There may not be a fit word that makes everything all right. You just sit and listen. That's a lot to ask of ministers who live by their words, and Russell knows it. So he encourages clergy at the seminar to set aside some of their instincts and truly concentrate on patients. A chaplain attends to the circumstances of the patient with no agenda.
Ministers concentrate on evangelism.
But if you go in there already sure that, in five minutes, you'll spring something on them, you're not going to do well. The challenge we face is trying to understand their context and responding to that need. Evan as they end their first session, the ministers were forced to meet that challenge. After a few hours of orientation, they fanned out to rooms and wards to start the real learning. For his first call, the Rev. Steve Damos pokes his head into Room 607, where nurses were moving Grady Dagnan from a cot to a hospital bed.