Carroll Institute starts Chaplain Center

B.H. Carroll Theological Institute in Irving, Texas has received $400,000 to establish the Gerald E. Marsh Center for Chaplain Studies. The Marsh Center is unique in seminary life because it focuses on training and supporting chaplains. Chaplaincy is the fastest growing religious ministry in America. Chaplains minister to people of all faiths in a wide variety of non-religious settings such as the military, healthcare, prisons, and corporate America. The Marsh Center will accomplish four purposes. It will offer master and doctoral degrees for training chaplains; provide inter-faith research and development of chaplain issues and programs; inform the public; and promote and advocate effective chaplain ministry in all its forms.

“The Marsh Center is truly one of a kind. No other graduate institution offers such in-depth preparation for chaplains: one-third of the master-level curriculum is specifically designed to develop competencies for this unique ministry,” according to Dr. Gene Wilkes, President of B. H. Carroll. “In making this large gift, the anonymous donor recognizes the growing influence and value of well-trained chaplains who minister in settings where other religious workers rarely go.”

The Center is named for Dr. Gerald Marsh. As a seminary professor of pastoral ministry for 25 years, he mentored scores of ministers who have served in all fields of chaplaincy. Marsh himself served 32 of his 39 years in the military as a chaplain. He retired in 1988 from his 11-year post as the senior chaplain of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Dr. Jim Spivey, a Senior Fellow of Carroll Institute has been appointed Director of the Marsh Center. Spivey also served as a military chaplain and retired in 2001 as the senior chaplain of the U.S. Army Reserve.