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Chaplain’s gift helps couple reconnect


OSAN, South Korea (BP)–Chaplain (CAPT) John Dobbs cares about hurting people. Dobbs, stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea, is a 2002 graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He joined the Air Force chaplaincy program after spending two years working in a local church.

Dobbs is on a one-year unaccompanied tour in Korea. His wife Kathi stayed in Omaha, Neb., with 5-year-old Joel and 3-year-old Rebekah to care for some of their daughter’s unique medical needs.

Since arriving in Osan from Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base where he previously was stationed, Dobbs has continued an outreach to nearby orphanages that began just after the Korean War as a way American military personnel can interact with the Korean community in a positive way. Once a month, Dobbs leads groups of airmen to conduct work projects and simply to play with the kids at area orphanages.

“We cannot provide enough time and love to these kids,” Dobbs said. “My goal is to redirect the vision of the airmen to look for opportunities of service off base. Since I have taken over the orphanage outreach, I’ve had no trouble filling the bus with airmen willing to serve.”

It seems that reaching out to the vulnerable and the hurting is something at which Dobbs is particularly skilled.

Shortly after he volunteered for active duty, Dobbs found himself in the Middle East with the 64th Air Expeditionary Group. His home church, First Baptist Church in Macon, Mo., often sent him care packages. One package contained a phone card with a significantly large amount of minutes.

“In the desert, minutes on the phone are like gold,” Dobbs said, “and I immediately began praying that God would show me who to give the card to.”

It apparently never occurred to Dobbs that the church may have intended him to use those minutes to call his young family.

“There was one airman,” Dobbs recalled, “who didn’t say much to anybody. It was as if he had a chip on his shoulder.”

Still Dobbs continued to pray, “Show me who to give this to.” Then one day, Dobbs approached the airman and said, “Hey, God’s telling me to give this to you.”

The man said little, but he accepted the gift. Later, the airman came back to Dobbs to share his story.

Twice a week, the airmen where Dobbs was stationed were permitted to call home for 15 minutes. It was nearing Halloween, and the man wanted to talk with his child. The man arranged with the squadron commander to use the phone for a longer amount of time. He called home and spent the first few minutes talking with his child about the upcoming Halloween festivities.

Then, the man’s wife took the phone. Things had not been going well between them.

At the end of 15 minutes, the wife said, “Well, it’s been good talking to you.”

The man said, “Honey, this time we can talk longer. I want to talk about us and what’s been going on. Instead of screaming at each other, I want it to be better.”

The man told Dobbs that his wife began to cry and for the remainder of the conversation, the two talked through the problems they’d been having.

As the man finished the story, he said to Dobbs, “Chaplain, I know what church is; I’ve been to church before. But maybe we can talk more about the God who told you to give me this card.”

Dobbs recalled, “Up until that time, I had tried all the tricks I knew to get that airman to talk to me, but it was that phone card from my church in Missouri that opened a conversation about the Lord.”
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Ann Lovell is a media worker based in Seoul, South Korea, with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

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  • Ann Lovell