Henderson Police restart chaplain program after 20 years

HENDERSON, Ky. (WFIE) - After almost 20 years, the Henderson Police Department decided to restart their chaplain program, bringing in two local pastors to be a resource for their officers.

The chaplains roles are to serve the few that serve the many.

“If I’m going to ask people in my church to serve in the community, then I need to serve in the community,” said Pastor Greg Shannon, one of HPD’s chaplains.

Shannon is a pastor at Chapel Hill Church in Henderson. He was more than willing to volunteer his time to work with first responders, something he’s done before.

“My first church was in Harlan County and there was a fire, and they wouldn’t let me get over to it,” Shannon said. “One of the guys from my church said just join the fire department. That’s what I did.”

Now, he and Mike Spivey will be a resource for the officers in Henderson.

“They have a very very stressful job,” Spivey said. “They’re one of the highest divorce rates and suicide rates. Greg and I’s ministry and our job really is to minister to those guys.”

Spivey, a pastor at Zion Baptist Church, also has experience working with law enforcement, serving as a chaplain for a Georgia sheriff’s office for six years.

“We’re really there to volunteer just for them,” Spivey said. “It’s not like our lives aren’t busy. We want to be here to serve the officers. We’re just here to minister to them any way we can.”

And with the daily responsibilities of a police officer exposing them to potentially traumatic events, the two chaplains say they’re here for anything they might need.

“The officers face difficult things that most of us will never have to face,” Shannon said. “We just want to be there to be a support and an encouragement to them and to help be a voice in the community too.”

The two chaplains started working with the department earlier this month. It’s a program that other departments across the Tri-State have, that have been successful.

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