Chaplain Andy Toopes
Pastor Emeritus · Law-enforcement chaplain
Andy Toopes is a Lutheran pastor and law-enforcement chaplain who has spent more than three decades showing up where people are suffering—at doors where the worst news is delivered, at disaster scenes, and in police stations in the small hours of the morning. Across a 31-year pastoral career and more than 25 years in police chaplaincy, he has served congregations and agencies across the American South and Midwest, including the Arkansas State Police, the Saline County Sheriff’s Department, the ATF, the DEA, and the Bowling Green Police Department. In 1998, the International Conference of Police Chaplains recognized him with the John A. Price Award—its highest annual honor for lifetime achievement and excellence in law enforcement chaplaincy.
Early Life and Pastoral Calling
Toopes’s path to ministry began in high school, leading to decades of pastoral service across the South.
I was called into the ministry when I was a senior in high school... did my internship in Cullman, Alabama, fell in love with the South, and wanted to stay in the South the rest of my ministry. I’ve been at it for 31 years as a pastor... and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
His foundational values were shaped early on by his family and mentors.
My parents were probably the most caring people on the planet. They would help anybody, anytime, whatever they needed... If you show people just a little bit of compassion and a little bit of love, you can change their life.
Becoming a Law Enforcement Chaplain
While serving as a parish pastor, a pivotal encounter on an interstate highway altered the trajectory of his life’s work, introducing him to law enforcement chaplaincy.
The coroner was a good friend of mine... and mentioned that we needed somebody to be a police chaplain in town, because so many things were being done wrong when there was a death in the community. That afternoon, I witnessed a police officer tell a young man that his wife had been killed in a car accident, and I saw how horribly wrong it went... What was said to him was so outrageously bad that he didn’t even realize his wife was dead, and there was nobody there to pick him up when he finally figured it out. That day, I decided that’s something I needed to be involved in. I talked to the sheriff, and we started the program immediately the following day.
The chaplaincy program quickly grew under his leadership to bridge gaps between police officers and local youth.
We created a ‘Shop with a Cop’ program that helped 100 kids every Christmas... It was a great way to get to know everybody in the community through the boys’ club, the sheriff’s department, and police departments.
Major Deployments and Community Service
Over the years, Toopes’s ministry called him to respond to major regional and national tragedies. In April 2007, serving as an ATF chaplain, he deployed to Roanoke, Virginia, following the Virginia Tech massacre, spending days providing counseling and support to federal agents processing the scene.
In December 2021, after devastating tornadoes struck western Kentucky—killing 17 people in his immediate community, mostly children—the Bowling Green Police Department called Toopes at 1:30 a.m. He drove debris-filled roads to reach the station, standing alongside first responders and organizing community relief through Lutheran Church Charities at his parish, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Through hundreds of crisis responses and death notifications over 25 years, Toopes built deep, lasting bonds with both the officers he served alongside and the families he supported during their hardest moments.
I still hear from people that I delivered notifications to years ago on Facebook. All of a sudden I’ll get a friend request from a mom that I shared her daughter was killed in a car accident seventeen years ago. It’s a pretty amazing thing.
Earning Trust through Presence
Toopes spent decades earning the respect of law enforcement agencies through consistent, hands-on presence.
The more I would ride along, the sooner the trust would come. One of my seminary professors called it the ‘theology of presence’—the more I was around, the more people trusted me, and the more I was able to help instead of be a bother.
Retirement and Legacy
Since 2011, Toopes served as Senior Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Bowling Green, Kentucky, earning a widespread reputation as a calm, steady pastoral presence in the region.
Now retired from full-time parish ministry, he holds the title of Pastor Emeritus at Holy Trinity. He remains active in Bowling Green in the pulpit, with the police department, and across the community. The Bowling Green Police Department has honored his voluntary service with a special pin recognizing his decades of dedication.
He lives in Bowling Green with his wife, Sue Ann; together they have two daughters and five grandchildren—a steady family anchor supporting a lifetime of service.