How Sierra Chaplaincy Got Started

The Sierra Chaplaincy was formed by the vision of Rev. Tim Thompson who was serving at the time as the associate chaplain to the Sacramento Police and Sheriffs Department and California State Police.  In addition, Tim was a reserve police officer and deputy with these departments.  He served these agencies as a law enforcement chaplain for seven years.  At the time Chaplain Thompson lived in El Dorado County and often when he was responding to an officer emergency in the middle of the night he would hear a voice inside his head as he drove in the darkness down the hill to Sacramento, “Why do you export this ministry outside you county?  Why not do something for the officers right here in the county where you live?” 

 

In 1990, Tim listened to that voice and began providing part-time Chaplaincy service to the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office.  The need became very apparent for such a ministry.  In that first year Tim responded to a deputy who was shot by a suspect and a deputy’s family who had been killed in a car accident while responding to a call.  Two years later (through a reorganization of the Sacramento program) in 1992, Tim left the Sacramento Police and Sheriffs Department to begin a full-time program in El Dorado County. 

 

 In that beginning year Tim received the approval from not only the sheriffs department  to provide Chaplaincy services bur also from the Placerville and Folsom and South Lake Tahoe Police Department, and the District Attorneys Office.  In addition, who entered into contracts to provide Chaplaincy services to Marshall Hospital and Snowline Hospice.

 

This program services the needs of all law enforcement individuals who work in El Dorado County.  It is an ecumenical ministry that responds to the needs of victims, and officers regardless of religion, belief, denominational background, or lack thereof.

 

The Chaplaincy has grown and developed to provide a diverse service to many individuals in the county.  It responds to the needs the sworn personnel serving in law enforcement, as well as the needs of crime victims, auto fatalities, emergency medical services, suicide victims and other coroner cases.  The program has been able to acquire pastors who serve churches in the area to provide a corp. of Reserve Chaplains who respond to these diverse needs and assist the Senior Chaplain when he is not available.   This manual is designed to guide new Reserve Chaplains and  familiarize you in the various agencies we serve and the victims we respond too.

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER TO BECOME A RESERVE CHAPLAIN:

 

Download the Chaplain Duty Statement, after reading the required qualifications and the duty statement.