michaud spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Washington Bible College and Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, Md. Then he served as a Navy chaplain. Hurlburt, whose father was a Southern Baptist minister, served 16 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force.

As a chaplain, Michaud is a non-combatant and he is expected to minister to soldiers in the field, but not to take up arms. The pastor said he does not see a conflict between Christ’s teaching to his followers “to love thy enemy” and participating in his country’s war on terrorism.

“God has used nations to chastise other nations before,” said Michaud. “We see in Scripture that God does that to accomplish his will, not the will of individuals or governments.”

Hurlburt agreed, adding that killing the enemy is part of a soldier’s job.

“I love my Lord and I love my family,” he said. “But I am willing to give my life for the chaplain’s, to protect him, if necessary.”

The Rev. Ray Dupere, pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Hampden, serves as a chaplain in the Army National Guard. Dupere said last month there was a marked difference between Jesus Christ’s call for peace and the actions of predominantly Christian nations during times of war.

“The distinction needs to be understood between the personal responsibility of Christian individuals and a government’s responsibility to protect its people,” he said. “When Jesus said, ‘Turn the other cheek,’ that was a personal commandment, not a commandment for governments. A government’s job is to punish evildoers.”

And a chaplain’s job is to walk as a ministering presence among soldiers, following the example Jesus set when he walked among his people almost 2,000 years ago, according to Michaud.

“The Air Force wants chaplains to take our ministries to people where they are working and to be there as a reminder of the Holy One,” he said. “That is kind of the way Christ did it. He didn’t expect people to come to him. He went to them.”