wfn.org | Agency gets approval to send devotional to military forces

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 29, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{562}

By Rich Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- U.S. military commanders have agreed to allow a
United Methodist agency to send copies of a devotional book to the 1 million
service men and women stationed around the world.

With this permission, the denomination's Commission on United Methodist Men
begins a nationwide effort to raise $3 million to send Strength for Service
to God and Country to U.S. service men and women responding to the war on
terrorism.  The devotional was first sent to provide spiritual comfort to
U.S. military personnel following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor,
which drew America into World War II.

Announcement of the military's approval of the devotional was made by the
Rev. Jim Townsend, a United Methodist clergyman who served 26 years as an
Air Force chaplain.  He recognized the need for such a book while serving in
Vietnam. 

"Dealing with the wounded, dying and desperately lonely service persons
convinced me of the urgency of having such materials," said the former Air
Force colonel. "No such material was available at that time."

Townsend, a former executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, said senior leaders of the armed forces chaplains'
services were cautious when they first heard the proposal. The military has
received hundreds of requests to send promotional materials to U.S. service
personnel. However, when senior chaplain leaders learned that the book
contains 365 daily devotions written by leading Protestant clergy, and that
the book had been helpful to the U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines during
World War II, they warmed to the idea. Supplemental devotions by current
Protestant leaders and entries from Islamic clerics and Jewish rabbis will
be included.

Plans to republish the devotional were first developed by a Boy Scout long
before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. Fifteen-year-old Evan
Hunsberger, the grandson of a deceased World War II veteran, found the
frayed devotional book his grandfather had carried with him for years after
the end of the war.
 
In honor of his grandfather and to provide spiritual help to U.S. armed
forces today, Hunsberger and fellow Boy Scouts found themselves working as
editors. They spent 2,500 hours correcting the hundreds of errors created
when the old devotional was computer-scanned. Through Hunsberger's efforts,
original publisher Abingdon Press granted permission to the Commission on
United Methodist Men and Providence House Publishers to reissue the Strength
for Service to God and Country.

Following Sept. 11, the commission supported the idea of sending the book to
U.S. service personnel. The members asked Townsend to help them gain the
support of military chaplains. Now that the military has agreed to make the
book available, the commission must raise at least $3 million in publication
costs. Donations to the GCUMM, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006 are
being received.

For more information, contact Larry Coppock at lcoppock@gcumm.org or by
calling (615) 340-7149.
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* Peck, a free-lance writer, is a retired employee of the United Methodist
Publishing House and is communications coordinator for the Commission on
United Methodist Men in Nashville, Tenn.

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United Methodist News Service
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