Pastor ministers to terminally ill patients

As a lead mechanic for Delta Airlines, Ray Clevenger spent 30 years helping people reach their destination safely.
   
He is still helping people get where they need to go. But now, as a pastor and volunteer for Hospice of East Alabama, Clevenger has their eternal destination on his mind.
   
Hospice of East Alabama is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving patients who are terminally ill. Patricia Owens, volunteer liaison for Hospice of East Alabama, said hospice places emphasis on comfort and quality of life rather than curative measures.
   
“I’m interested in where these people came from and where they are going — I’m interested in their salvation,” Clevenger said. “I can learn their life history in about five minutes but their spiritual history — now that takes awhile.”
   
Clevenger said he has logged more than 1,400 miles traveling East Alabama since becoming a hospice volunteer in May 1999.
   
The hospice team is composed of nurses, social workers, volunteers and chaplains who work to meet needs of patients and their families.
   
“Most of our patients have less than six months to live,” Owens said. “Either the doctors have said there’s nothing they can do or the patient has refused more
extensive treatment.”
   
Once this diagnosis has been made, the patient is referred to hospice. Although Clevenger had heard about hospice’s work, it was only after he experienced a terminal illness in his own family that he became involved as a volunteer.
   
When Clevenger retired from Delta in 1993, he and his wife, Esther, dedicated their retirement to the Lord. The previous year, Clevenger, a longtime deacon, had felt and accepted God’s call to preach. The couple had also decided to move from their home near Atlanta to Cleburne County to be near Esther’s family.
   
The Clevengers joined Pine Grove Baptist Church and felt God leading them to visit sick community members. It was during this time that Clevenger first saw hospice in action.
   
“Within three months, four of the eight people we were visiting had died,  Clevenger said. In each case, hospice was involved, and I was moved by the work I saw them doing.”
   
During this time Clevenger was also called to serve as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Heflin, and he once again saw hospice in action. But Clevenger said it was when his father died that he realized the organization’s impact.
   
“When Dad died, there was a sweetness to it,” he said. “Hospice allowed him to go home and die with dignity. I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”
   
Not long after his father’s death, Clevenger and his sister went through hospice volunteer training. According to Owens, hospice volunteers receive training on the death and dying process. Because hospice is a nondenominational, faith-based organization, volunteers are allowed to talk about faith issues.
   
“Even though we have chaplains, we want all the volunteers to know how to minister to patients,” Owens said. “A person who is close to death may not have time to call the chaplain, and the volunteer may be the one who has to minister to that patient’s spiritual needs at that time.”
   
One of the challenges Clevenger said he faces is terminally ill patients often believe their disease is a consequence of sin in their lives.
   
“Many people who are terminally ill feel like they are dirty, or they feel guilty because they’re sick,” he said. “They think that God has placed this disease on them for some reason.
   
“I believe that God created diseases just like He created everything else,” Clevenger said. “I believe that a person can have something ugly like cancer and still be a godly Christian. So I try to lift them up and encourage them when they’re down.”
   
Another challenge he identifies is dealing with families. Clevenger said family members sometimes struggle with each other as they feel the strain of caring for a loved one.
   
“I don’t look at death as a tragedy,” he said. “I really look at death as the beginning of life. I worry about the families who lose their loved ones, but I don’t like to see people suffer. Hospice tries to keep people from suffering.”
   
Clevenger is not only a volunteer for hospice but also an unofficial spokesperson. In addition to his pastoral duties, he serves as the moderator of the Cleburne Baptist Association and announces hospice events at associational meetings, along with working to recruit new volunteers.