The photo album on John Heading’s smartphone is filled with prized pictures—every one of them worth exponentially more than just a thousand words.
“I’ve got pictures like nobody’s business,” he says. “Pictures of people we’ve worked with and prayed with, pictures of people who’ve made professions of faith, pictures of people I will never forget—and there’s something beautiful and unforgettable behind every single one.”
In his work as a disaster relief chaplain and Disaster Relief Director for the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, John has amassed not just an extensive collection of personally priceless pictures, but a mental library of beautifully unforgettable redemptive stories.
Story #1: October 2024 Flooding in Valencia, Spain
“Not long ago, we were sent to Spain to work with a disaster relief team who’d been asked to help clean up after a terrible flood,” he says. “More than 200 people had been killed, and one day a man came to me and said he’d just walked into a building and seen a little girl with a backpack on who’d drowned. I asked him how he was doing, and all he could say was, ‘I’m fine, I guess.'”
“What do you say to that? That’s the challenge that comes with being a disaster relief chaplain.”
A flood in Spain, a hurricane in Jamaica, a mass shooting in Texas—almost anytime, anywhere there’s a natural or manmade disaster, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) teams are there, ready and willing to point people towards help, hope, and healing. But the chaplains who travel with many of those teams are often the ones who get the most opportunities to explicitly share the gospel.
“Even though all SBDR volunteers are trained in evangelism, most of them need to focus more or less on the chainsaw job, cooking food, or mudding out,” John says. “But the disaster relief chaplain is trained in trauma care and can just meet people, talk with them, and hear their stories.”
“Any kind of disaster really knocks down the walls that people put up, and so many times, because we’re often wearing a vest that says, ‘Chaplain,’ all it takes to make a gospel conversation happen is just walking down the street.”
Story #2: September 2005, 9/11, Terror Attacks in New York City
“Walking down the street,” like John describes, is not always as easy as it sounds in a location that’s just been hit by a disaster. Sometimes, National Guard troops limit access, or yellow police tape blocks the way, or there are no drivable roads in or out. That’s when “Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chaplain” becomes a job title that opens doors.
That was never more noticeable than in the days following 9/11.
“The FBI already knew our people from the Oklahoma City bombing a few years earlier, so they were on the phone with SBDR people in Oklahoma even before the second tower came down,” John says. “They brought Southern Baptist disaster relief chaplains to the morgue at Ground Zero right after 9/11 and told them, ‘You’re in charge.'”
“Every time a body bag was brought in, our chaplains would pray and talk with the people who brought in the remains.”
Opportunities to minister in a setting like that point out to John how important it is to be endorsed. “When the Southern Baptist Convention endorses a chaplain through NAMB, they have that credibility, that stamp of approval,” he says. “They’re representing the Southern Baptist churches that send them.”
“That’s how we get access. That’s how we end up in the right places at the right times and see so many people come to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior.”
Story #3: April 2025 Flooding in Cincinnati, Ohio
“Michael got saved on a Monday.”
When he first met him 24 hours earlier, John would’ve never expected that to be the opening line in his story about the 2025 Cincinnati flood. After all, his first encounter with Michael was relatively business-like.
“When SBDR first shows up at someone’s house, it’s just to assess the damage and see what can be done,” he says, “so I met Michael on Sunday when I went with an SBDR team to assess his house. Michael had cancer, he was doing chemo, he could barely walk, and he was really struggling. But that day, our conversation didn’t really go into spiritual things. It was really just, ‘Tell us what you need, how can we help?'”
The next day, when an SBDR team and two more chaplains returned to Michael’s house, they discovered the previous day’s conversation was actually more spiritual than John realized.
“Those chaplains started talking to Michael and realized God had been working on him overnight,” John says, “so they began to tell him how this flood—you may never get over it, but there is a way through it, and that’s through a relationship with Jesus. They explained to him how Christ is the one who will give you hope and heal your heart and soul.”
“Michael made a profession of faith that day, and when I saw him on Tuesday, he was a changed person. His ex-wife was there, and he was telling her about the gospel. One of our chaplains ended up leading her to Christ as well.”
“We saw transformation right in front of us, and that’s the most exciting part of what we do—when we see people like Michael and his ex-wife realize, ‘We’re going to be ok, and we can move forward with Christ.”
Stories Yet to Be Written
Now, John Heading wants everyone to see what he’s seen and hear what he’s heard. That’s why he shares these stories everywhere he goes, beginning with the people at his own church, University Baptist Church in Beavercreek, Ohio. “Several years ago, I was asked to preach on Mission Sunday, and I talked about chaplaincy and disaster relief,” he says. “That was really the beginning of a lot of people in our church realizing the breadth of who we as Southern Baptists really are and what we do.”
“Since then, the awareness, support, and encouragement that’s come from people in my own church has been huge, and it’s shown me that people out there really need to know these chaplain stories because there’s a great spiritual need out there.”
SBDR desperately needs more endorsed SBC chaplains. “The need is growing with the number of disasters we’re continuing to see,” John says, “and I realize it’s not for everyone. But if you think this might be something God has shaped you for, start by signing up for disaster relief training. Get out into the field and see what it’s really like. And then if you still have that heart and want to connect with people in this way, go through the process.”
Disaster relief chaplains go to some of the saddest places on earth. They meet people who’ve experienced unimaginable pain. And they get to tell them the most wonderful news in all of history.
If the Lord calls you to become an SBC-endorsed chaplain, just imagine the stories you’ll one day be able to tell.
Learn more about how you can become an SBC-endorsed chaplain.