April 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Walker's chaplains serve dual roles supporting both law enforcement officers and community members in times of crisis. The volunteer chaplains work 24/7 to provide emotional and spiritual support during and after traumatic incidents.
• Chaplains primarily listen and provide a calming presence during stressful situations
• First responders are "normal people" deeply affected by the trauma they regularly witness
• All chaplains receive specialized training in Critical Incident Stress Management
• Spiritual support helps officers process difficult questions like "why did God allow this?"
• Chaplains connect victims with their support networks and faith communities
• Community members can support first responders through prayer and simple expressions of gratitude
• Self-care through prayer, hobbies, and mutual support helps chaplains manage their own stress
If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future episodes, please drop us an email at podcast@walkercity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, thank you for joining us for the Maiden Walker
podcast.
Today we are going behind thebadge of both police and fire at
the City of Walker.
We're actually joined by ourchaplains here in the city.
We have retired Pastor TomBradley, we have Pastor James
Durr and Pastor Jim Richter.
Thank you all so much for beinghere today.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And for folks.
We have an idea really of whatpolice chaplains do.
But if you wanted to kind ofgive specifically for the city
of Walker and our police andfire what that looks like for
you all, Well, we have a dualrole.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
We do support for our law enforcement officers and,
if we're called out, we're doingsupport for members of the
community.
We're just civilian members ofthe community that love our city
and love our law enforcementand kind of got into this
because we wanted to support ourcity and our community, the
members of our church and ourcommunity and all that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
And this is something that's 24-7.
You're always on call.
What does that typically looklike for you when you get that
call?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, it can be in the middle of the night or any
time during the day, and I dohave a secular job also besides
my pastoring, so mine is mainlyin the night and it's a get up
and wake up and get ready andand go.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Absolutely, and what?
Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Try to prepare, you know, as you're on the way to
prepare for what?
You really don't know whatyou're going to be facing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay, yes, that's what I was going to ask.
Is you know?
Do you know much about what youwere going to, what you're
responding to, or are you just…?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Usually just basic details.
Okay, take it from there.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
The on-duty sergeant is usually one of the officers
on the scene.
Is the one giving us the call,yes, and then he's giving us a
briefing about what we'rewalking into.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Okay, all right.
And what really inspired you towant to volunteer for this
chaplain position?
Speaker 5 (02:35):
For me it was an invitation by a police chief to
consider being part of it.
It was actually a community Iserved in before this, about 20
years ago, and I felt like itwas a great way to serve the
community.
So when I arrived in Walker,just visited with again the
chief of police and the firechief and they invited me to be
(03:02):
part of the team.
They had just had a chaplainthat had retired or was no
longer serving, so All right,and what are some of the things
that our officers struggle with?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You know, you see, they show up, they're on scene,
they're doing their job, butafterwards what is it that we
don't really see?
That you guys are called for?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Well, I guess one of the things I mean they're highly
trained professionals.
Yes, you know they'reabsolutely spectacular people
for what they, what they do, butthey're also just normal people
.
Yeah, we don't think of themlike that, but they have
families, they have normalstresses in life and when we
have a traumatic situation thatwe deal with, it just shakes up
(03:47):
our whole life and they see themon a regular basis.
And this can affect you thesame way it will affect a normal
person, because they're justnormal people, just like you and
I.
And so if we can give supportfor that, for the officers and
for the people on a difficultday, then that means a lot yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
And how will you typically offer that support,
the type of trauma maybe thatthey see and some of the grief
and the high stress situationsthat they're dealing with?
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Often just listen, listen, ask questions.
Each of us are trained inwhat's called CISM critical
incident stress management sothe chaplains go through
different trainings.
Sometimes an officer would likeprayer.
(04:52):
Sometimes we just let them knowwe're praying for them and it
seems like that's comforting.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
So we also have certifications in chaplaincy
with an organization called theInternational Conference of
Police Chaplains.
So fortunately the city hasjust sent us away and given us
great training.
We've had great training,training from people like the
chaplain of Homeland Securitythere's three in the country.
We've had really high-leveltraining that helps us deal with
(05:20):
trauma, for the communitymembers who are going with it
through it and also for the lawenforcement officers, so that
helps us to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes, and that is something to think about too is
you're, you know, you're therebeing support for folks who are
going through traumatic times?
Our first responders how do youkind of take care of yourselves
as well?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
A lot of prayer and then, um, hobbies and I like, I
like, uh, pounding nails, sothat takes care of a lot of
(06:06):
relationships.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
I have very close relationships with my family and
friends Um, sometimes friendswho are in law enforcement as
well, people I can just talkwith about different situations.
We also we support each otheras chaplains.
If we've been on a traumaticscene, we usually just hang out
and chat with each other aboutwhat we saw, what we did and
(06:29):
what our role was and how it's,you know, if it's having an
ongoing difficult effect on us,because that's just the way it
can happen, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And how do you think that role of spirituality helps
with the healing and helps withcertain situations that you're
facing and that the firstresponders are facing as well?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
This has kind of been one of my passions and because
to deal with what they have todeal with without some basis of
faith you can have all thetraining that you want, but
you're not equipped to handlethe trauma and the stress that
(07:10):
comes from this without somebasis of faith.
And of course I'm a Christian,so I attribute that to my Lord
and Savior, jesus.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
But there has to be that basis that people can draw
from that's bigger thanthemselves people can draw from
that's bigger than themselves,of course, and I think when part
of why we're there obviously iswe're all pastors or retired
pastors and we love sharing thegood news about Jesus.
(07:45):
But sometimes the situationswe're in are so hard.
There are spiritual questionsabout like why did God allow
this?
Like where is God in asituation like this, and
Sometimes our job is just maybenot even to answer those
questions, but to listen and forus then be present.
(08:09):
God has broad shoulders.
It's okay to get mad at God andjust be patient.
It's so beautiful to watch thatfaith then come through and
flourish and somehow God showshimself to people and people are
(08:32):
resilient.
You know, our officers areamazingly resilient and but with
James, I don't know how peopledo that without a sense of faith
.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And we're volunteers for the city and we're not there
to walk onto a scene and preach.
You know we have a spiritualcomponent to what we do as
chaplains, but we're not walkinginto a scene trying to preach
to people.
Or you know we're just there tobring comfort and sometimes
just a ministry of presence,help calm people down.
You know we're just there tobring comfort and sometimes just
a ministry of presence, helpcalm people down, give them a
bottle of water and also helpthem with whatever faith
(09:09):
community that is a part oftheir support team.
So sometimes we arrive on ascene and say who can we call?
So we'll call family members.
Well, if they have a pastor ora church community, we'll
contact their community andreally kind of get around them
as a support team.
But you know we carry ourpersonal faith into it and
(09:29):
that's the thing that helps uspersonally.
And if people are inviting that, I mean, quite often people say
you know, would you be willingto pray for us?
And so we're happy to offerthat support.
But sometimes people aren'tready for that or don't want
that.
They're there for other formsof support.
So we're just there to helppeople at whatever level they're
(09:50):
needing it.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Yeah, yeah, mostly we listen yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And it's probably an underappreciated kind of skill
just being present and listeningand you've mentioned that so
much during this podcast justhow important that is important
role that you do.
What do you think the communitycan do to better support our
law enforcement officers andfirst responders as well?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I think just remembering.
They're normal people likeeverybody else, walking into a
really difficult situation, andso we just sometimes we vent at
them as members of the communitythat they're walking into a
situation like we are.
They're trained, but the thingsthat they deal with and the
things they see all the timeaffect them.
(10:38):
So just showing appreciationmeans a lot.
They don't do it to receive theappreciation, but it helps them
like it helps any normal person, and just supporting them and
just recognizing that they havea really, really difficult job
and we know that you'revolunteering your time and it's
(11:05):
tough work that you do Ifthere's other folks out there
who maybe have a calling likethis as well and feel that they
have something to give.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
What kind of advice would you give to that person
that would want to be there tosupport first responders?
Well, like my wife and I livevery close to the police station
and fire station and every timewe hear a siren, we pray, oh
yeah.
And so our officers, ourfirefighters.
They're going to scenes thatthey've trained for, but they
don't know exactly what they'remeeting.
Their life is almost on everycall possibly in jeopardy.
(11:42):
Life is almost on every callpossibly in jeopardy, and just
lifting them up in prayer meansan awful lot to them, but it
means a lot anyways.
So just doing that in terms ofactually being a chaplain
there's trainings for that Um,uh, there's trainings for that,
(12:04):
um, and uh, uh, I think, uh,there's all kinds of things
online that you can pursue.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Any type of community support for area pastors or
ministers that want to contactour mayor, gary, or, uh, our our
chief, um, and just say whatcan we do to support Um,
sometimes, like during a specialweek, coming up, a law
enforcement week, uh, likespecial, you know, like pizza or
you know, ordering things, justany type of way, seeing them on
the street saying thank you?
Um, there's a lot of littlethings that can be done.
(12:32):
People, very few people, justever call the chief or call the
mayor and say what can we do?
Sure, Sign me up and, uh,there's a lot of little things
that can be done.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yes, and there's a lot of little things that can be
done.
Yes, yeah, the work that you do.
We may not be able to see youall as often when these things
happen, but just knowing thatyou're behind our first
responders offering that type ofsupport means so much to our
community, and we are sograteful for each and every one
of you.
Thank you so much for beingpart of this podcast Thanks for
having us.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
We appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And we appreciate you tuning in as well.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the
Maiden Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, thank you for joining us for the Maiden Walker
podcast.
Today we are going behind thebadge of both police and fire at
the City of Walker.
We're actually joined by ourchaplains here in the city.
We have retired Pastor TomBradley, we have Pastor James
Durr and Pastor Jim Richter.
Thank you all so much for beinghere today.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And for folks.
We have an idea really of whatpolice chaplains do.
But if you wanted to kind ofgive specifically for the city
of Walker and our police andfire what that looks like for
you all, Well, we have a dualrole.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
We do support for our law enforcement officers and,
if we're called out, we're doingsupport for members of the
community.
We're just civilian members ofthe community that love our city
and love our law enforcementand kind of got into this
because we wanted to support ourcity and our community, the
members of our church and ourcommunity and all that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
And this is something that's 24-7.
You're always on call.
What does that typically looklike for you when you get that
call?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, it can be in the middle of the night or any
time during the day, and I dohave a secular job also besides
my pastoring, so mine is mainlyin the night and it's a get up
and wake up and get ready andand go.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Absolutely, and what?
Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Try to prepare, you know, as you're on the way to
prepare for what?
You really don't know whatyou're going to be facing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay, yes, that's what I was going to ask.
Is you know?
Do you know much about what youwere going to, what you're
responding to, or are you just…?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Usually just basic details.
Okay, take it from there.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
The on-duty sergeant is usually one of the officers
on the scene.
Is the one giving us the call,yes, and then he's giving us a
briefing about what we'rewalking into.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Okay, all right.
And what really inspired you towant to volunteer for this
chaplain position?
Speaker 5 (02:35):
For me it was an invitation by a police chief to
consider being part of it.
It was actually a community Iserved in before this, about 20
years ago, and I felt like itwas a great way to serve the
community.
So when I arrived in Walker,just visited with again the
chief of police and the firechief and they invited me to be
(03:02):
part of the team.
They had just had a chaplainthat had retired or was no
longer serving, so All right,and what are some of the things
that our officers struggle with?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You know, you see, they show up, they're on scene,
they're doing their job, butafterwards what is it that we
don't really see?
That you guys are called for?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Well, I guess one of the things I mean they're highly
trained professionals.
Yes, you know they'reabsolutely spectacular people
for what they, what they do, butthey're also just normal people
.
Yeah, we don't think of themlike that, but they have
families, they have normalstresses in life and when we
have a traumatic situation thatwe deal with, it just shakes up
(03:47):
our whole life and they see themon a regular basis.
And this can affect you thesame way it will affect a normal
person, because they're justnormal people, just like you and
I.
And so if we can give supportfor that, for the officers and
for the people on a difficultday, then that means a lot yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
And how will you typically offer that support,
the type of trauma maybe thatthey see and some of the grief
and the high stress situationsthat they're dealing with?
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Often just listen, listen, ask questions.
Each of us are trained inwhat's called CISM critical
incident stress management sothe chaplains go through
different trainings.
Sometimes an officer would likeprayer.
(04:52):
Sometimes we just let them knowwe're praying for them and it
seems like that's comforting.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
So we also have certifications in chaplaincy
with an organization called theInternational Conference of
Police Chaplains.
So fortunately the city hasjust sent us away and given us
great training.
We've had great training,training from people like the
chaplain of Homeland Securitythere's three in the country.
We've had really high-leveltraining that helps us deal with
(05:20):
trauma, for the communitymembers who are going with it
through it and also for the lawenforcement officers, so that
helps us to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes, and that is something to think about too is
you're, you know, you're therebeing support for folks who are
going through traumatic times?
Our first responders how do youkind of take care of yourselves
as well?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
A lot of prayer and then, um, hobbies and I like, I
like, uh, pounding nails, sothat takes care of a lot of
(06:06):
relationships.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
I have very close relationships with my family and
friends Um, sometimes friendswho are in law enforcement as
well, people I can just talkwith about different situations.
We also we support each otheras chaplains.
If we've been on a traumaticscene, we usually just hang out
and chat with each other aboutwhat we saw, what we did and
(06:29):
what our role was and how it's,you know, if it's having an
ongoing difficult effect on us,because that's just the way it
can happen, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And how do you think that role of spirituality helps
with the healing and helps withcertain situations that you're
facing and that the firstresponders are facing as well?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
This has kind of been one of my passions and because
to deal with what they have todeal with without some basis of
faith you can have all thetraining that you want, but
you're not equipped to handlethe trauma and the stress that
(07:10):
comes from this without somebasis of faith.
And of course I'm a Christian,so I attribute that to my Lord
and Savior, jesus.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
But there has to be that basis that people can draw
from that's bigger thanthemselves people can draw from
that's bigger than themselves,of course, and I think when part
of why we're there obviously iswe're all pastors or retired
pastors and we love sharing thegood news about Jesus.
(07:45):
But sometimes the situationswe're in are so hard.
There are spiritual questionsabout like why did God allow
this?
Like where is God in asituation like this, and
Sometimes our job is just maybenot even to answer those
questions, but to listen and forus then be present.
(08:09):
God has broad shoulders.
It's okay to get mad at God andjust be patient.
It's so beautiful to watch thatfaith then come through and
flourish and somehow God showshimself to people and people are
(08:32):
resilient.
You know, our officers areamazingly resilient and but with
James, I don't know how peopledo that without a sense of faith
.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And we're volunteers for the city and we're not there
to walk onto a scene and preach.
You know we have a spiritualcomponent to what we do as
chaplains, but we're not walkinginto a scene trying to preach
to people.
Or you know we're just there tobring comfort and sometimes
just a ministry of presence,help calm people down.
You know we're just there tobring comfort and sometimes just
a ministry of presence, helpcalm people down, give them a
bottle of water and also helpthem with whatever faith
(09:09):
community that is a part oftheir support team.
So sometimes we arrive on ascene and say who can we call?
So we'll call family members.
Well, if they have a pastor ora church community, we'll
contact their community andreally kind of get around them
as a support team.
But you know we carry ourpersonal faith into it and
(09:29):
that's the thing that helps uspersonally.
And if people are inviting that, I mean, quite often people say
you know, would you be willingto pray for us?
And so we're happy to offerthat support.
But sometimes people aren'tready for that or don't want
that.
They're there for other formsof support.
So we're just there to helppeople at whatever level they're
(09:50):
needing it.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Yeah, yeah, mostly we listen yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And it's probably an underappreciated kind of skill
just being present and listeningand you've mentioned that so
much during this podcast justhow important that is important
role that you do.
What do you think the communitycan do to better support our
law enforcement officers andfirst responders as well?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I think just remembering.
They're normal people likeeverybody else, walking into a
really difficult situation, andso we just sometimes we vent at
them as members of the communitythat they're walking into a
situation like we are.
They're trained, but the thingsthat they deal with and the
things they see all the timeaffect them.
(10:38):
So just showing appreciationmeans a lot.
They don't do it to receive theappreciation, but it helps them
like it helps any normal person, and just supporting them and
just recognizing that they havea really, really difficult job
and we know that you'revolunteering your time and it's
(11:05):
tough work that you do Ifthere's other folks out there
who maybe have a calling likethis as well and feel that they
have something to give.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
What kind of advice would you give to that person
that would want to be there tosupport first responders?
Well, like my wife and I livevery close to the police station
and fire station and every timewe hear a siren, we pray, oh
yeah.
And so our officers, ourfirefighters.
They're going to scenes thatthey've trained for, but they
don't know exactly what they'remeeting.
Their life is almost on everycall possibly in jeopardy.
(11:42):
Life is almost on every callpossibly in jeopardy, and just
lifting them up in prayer meansan awful lot to them, but it
means a lot anyways.
So just doing that in terms ofactually being a chaplain
there's trainings for that Um,uh, there's trainings for that,
(12:04):
um, and uh, uh, I think, uh,there's all kinds of things
online that you can pursue.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Any type of community support for area pastors or
ministers that want to contactour mayor, gary, or, uh, our our
chief, um, and just say whatcan we do to support Um,
sometimes, like during a specialweek, coming up, a law
enforcement week, uh, likespecial, you know, like pizza or
you know, ordering things, justany type of way, seeing them on
the street saying thank you?
Um, there's a lot of littlethings that can be done.
(12:32):
People, very few people, justever call the chief or call the
mayor and say what can we do?
Sure, Sign me up and, uh,there's a lot of little things
that can be done.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yes, and there's a lot of little things that can be
done.
Yes, yeah, the work that you do.
We may not be able to see youall as often when these things
happen, but just knowing thatyou're behind our first
responders offering that type ofsupport means so much to our
community, and we are sograteful for each and every one
of you.
Thank you so much for beingpart of this podcast Thanks for
having us.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
We appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And we appreciate you tuning in as well.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the
Maiden Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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