front&center Paul Northcut

A conference speaker spoke the words, but the Rev. Paul Northcut said he believes the message came from God.

Northcut, who pastored churches in Mississippi and Georgia before moving to Russellville, decided to take his ministry to the people in the community while attending a church conference focusing on growth in 1985.

The speaker at the conference was a member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and one of his suggestions was to minister to the needs of the police department. "As I was listening, God dropped it in my heart that he was talking to me, and I returned home convinced I needed to check into that," Northcut says.

He approached the police chief armed with information from the conference and was welcomed into the department as a volunteer chaplain. Northcut began riding along with police officers on Sunday nights after church, and would not return home until midnight or 1 a.m.

"The officers knew I had preached that day and would ask me what I preached about. I basically preached to them in the cars," he said.

What he saw during the line of work was anything but ordinary. "As a pastor, my world revolved around my churches and church people. I'm not saying they're perfect, but they try. I saw the rest of the world, for the first time, through Jesus' eyes," Northcut said.

Northcut was overwhelmed with the depravity in hiscommunity. "They were like sheep without a shepherd," he said, quoting a Bible passage from the book of Mark. "I recognized this as my place to serve for God," Northcut added.

As a police chaplain, Northcut is in the midst of crises on a daily basis. "When the bottom falls out, people are not as likely to say, 'Na, I don't need Jesus.' Sometimes, it takes a crisis for people to reach for him. God whispers to us in our blessings, and he shouts to us in our troubles," he said.

Cross and Shield Ministries, directed by Northcut, is the charitable organization he founded in November1996 to minister to the needs of emergency service personnel. His goal is to achieve healthy law enforcement officers in the River Valley. He resigned from pastoring a church to devote his energies full time to his new work. "Jesus told us to go out and make disciples. It doesn't matter how big or pretty your church is, most people are just not going to church. I must go where they are," he said.

"Law enforcement officers are in a class by themselves," Northcut said. "They carry so much responsibility. People can't imagine what kinds of calls they receive and what scenes they witness every day. Sometimes, they are called upon to make instant decisions that can mean life or death for them or for others.

"Law enforcement officers and, really, all emergency responders, see a different world than most of us do. They see the garbage. Literally, they work in the sewers of society. Nobody calls the police for good things, only bad. And they can't take that home with them."

Marital problems and the financial strains of low-paying careers weigh heavily on law enforcement officers. But the dynamics of living with constant fear of the unknown adds stress to the officers and their families.

"The men and women who have dedicated their lives to serve and protect our communities are, in my opinion, the real super heroes of our society," Northcut said. "But after the crime scene is secure, the victims are taken care of, the bad guys are in custody and the blood is washed away, I will still be there with the officers and the first responders. The essence of being a chaplain isto offer a caring presence. I am ready to respond, to counsel, or just to listen to what they don't dare tell anybody else."

Northcut said the social order of law enforcers is best viewed as a circle with the officers - including sheriffs' deputies, highway patrolmen and federal agents - inside the circle. Everyone else is outside the circle - including spouses, family, relatives and friends. Northcut admits he is partly in and partly out of that circle. He strives to minister to the needs of the officers as well as to those on the outside.

In the spirit of becoming "one of the guys," Northcut, who was an ordained minister, underwent the training to become a police officer. He further undertook the required coursework that distinguished him as a first responder for medical emergencies. Additionally, he has completed certification through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Because of these credentials, Cross and Shield Ministries is known throughout the region and beyond. Northcut is among an elite group, full-time law enforcement chaplains who are fully trained and certified to work alongside the officers in crisis situations.

Cross and Shield Ministries serves more than 60 agencies around the state and beyond, including the FBI, mayors' offices, fire departments, homeless shelters, emergency management offices and coroners' offices.

In 2001, Northcut was asked to represent the FBI at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City. "I was there for the police officers and emergency personnel," Northcut said. "I counseled the guys who were recovering body parts."

He has also served during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and during wildfires in San Diego.

"After Katrina, I told my board that we had to find a better way to respond. My vehicle just wasn't adequate. We needed a large van, so we made a public appeal through the newspaper. We raised about $40,000 in six months. We also have a 12-foot double-axle trailer ready to go at a moment's notice. It is stocked with diapers, water, food, cleaning supplies, Christian literature and Bibles.

"After the Arkansas tornados, I drove the van and stayed in Atkins for a week, Clinton for a week and Mountain Viewfor a week. I live out of the van because, during emergencies of that magnitude, lodging is impossible to find. The van is my hotel on wheels," he said.

Pope County Sheriff Jay Winters is grateful for Northcut and Cross and Shield Ministries. "I thank God that we have someone like Chaplain Northcut who is willing to dedicate his life to ministering to emergency responders. Law enforcement officers can, sometimes, be a hard group to get close to, but since Chaplain Northcut is a certified law enforcement officer himself, our officers feel comfortable sharing things with him. Chaplain Northcut has been, and will continue to be, an asset to area emergency services and to the ministry of God." Although Northcut concentrates on emergency service personnel, he doesn't limit his care to only those men and women in uniform. He offers victim assistance to anyone needing comfort.

Northcut offered comfort of an unusual nature when he was assisting victims of the recent floods in Kansas. "I was in a church which was set up as a shelter," he said. "I was told that nobody in that shelter had lost a loved one. Well, I had walked past this elderly couple several times a day. He was in a wheelchair, and she used a walker. They had pushed their cots together. One day, when I walked by, she seemed upset. She told me that she was bothered because of losing Fred. Iwasn't overly concerned because I thought it was probably a dog or a cat, but I kept on listening.

"She kept talking and, come to find out, Fred was her 40-year-old mentally retarded adopted son."

"Needless to say, I was all ears at that point," Northcut said. Fred had died a couple of months before the flooding, and she kept his remains in an urn. The sheriff didn't allow any time to recover items when he vacated them, and the couple was informed their home was submerged and all was lost.

"Well, I just couldn't get that of my mind, so another chaplain and I managed to convince the local authorities to take us out in the boat to find their house. It was marked with a red tag meaning it was condemned, and the front steps had been washed away. With a lot of effort and prayer, we got inside.

"There was a stench of mold that just about knocked us over, and there was the mud - all 4 inches of it. The contents of the home were in complete chaos, but we found the urn. It was still sealed. We washed the mud off and took it back. That was a special moment reuniting that mother to her child."

Northcut has no typical day. In addition to comforting officers, he also makes death notifications to next of kin, provides training to officers in areas such as stress management, ethics, family life and retirement. He serves as a Crisis Response Team member and is trained to handle hostage negotiations andstandoffs and shootings. He intervenes when someone threatens or attempts suicide, serves as liaison with other clergy in the community, serves as a link for the officers to connect them with local churches, provides for the spiritual needs of department personnel and the public when no pastor is available. Northcut also serves as a consultant in situations involving religious cults or ritualistic crimes and provides critical incident stress debriefings and resources.

Cross and Shield Ministries recently extended its services to the corporate world, allowing for ministry opportunities in the workplaces of the River Valley. In addition to counseling, Northcut is available for seminars and workshops for employees dealing with stress or the grief that comes from worksite accidents or the loss of employment. He ministered to some of 800 factory workers who were displaced because a fire destroyed their factory.

Northcut keeps busy and counts every blessing that comes his way. He is most happy, however, when he is serving others.There is never a charge for his services, but donations are accepted. In fact, donations are the only way Cross and Shield Ministries can continue to serve.

"One officer was going through a really difficult time," Northcut said. "He lost his first wife to cancer and was going through a divorce when we met. He always wanted me to ride with him and spent our time together, asking me a lot of questions. That man came to accept the Lord in his life and is now a pianist at his church and is on our board." Northcut said, smiling.

While concluding the interview, Northcut reaches in his pocket as he tells the waiter, "I have message for you." The young man raises his eyebrows in question, and Northcut gives him a mint. On the mint is a Bible verse. He adds that all the area dispatchers have cards at their stations that read: "When you don't know who else to call, call the chaplain."

To find out more about Cross and Shield Ministries, log on to www.crossandshield.org or call 479-967-6327.

matter of fact

My age: 61

Occupation: Senior chaplain, International

Conference of Police Chaplains.

Most people don't know: I was a building contractor

before I got into the ministry, and I enjoy carpentry.

I can't live without: The Lord and the opportunity to

minister.

Family: Married 42 years to Blossom; grown sons,

David and Danny; granddaughters, Shannon, 11,

and Emily, 13.

Hobbies and talents: I get up every day and do

what I want to do all day long. I am the most blessed

man in town. I wake up every morning thinking,

"What's God got in store for us today?" I enjoy riding

my motorcycle, but I utilize it for the Lord, too. I joined

a couple of motorcycle clubs thinking I could minister

in the biker world.

The world would be a better place if: Everybody

knew and served Jesus as lord.