Dynna's Story

"I knew about the ministry of chaplaincy through a documentary on The Learning Channel. They chose a chaplain in the U.S. and videotaped his work at the hospital. The main unit for this chaplain was oncology and the documentary included interviews from patients who expressed their gratitude for this ministry. I was in my early 20’s when I watched this documentary and it impacted me; in my heart I wished I could do something like that. During my first year of seminary, I took the class on introduction to pastoral care which required clinical hours visiting patients at the hospital. My desire to become a chaplain was intense after this first glance." Read More

Julia's Story

"I stand here with a profound sense of gratitude: for the supervisors and clinical coordinators who have challenged us to come to terms with (among many other things) the limitations of our role, our fear of dying, our residual grief from past hurts and our broken but well-meaning families. They bless us with the gift of time and critique. I remember after a lengthy defense of many of my personal flaws a CPE supervisor said to me, 'You know rarely if ever in life will people take the time or care enough to challenge you like this.' Even as I shuddered at the mirror placed in front of me, I knew she was right. In what other venue are we encouraged to share our weakness, pain, doubt and fear — knowing it will be heard without judgment?" Read More

Ben's Story

"Some people think of listening as an easy task, one that requires simply the absence of speech. In fact, listening is much harder than speaking, and it requires all of my faculties to do it right. Listening demands so much and it sometimes seemed like I was giving so little. How can I be giving them something if all that I’m doing is receiving their words? I learned that listening, though overwhelming at times, brought great rewards. And I learned that in my receiving their words attentively, God was giving the residents something of great worth." Read More

Kristin's Story

"CPE has also helped me to see that I don’t need to be perfect. In fact, being perfect is about the last thing God expects of me and that last thing that would help me to be a caring minister. I remember when I was talking with B.J. before I was accepted into the supervisory training program at Fairview. She was asking me what impact doing supervisory training might have on my call to ministry — what if I wasn’t doing hospital chaplaincy or pastoral care all of the time. I replied that being a supervisor felt like a call to me — to help with the development of ministry professionals — often to provide them with pastoral care, but also to attend to their skill development and spiritual growth." Read More

Pete's Story

"CPE has taught me to be a better listener. Not just a better listener in conversation, though I think that's true but a better listener to the sounds around me. Not just to the good sounds, like the "Twinkle Twinkle" of newness. But to the subtle sounds like the printer, and the sounds that we don't want to hear, like the pager in the middle of the night." Read More