GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE -- Grand Forks Air Force Base is making an unprecedented push to bring civilian clergy on base and into the military community to help to forge closer links with local communities as the base prepares for changing missions.
Tuesday, about 32 pastors and priests of several denominations attended a daylong, first-ever Interfaith Summit that introduced them to the base and vice versa, as well as to what military chaplains are all about.
As fate would have it, that is about one pastor for every one of the remaining KC-135 tankers assigned to the base's 319th Air Refueling Wing.
The fact that during the next 18 months or so, the tankers and the people connected to them are scheduled to be reassigned to other bases is part of the reason for the summit, said Chaplain, Lt. Col. John Kinney, head pastor at the base.
He wants to sign up 17 honorary chaplains from among area pastors, one for each of the base's squadrons that fly and maintain the tankers and provide medical and dental care and security and logistics for the base.
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No other Air Force base in the nation has honorary chaplains, Kinney said. "This is an Air Force first."
It's partly his idea, spurred by the vision of the base commander, Col. John Michel, for dealing with the transfer of the 2,100 active duty personnel, plus thousands more family members, reserve and civilian employees attached to the mission, Kinney said.
The base is scheduled to get a new mission involving unmanned aerial vehicles, one expected to involve far fewer personnel.
"He wants to be forward-leaning during the transition phase," Kinney said of Michel. Part of that is developing better relationships among religious leaders in the community, and Michel has a rare interest in his base's pastoral care, Kinney told the clergy.
Michel introduced the luncheon speaker, the Rev. H.B. London, saying he knew of London's emphasis that God loved each person "as if you were the only person in the world to love."
London, who works for Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs in a special ministry to ministers themselves, knows that pastoral leaders, like military leaders, can lose touch, Michel said. Commanders and clergy need people they "can be real with" because leadership can get lonely, Michel said.
The new honorary chaplain program "reflects our willingness to venture into new directions to ensure we are doing all we can to equip our precious airmen and their families to succeed both at home and at work," Michel said in a prepared statement. It's a program "that further strengthens our bonds with the local community and ensures our wing teammates have access to an even broader level of care and support in all we do."
The pastors clearly were intrigued, and several said they wanted to sign up.
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The Rev. Karla Coen-Tuff, pastor at United Lutheran Church in downtown Grand Forks, grew up in East Grand Forks and has been on base several times before.
"I'm not sure I always felt very connected to the base during those years," she said of her youth.
Tuesday, she saw chaplain work up close and an inside view of the military life. "I got to sit in the co-pilot seat of a refueling tanker. That was pretty cool, pretty amazing, to be right there and see it. You get a better picture of what they are all about."
Coen-Tuff said one of the questions raised Tuesday by base leaders, in light of the mission transition, is if there are ways the larger civilian community can use the big and new facilities on the base.
The idea of being an honorary Air Force chaplain for a year intrigued her.
"It's a great idea to build relationships between the Air Force base and our community," she said. "We need to be connected to each other in any way that we can, to reach out and support our military personnel during such a turbulent time. It's important for us to have avenues to do that ... (and) our city of Grand Forks is enriched by the Air Force base and their families, as well."
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com
