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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

PROJECT 6: CENSUS ALTERNATE

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO

DR ANDY GOWINS

FOR CLED 620

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE MASTERS OF DIVINITY DEGREE

BY

TODD HINE

24 JUNE 2012

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................2

TARGETING THE UNIFORM ......................................................................................................2

TARGETING THOSE OUTSIDE THE UNIFORM ......................................................................4

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................5

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................6

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INTRODUCTION

From the perspective of an Army Chaplain, making the decision to target an audience

seems to be far removed from the realm of availability. The members of the Army are already

within the service, and as a result the need to target an audience can be argued to be non-existent.

Ensuring services are available to those wishing to partake proves reasonable and in many cases

aside from the individual counseling services provided the church services seem to be the only

opportunity to reach service members.

This perspective notwithstanding, the idea of a chaplain designing a target audience

strategy may not be far off center. While civilian clergy may seek to influence and involve the

community surrounding the church or worship center, the chaplain has the availability to reach

those not only in the service but those within the community as well. A chaplain can prove to

worth their weight in gold if considering the ministry field within the service and community

both.

TARGETING THE UNIFORM

The idea that a Chaplain can and should design a strategy for targeting a specific

audience or market can be demonstrated easily. The parallels between a chaplain and the civilian

counterpart in the form of a pastor, reverend, or priest are all too familiar. The differences cease

at the fact that for the chaplain, the one target market wears a uniform. The implication being

that the chaplain possesses more than one target market group and this is true as demonstrated in

subsequent section of this paper.

A military chaplain serves the unit to which he or she is assigned. This is a well-known

fact. It is the composition of the unit that pleads for the attention of this subject. The unit that

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typically holds the position of chaplain is a battalion level or above sized unit. At any given time

a battalion can see numbers nearing 700. This naturally fluctuates, but the principle is clear: if a

battalion sized ministry field is available for the chaplain, the cross section of personnel can be

quite extensive. And for those chaplains serving in a unit above a battalion level position, the

number of soldiers increases by vast numbers. Even with lower ranking chaplains on staff the

senior chaplain retains the responsibility to oversee the ministry teams efforts.

With this in mind, the chaplain can utilize personnel information gathered through

appropriate measures and conduct a target market assessment and a resulting strategy.

Information may be gathered from Unit Manning Reports, attendance rosters, or even the annual

Command Climate Survey. Actually, the survey can be a powerful tool for the chaplain, since

much of the information on the survey can aid the chaplain in ministering to the troops. The

survey is the one time lower-ranking soldiers can air their grievances without going through the

Inspector General, and by having access to the survey the chaplain can interpret the results as

they apply to ministry needs.

Without addressing specific ministry programs, the target audience strategies themselves

can be identified. A chaplains ministry field can be identified through many ways and each one

have a specific strategy. One such approach to developing a target audience or market group can

be seen in grouping the unit according to rank, where enlisted are one focus group, Non-

Commissioned Officers another group, and finally commissioned officers a third group. Each of

these groups has different ministry opportunities begging for attention, and each one maintains

struggles unique to the rank level. Even further, each rank group can be sectioned to specific

grades such as field grade officers, lower ranking NCOs, or field grade officers.

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Furthermore, the chaplain can see the unit ministry opportunities be developed around

gender. For combat units where the presence of women may not necessarily be a factor, the

opportunity may not be available for a chaplain. This only eliminates this as a potential grouping.

For all other units the general make-up is of a co-ed nature. This presents a great ministry

audience opportunity for the chaplain through developing a strategy for ministry that reaches out

to the female population of the unit. Already in place throughout the Army are the programs that

are designed to keep women safe. With this in mind, the chaplains office can collaborate with

this program and present ministry possibilities for women to come together.

One additional target market opportunity for the chaplain to examine is the age grouping

of military members. Specifically the young married service members that are entering the child

rearing age and typically have children at home. While narrowing the target audience to this

group may be using a microscope for this paper, it bears weight. Those whose children have left

home are typically older and soon to retire. Those with no children or are not married are

challenged to full understand the demands of raising children. This group holds challenges

unique to the group and a chaplain that can target this market and develop a ministry with this

group as the focus should see a ministry that reaches the largest portion of the unit.

TARGETING THOSE OUTSIDE THE UNIFORM

Family members can be a critical target market for the chaplain to identify in any unit. In

fact, while meeting the needs of one group or another within the unit itself if important, meeting

the needs of the family members can simultaneously meet the needs of the service member.

From this perspective, one of the highest priorities of the service member, especially during a

deployment, is the status of their families back home.

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The service member family, then, is a critical part of each service member. Care for the

family and the service member automatically receives ministering. Ministries can occur at

several different levels. Spouses of service members have special needs concerning their

soldiers state of mind upon returning home. Children require special care in learning why the

parent is gone for such long durations. The family can be the largest field of ministry period.

Finally, since the Army or any military branch represents a cross section of the United

States, the unit to which a chaplain belongs can reasonably be seen as a cross section of the local

community to which the unit belongs. The degree of differences may be substantial or non-

existent, but the bottom line remains clear: all units are comprised of Americans and they are in

an American community. As such, this presents a target market opportunity for the chaplain.

Local churches, pastors, priests, and civil leaders all stand to benefit from the collaborative

efforts presented by the chaplain. The local areas of ministry can actually be seen as extensions

of the ministry team reaching beyond the walls of the military base.

CONCLUSION

A chaplains target market is only limited by the creative imagination of the chaplain.

The Army makes of a cross-sectional representation of the United States community as a whole.

The Army unit to which the chaplain belongs becomes the chaplains community and the

diversity within is boundless. Extending the market beyond the uniform to the family support

structure opens the floodgates of ministry opportunities. Truly, there is no end to the available

target audiences begging for the chaplains attention that ultimately meet the needs of the service

member and their families.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barna, George. The Power of Vision. 3rd ed. Ventura, CA: Regal/Gospel Light, 2009.

Bergen, Doris L. The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-FirstCentury. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004.

MacArthur, John. Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically. Nashville, TN: Thomas

Nelson, 2005.

Malphurs, Aubrey.Advanced Strategic Planning. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House,

2005.