CBF endorsed chaplains James Kirkendall and Shane Gaster visit at Gaster’s office at the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital in Iraq. Photo courtesy James Kirkendall

ATLANTA – At the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital in Iraq, the sounds of Army Blackhawk and Marine Sea Knight helicopters are a call to duty for Air Force chaplain Shane Gaster.

Gaster, one of the more than 90 military chaplains endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, is stationed at the Air Force Theater Hospital, which is currently the busiest U.S. trauma center in the world. He works 12-hour shifts, six days a week, ministering to wounded men and women being brought in by helicopter and humvee.

"My chaplain assistant and I respond to the emergency department whenever we hear choppers incoming, or when ‘trauma code in the ED’ is sounded over the intercom," Gaster said. "We are an extra set of hands for the doctors and nurses, and we do assist them. But our primary duty is, in Air Force terms, ‘a visible reminder of the holy.’ We are there to pray for the patients and the rest of the medical team."

Gaster serves not only the emergency department, but also four intensive care units and four intermediate care wards. From the Air Force Hospital, patients either return to duty or the more seriously injured are flown to medical centers in Germany and the United States. While the survival rate at the hospital is 98 percent, one of Gaster’s primary responsibilities is to minister to the dying.

"Every time I am paged to a bedside where someone is dying, I think to myself – I am able to be with this person as they leave this world, this temporary life," Gaster said. "I am able to pray and anoint them. I am able to pray for their families who may still be wondering what happened to them. Whether it is in the Emergency room, the [Operating Room] or the ICU, there is a sense, at least to me, of being present with a human being when their life is ebbing away with their final breaths. Who is to say what these final prayers can do? Intercessory prayer is more real to me here than anywhere."

Gaster, who began serving as an Air Force chaplain in 1989, has also been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emirates and NATO. In 2004, he made his first combat tour to Iraq and was stationed in Baghdad.

"Chaplain Shane Gaster is a sensitive and dedicated chaplain in this traumatic world," said George Pickle, the Fellowship’s specialist for chaplaincy and pastoral counseling. "His ministry is a clear communication that these injured and dying people are not alone and apart from God. He is a humble presence of Christ and an intense expression of CBF’s ministry."

In his current position, Gaster ministers to everyone in the hospital, including doctors, nurses and technicians and non-American patients. The staff not only treats American troops, but also coalition forces, Iraqi police and civilians and enemy prisoners of war.

"In America, we take the enemy that we capture, and our sense of the sanctity of life gives us no alternative but to give them the best care and treatment we can," Gaster said. "That is part of what Jesus meant when he said ‘love your enemies.’ Make no mistake, there may be those who don’t like doing it, but they will not refuse to give their very best. And that, to me, may be an even greater demonstration. Who, after all, is the harder patient to care for? The one you want to care for, or the one you’d rather not care for?"

Gaster, from Deland, Fla., encourages Fellowship churches to minister to military personnel and families.

"Look around your community, especially if you are situated near a military installation," Gaster said. "And even if you are not, the person down the street from you might be in the National Guard or the Reserves and have deployed for a year, leaving one parent behind to handle the load. Advertise in bulletins and newsletters, so that military families in your community know that you have a special outreach to military families. Let these families help you discover meaningful ways to minister to them. You will find that in doing so, you are meeting the agenda of the church – reaching out to others."

For information on chaplaincy endorsement or to learn about how you can support CBF endorsed chaplains, contact Pickle at gpickle@thefellowship.info or (800) 352-8741.

The CBF General Assembly in June will offer a workshop on ministering to military families. To pre-r