Danny Lynchard's Kevo

Sun September 21, 1986
Prayer Ministry Targets Police Officers
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by Glen Bayless
The Oklahoman Archives

Tulsa pastor Danny Lynchard is an unassuming former prison chaplain whose ministry to police officers in five years encompasses more than 100 U.S. cities.

He calls the mission "Peace Officers Prayer Partner," dedicated to enlisting at least two parishioners from congregations to pray daily for the safety and the stressful lives of officers on patrol.

Lynchard says church members in Tulsa, where the program originated, now number nearly 1,400 who are committed to nearly 700 officers in the city and neighboring areas.

There are chapters from California to the east coast. Rev. Stephen Hanna, a Presbyterian pastor from Modesto, Calif. related his participation in the program at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington earlier this year. Hanna has lined up prayer partners, and rides regularly in the right front seat of patrol cars with officers he regards as his own parishioners.

Lynchard's goal is to recruit 30,000 prayer partners nationwide for 15,000 police.

His own small congregation in Jenks supports his work. His pay is $16,000 a year which he says suffices with some help from donors.

In return for prayer partners, the police visit churches regularly and give their experiences on patrol as well as their testimony of faith.

Lynchard has learned a lot about police through living with officers, riding in their squad cars, and ministering to them and their families when called upon.

"I see too many of these public servants subjected to a view of society that few of us in our ivory towers and immaculate cathedrals ever knew existed," he said in an interview.

Many police are suspicious of citizens they believe are uncaring, and too often quick to label officers as brutes ever ready to intimidate and even injure the innocent.

Officers think in terms of "them and us", he said, and often crudely refer to the public as "mutts and maggots."

They bravely talk boast that they do not need outside help, that they "take care of their own."

Lynchard has found the opposite to be true. Officers and their families who are often isolated yearn for support.

They are continuously under stress and burnout contributing to anxiety that breeds alcoholism and even suicide.

Lynchard says the suicide rate among police is far above normal, and divorce and alcoholism are almost frequent results of stress.

"I find the divorce rate to be very high for many reasons, mostly job-related stress that most of them do not even realize exists," he said. "They seem to sit back and laugh while it slowly takes its toll on their lives and homes. Alcoholism is also no stranger, to many it becomes a close companion.

"Their job is such that they see only the bad guys. So with a warped view of society burnout becomes as common as the cold who really cares?"

He said the hard-to-convince have an attitude that the public will accuse police of persecution under any and all circumstances.

"So they say, 'let's just ride around and don't do anything, answering only those calls we have to,"' Lynchard said. "All they see are bad people."

Lynchard went to the Tulsa mayor in 1981 to get a list of officers who might be part of the prayer program. He had been a chaplain at the Mississippi state prison before going to Bible college in California and then becoming pastor of the Interfaith Christian Center in Jenks.

He said at the outset of the prayer partner program he was "more tolerated than appreciated."

The idea was so simple to recruit at least two prayer partners for every officer on the force, he said.

"If prayer really changes things, I thought, surely there are hundreds of private citizens willing to be a prayer partner on behalf of those who risk their lives to serve," Lynchard said. "The Bible teaches believers to respect authority and to pray for those in authority."

He went to squad meetings to meet the officers and began riding with them on patrol.

Officers began to accept prayer partners, he said.

"I stood amazed at the results," he said. "Officers began speaking in local churches. The overall public view of peace officers began to change as the news media talked and printed our story. Our office began receiving calls from all over 100 cities altogether.

"Police departments began reporting a boost in moral and rapport between the agency and the community."

Lynchard is an ordained Southern Baptist pastor and an assistant chaplain in Tulsa. He said there are 22 other assistant chaplains serving the Tulsa police force, all volunteers.

He has raised money for those in need, visited families of officers who have been injured in the line of duty and those who have despaired and taken their own lives.

One of those had been honored as police officer of the year, but who failed to overcome a sense of guilt over a trivial misunderstanding with another officer.

The suicide rate is six times as many as are killed in the line of duty and one of three officers are divorced after two years on the job, he said.

There are chapters in Ardmore and Sapulpa in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City police do not participate in the program although the department knows about it and some churches in Oklahoma City have inquired about starting a prayer ministry.

Jack Poe, chaplain of the Oklahoma City police department and the 45th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard, said police chiefs over the years have had a policy prohibiting the release of names of officers outside the department.

He said it's a matter of privacy and separation of church and state.

The department encourages officers to get involved in their own churches. Poe said he makes hospital calls on officers and their families and rides with police on duty, perhaps 300 hours a year. He is supported by the Capital Baptist Association and Baptist home missions board and regards the police beat as his parish."Some police would appreciate prayer partners, but others would be very upset if their names were released," he said. "Our percentage of believers is higher than in the general public." BIOG: NAME:

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