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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
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October 2004 |
United Methodist phone cards going to soldiers in Iraq
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodist Chaplain Frank A. Yerkes and a few of his friends have a message for the people of the United Methodist Church who have been sending phone cards: Thanks.
"The cards have been an awesome blessing," he said in an e-mail to the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, a component of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry." It makes such a difference when soldiers can call home and talk to their loved ones. What a wonderful gift! It makes me proud to represent our United Methodist family here on the frontlines in Baghdad."
Messages like that come in almost daily, said Laura Flippen, communications coordinator for the agency that oversees chaplains and pastoral counselors.
Packages of phone cards going out by mail today will include a new card designed to let soldiers know where the cards are coming from.
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It makes such a difference when soldiers can call home and talk to their loved ones. |
United Methodist Communications teamed with the Endorsing Agency and the Illinois Great Rivers Annual (regional) Conference to print cards featuring the United Methodist Cross and Flame and the message "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of the United Methodist Church."
When soldiers use the cards they will hear a recorded prayer: "The people of the United Methodist Church are praying for your safety and sense of peace. Our hearts, our minds and our doors are always open to you."
"It is important that the troops know that there are people who care about them, even people who they may not know personally but who care about the human side of being away from home, of being under stressful conditions," said Chaplain Bob Phillips, a Navy chaplain on active duty in Norfolk, Va., and a member of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference.
"I think having the cards with the United Methodist brand on them is totally appropriate, it is not proselytizing, there is nothing at all negative about it," he said.
The endorsing agency has been sponsoring a campaign to send phone cards to the military since Veterans Day 2003. To date, more than 1 million minutes have gone out from the Nashville, Tenn., office. A major push by the Illinois Great Rivers Conference this summer swelled that number to two million minutes.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008