Bessemer pastor Scott Bush readies to be deployed, finds support in church, friends

While most Americans experience the war in Iraq through television and newspaper reports, it is becoming much more personal to the staff members and congregation of one Alabama Baptist church. At Southcrest Baptist Church, Bessemer, members recently said goodbye to their pastor, who will serve in the war-torn country. 
   
Pastor Scott Bush was set to leave for Fort Bliss, Texas, May 15 and will depart for Iraq after two weeks of processing and training. “I will be stationed in Baghdad, but I will probably pastor several hundred soldiers who will, at times, be widely scattered,” Bush said.
   
He serves as a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve as part of a program that doesn’t require him to drill every month but does make him available for various assignments. 
   
For eight of his 12 years in the Army, Bush has served local Reserve and National Guard units one weekend a month and trained two to three weeks during the year. The current war on terror, however, has created the need for some chaplains to be temporarily reassigned to other units. Such is the case for Bush.
   
“I am being attached to a combat-support battalion of the New York Army National Guard, which is already stationed in Iraq,” he said. “I will be joining them after my two weeks of processing and training in Texas.” He will serve there with the 50th Main Support Battalion of the 42nd Infantry Division, a division that is part of the New York Army National Guard, but his particular battalion is headquartered in New Jersey and under the New Jersey Army National Guard.
   
As a chaplain, Bush reaches out to soldiers often facing grueling and difficult times. “It’s my privilege to minister God’s Word to soldiers when they most need His strength, comfort and mercy,” he said.
   
Bush will serve as a battalion chaplain during this tour, meaning he will have the opportunity to minister to a wide variety and number of soldiers. He knows the job will be a challenging one, but he is comforted by the fact that he has a church family who is behind him 100 percent.
   
“My church members have expressed a range of emotion about this mobilization,” Bush said. “They are sad to see me go and concerned for my safety.” More than anything, though, the church has been supportive of his deployment.
   
“They are proud to be sharing in this ministry and overwhelmingly supportive of me and my family,” he said. “My personnel committee, deacons and fellow staff members in particular have gone far beyond the call to care for me and my family in every way.”
   
Bush said he is encouraged knowing his friends and congregation will be praying and supporting him during his tour of duty and that they will be here when he returns.
   
“One of my deacons has said on a couple of occasions, ‘You’re our pastor, whether you’re here with us or on a missions trip to Iraq, and we’re going to take care of you,’” Bush noted.
   
During his stay in Iraq, the church will work under the leadership of associate pastor Carl Benedict. “Brother Carl is a gifted minister and will fill our pulpit while I’m away. [He] will parcel out my other responsibilities to lay leaders and other staff members,” Bush said. “The church is also considering hiring an interim pastor to assist Brother Carl with administrative details.”
   
He said he is also strengthened during this time by the support and love shown by his family — wife, Missy, a kindergarten teacher at First Baptist Church, Alabaster; 10-year-old daughter, Shelby; and 6-year-old son, Andrew.
   
Although his wife and children are experiencing sadness about Bush leaving, they are also supportive because they see his ministry as a shared family ministry. 
   
“We’ve always thought of chaplaincy as a family commitment,” he said. “My ministry is their ministry. In that sense, I think they’re excited about it.”
   
Extended family members and numerous other friends make leaving much less difficult because Bush knows he has a strong support system. “We have scores of friends in the church and community who have expressed their love and support, so I’m confident that even in this difficult circumstance God will do some wonderful things in my family,” he said.
   
Ultimately, Bush gets much of the inspiration and strength for his job from the faith that brought him to the position in the first place. According to Bush, the Army Chaplain Corp motto is “Pro Deo et Patria,” Latin for “For God and Country.” He said his job is about the United States — but it is first and foremost about God.
   
“I am a patriotic person but chaplaincy, for me, has always been more about the cross than anything else,” Bush said. “Christian chaplains wear a cross as our branch insignia, so there’s not a time when I’ve put on my uniform and not been reminded that above all I serve Christ, by His grace and for His glory.” 
   
In all circumstances, Bush holds fast to the belief that God is in control — even in war-torn Iraq. 
   
“I do have the assurance that God is Sovereign and that His purposes for me are best, even better than I could choose for myself,” he said. 
   
“I’m not saying that I don’t expect to see and experience difficult, even horrible, things that will challenge me in ways I can’t imagine today,” Bush said. “But for years, I’ve walked with people through crises of all kinds, and I’ve always found God faithful and His grace sufficient.”