ABHMS Announces Mission Summit Events for Chaplains, Pastoral Counselors

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ABHMS Announces Mission Summit Events for Chaplains, Pastoral Counselors

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/20/13)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) announces its events for chaplains and pastoral counselors planned for the American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) Mission Summit/Biennial this summer in Overland Park/Kansas City, Kan., June 21-23, 2013.

The Rev. John P. Oliver, D.Min., chief of Chaplain Service and supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education at Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, will present the “Moral Injury and Pastoral Care to Individuals in Crisis” training event 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Friday, June 21.

The Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors Merit Awards Banquet will be held 5-6:45 p.m. the same day. Honorees are Chaplain Paul N. Rumery, who will receive the Merit Award for Military Chaplaincy; the Rev. Dr. E. Harry Simmons, who will receive the Merit Award for Institutional Chaplaincy; and the Rev. Dr. Ruth Rosell, who will receive the Merit Award for Pastoral Counseling.

A member of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps and an ABCUSA-endorsed military chaplain and institutional chaplain, Rumery is a combat veteran, having completed deployment as chaplain for the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He has also served as chaplain for the 2nd Marine Regiment. At Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, Rumery’s assignments include primary duties for the Multi-Service Ward and intensive care unit, as well as back-up responsibilities for inpatient psychiatric groups. He serves as deputy to the command chaplain and assists in the daily operation of the department, the supervision of two pastoral counselors and two enlisted personnel. He authored “The High Cost of Caring Too Much,” a research paper on compassion fatigue and burnout.

Institutional chaplain at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Richmond, Va., Simmons is known for interfaith leadership. He not only was instrumental in recruiting and hiring the first full-time Roman Catholic chaplain at the polytrauma center since 1996 but also co-celebrated mass at the medical center with a bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond—a first for the VA. In addition to providing pastoral care and counseling at the medical center, Simmons is a professor at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University. He has served on numerous local, regional and national commissions, boards and committees. He twice held a three-year term as chair of the Racial, Ethnic and Multicultural Network, where he worked with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education for the inclusion of people of color on national leadership commissions and committees.

Rosell is associate pastor of Care and Counseling at Prairie Baptist Church and an assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. As associate pastor, Rosell provides pastoral care and counseling at no cost to church members and the community at large, and led the church to join the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which provides housing, meals and transportation to county homeless. She was recently awarded the rank of Fellow by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, a Masters of Divinity and a doctorate in Religion and Personality. A task force member for “Sabbaths of Hope”—a depression-education effort of mental health associations and the Center for Practical Bioethics—Rosell has been invited by dozens of organizations to conduct depression-related workshops. She has served ABCUSA as chaplain for Orientation to American Baptist Life and as a board member of ABC of the Central Region.

ABHMS continues to endorse American Baptist-ordained clergy as chaplains and pastoral counselors for service in specialized settings, including the military, hospitals, institutions, private pastoral care settings, correctional facilities and prisons. For additional information regarding endorsement and service in specialized ministries, please visit www.abhms.org > Ministries & Programs > Caring Ministries > Chaplaincy, or send an e-mail to endorsement@abhms.org.

For more information regarding the Mission Summit training event and awards for chaplains and pastoral counselors, contact ABHMS’ Rev. Yvonne Carter at yvonne.carter@abhms.org or 1-800-222-3872, x2257.

ABHMS—the domestic mission arm of American Baptist Churches USA—ministers as the caring heart and serving hands of Jesus Christ across the United States and Puerto Rico through a multitude of initiatives that focus on discipleship, community and justice.

American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.

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