Facebook Group Update Summer ‘22
Greetings,
ChaplainUSA’s Facebook Group, Police Chaplain Coffee Shop, will return on July 4th.
We have taken the time off to re-charge and refocus our efforts.
Working with my fellow Group Admins, Chaplain David Fair & Chaplain Jeffrey Wolfe, it’s my hope going forward to build a deeper sense of community within the Police Chaplain Coffee Shop, while growing the number of chaplains who actively participate.
There are a couple things I have in mind.
New Tools
First, there have been some significant updates to Facebook Groups since Facebook became Meta. These updates are pretty exciting, but it’s too soon to know exactly how we’ll roll these tools out. The trick is to make Tech serve our main objective, which bring us the second, more important objective.
Police Chaplains ARE the News
Since starting ChaplainUSA’s nearly 15 years ago, our non-profit has focused its efforts on the Police Chaplain Project, an ongoing effort to capture and share the wisdom of police chaplains by building a first-person video archive.
The project has been a springboard for other educational resources for police chaplains, which can be found on our website at ChaplainUSA.org and on our Facebook page.
Our Facebook Group, however, was created with an entirely different objective in mind.
Chaplain Rabbi Marie Betcher is the gold standard on Facebook. Sharing her life, while shining a light on others as well.
The Police Chaplain Coffee Shop Group is about sharing the day to day lives of America’s police chaplains.
It is not about news updates from CNN, FOX or CBS.
In the Police Chaplain Coffee Shop, police chaplains ARE the news.
Your life is the news.
What you think is the news.
How you became a chaplain is the news.
The people who you turn to for support – your spouse, your kids, your dog or cat – are the news.
At its best, the Police Chaplain Coffee Shop offers a window into the world of America’s police chaplains. The big stuff and the little stuff.
No one else is doing this and I believe it’s important – I know it is.
We receive messages from people around the world who visit the Police Chaplain Coffee Shop because they are curious about the kind of people who, at some point in their life, made the decision to step-up and take on the enormous responsibility of being a chaplain.
Ever since meeting Chaplain David Fair many years ago, I have admired police chaplains beyond measure. If someone told me that tomorrow I was going to have to deliver a death notification, I would not be able to sleep tonight.
The fact is you are a curious and courageous group of citizens. Each of you has a unique story to share at a time when your voice desperately needs to be heard.
As we enter Summer ’22, I’ve never seen a country so in need of heroes. I know I speak for Dave & Jeff in stating what a privilege it is to share your story.
warm regards,
Phillip LeConte
pleconte@outlook.com
Notes:
Top 20 Lists
This summer we will be introducing ways for members to recommend their favorite resources to chaplains (books, podcasts, training, youtube channels, inspirational movies & TV series). Details to follow.
New Facebook Group tools under consideration:
Facebook Live Audio - a kind of talk-radio broadcast for members,
Columns - allowing members to write longer, more media rich posts
Anonymous Posts - for those times when you wish to share your thoughts just with the group
Shop - which will allow the group to offer items for sale and also feature offers from our members