Chaplain gains live phone access from Baghdad to Brandon church

Jul 15, 2003
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

BRANDON (FBW)—Army Chaplain Captain Richard "Huey" Bratton counted his blessings July 6 in a trans-continental phone hook-up which brought his voice from Baghdad, Iraq, to Brandon.

"God was just so good today, He sent us a cold front. He just got it to 110 degrees, so we are doing good today," Bratton quipped in a live feed to two morning worship services at First Baptist Church, Brandon.

The church’s pastor, J. Thomas "Tommy" Green, flanked by a wide screen with a live image of him and a still photo of Bratton against a waving flag background, hosted the call, and queried the North American Mission Board endorsed chaplain. They spoke on a clear, live telephone line for about 10 minutes during a special Independence Day service.

Located only minutes from the military’s Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, the church is home to dozens of American military families, many whose loved ones have recently returned from the war in Iraq.

Bratton is the former minister of music and youth at Fruit Cove Baptist Church in Jacksonville, and served as pastor of its mission, Crosspoint Baptist. He is a long-time friend of Green and of David Shenning, minister of music at FBC Brandon. His wife, Rachel, and son, Luke, reside in Georgia.

Serving overseas with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry, based in Fort Stewart, Ga., Bratton is with the unit in Baghdad where it has taken over a former Republican Guard training center. He described living conditions there as "improving," though he said they have only recently hooked up to electricity and were refreshed by a bit of air conditioning the first week in July.

A water main just down the street has provided their primary source of comfort — cold water for showers during the broiling hot days where blistering temperatures can easily reach 115—120 degrees, he said.

"Pray for their morale and their strength," Bratton asked Green, in talking about the soldiers’ conditions. "The wind literally burns your neck and your face to a degree when you’re going down the road in your vehicle."

Bratton has had first hand experience of traveling down those dangerous roads. He told the congregation part of his ministry is to provide services "somewhere in the field" every week—serving 5-20 people, 6-7 times on Sundays.

"I have to travel miles over roads ... which are not real safe always, to have a service and communion from the back tail gate of a HUMVEE," Bratton said. "But the troops appreciate it. The troops here find a whole new meaning to having a relationship with God."

Describing his work as "a Daniel ministry," Bratton said he is pastor to a commander who may or may not be a Christian, but who still depends on him to help the soldiers with theirspiritual needs.

When those needs included baptism, Bratton said he was at the ready. In Kuwait in March, before crossing the border into Iraq, Bratton said he baptized 18 on a Sunday afternoon, in a water container in the desert.

"Those people that got baptized there, really wanted to get baptized," Bratton said. "It was freezing cold water, but God had blessed."

Green said Bratton told the congregants in an earlier service that one soldier dressed in full uniform decided last minute he would brave the cold water in order to profess his faith in Christ before marching off across the border with his unit.

"He jumped in there and did it and walked back to his place as wet as could be," Green, in a later interview with Florida Baptist Witness, recalled Bratton saying.

And in a land where relief agencies use the crescent moon rather than a red cross, the small white cross emblazoned on the back of Bratton’s helmet readily captures the attention of "very curious" Muslims, he reported.

In Baghdad, there is an attitude of acceptance of Christianity among the Muslims, "probably more so than in other Muslim countries," Bratton said. There will be a "great mission opportunity for the future, once it opens up," he said.

But for now, Bratton asks the congregation for their prayers for the "morale and strength" of the troops. "Just pray for their alertness and that we bring everybody else home safely."

Referring to a few of the unit’s soldiers who were "pretty severely wounded" recently, Bratton said he empathizes with the families.

"I can’t imagine the family members back home," he said of those who have experienced the pain of having loved ones who are injured or who have died. "The wives and spouses and the children," he said, need prayer.

Green told Bratton, in ending the phone call: "We are very proud of you and proud of all who serve and we ask that God will bless you and that God will bless America." The congregation responded with a standing ovation.

"Our church, when Huey ended, just stood and clapped and would have clapped forever," Green told the Witness. "There is such a love for our country and military here in our church."

"You could measure the impact it had just looking into the faces of people as Huey was sharing," Green said. "The spouses whose husbands had been away – [exhibited] strong feelings of remembrance. ...You could tell it spoke to them in a powerful way."

Email this Article Print this page

Login ID:
Password:	Forgot password?