Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Journey Hometown Journal so I think.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: Everyone knows of the physical dangers that come along with being a law enforcement officer. But that doesn't just impact the law enforcement officer, it impacts also their family as well.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: Mark Edwards with you today. We're telling you about an organization and ministry that is supporting law enforcement and dispatchers. Taylor Clark is the founder of Weapons of Righteousness and the joint program on Operation Bless the Blue. Taylor, thank you for being with us. How did the outreach to the law enforcement community begin?
[00:00:32] Speaker B: So Weapons of Righteousness really started from my own experience as a law enforcement officer. My background is I was a police officer for Lynchburg Police Department for about eight years.
And during that time, obviously I went through several, several incidents while working at the Lynchburg Police Department, just like any other officer does. But one incident in particular that I was involved in was a shooting back in 20 I believe it was 2014.
And that incident really impacted my life now as a believer. Before that I was raised in a godly home and but as a result of that incident, I ended up leaving law enforcement for a short period, ended up going back into it and really after about two years back into it, I just lost my why for doing it and ended up leaving law enforcement altogether burnt out and just didn't want to do the job anymore. So after several years, the Lord led my wife and I to move out to Woodland Park, Colorado, where I attended Charis Bible College. And it was during my time at Charis, my third year out there, that the Lord put a desire in my heart for law enforcement, but actually to go back into law enforcement and to start up this ministry. And so it was really after I graduated third year at Charis that my family and I moved back here to Virginia and I was hired back. I was hired with the Appomattox County Sheriff's Office, where my older brother works as well, and got back into law enforcement with a new a new perspective from the Lord. And it was really a perspective of where I got from Romans 13, where it talks about how we are ministers in uniform, all those in authority are God's ministers in uniform.
And so I went back into it with the mindset that I was God's minister in uniform, not just enforcing the laws of the land, the code of Virginia, but I was the light of Jesus going into these dark situations that only law enforcement is placed in. So this ministry was birthed out of that division of law enforcement, realizing God's call on their life, not just to come into relationship with Jesus, but then to use that relationship within their realm of authority as a police officer. And so I started this ministry in, I believe it was fall of 2021 and had it ever since.
[00:03:08] Speaker C: So how does Operation Bless the Blue page play into that?
[00:03:12] Speaker B: So Operation Bless the Blue is an outreach within Weapons of Righteousness Ministries.
I'm no longer in law enforcement, so I worked for the Appenitas County Sheriff's Office for two years. And during that time I was holding Bible studies with, with officers here in this area.
And I was really using my, my personal experience as a law enforcement officer. So I was creating video testimonials from body cam footage of me personally, how I would bring the light of Jesus into these situations with these individuals that I was interacting with. And so on our website, weapons of righteousness.org I actually have multiple video testimonials of me ministering to individuals through my body cam footage.
And so the, the vision is that law enforcement officers capture that vision of not only coming into relationship with Jesus, but then taking that relationship into their job and recognizing that they're called to be a minister of God in uniform, not just for the locality physically, but spiritually, bringing that into their role. And so I wanted to walk that out and display that, be an example of what that would look like.
And so Operation Bless the Blue was started in, I believe it was Christmas of 2022 was the first time that I did this.
It was really just started just as, you know, something the Lord put in my heart of just wanting to bless and encourage the deputies that I was working with at Appomatto county, the sheriff's office here.
And so it started out just with the department I was working for. It was 36 off our deputies, full time deputies and part time deputies. And I wanted to do something for Christmas not only to monetarily bless them, give them a gift, but also to, to share the gospel of Jesus, the, the whole reason for Christmas, the greatest gift ever given to mankind. And so that's kind of what birthed Operation Bless the Blue. And it grew from there to the next year I incorporated dispatchers into it. And so I did the dispatchers and deputies at Appomattox. And then at that point we had actually moved back out to Colorado. I was offered a job opportunity at the college I had graduated from. So I included Woodland Park Police Department in that as well.
And then the year after that we added two more departments. We had Campbell County Sheriff's Office and then we had a Tower County Sheriff's Office.
And this year we've added the Lynchburg.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Police that is Taylor Clark, the founder of Weapons of Righteousness. To find out more about their work in supporting police officers and dispatchers, visit weaponsofrighteousness.org we'll continue with Taylor in a minute.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: It's good for your family.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: That's a big thing, too. Oh, yeah, I have kids.
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[00:06:32] Speaker C: Mark Edwards, back with you. This week we are featuring the organization Weapons of Righteousness and a program that they have called Operation Bless the Blue. And this is a ministry and outreach to police officers and dispatchers. Taylor Clark is the founder of Weapons of Righteousness. I do want to let you know that this portion of the program deals with some of the struggles and challenges that police officers face. So if you have young children listening, be aware of that.
Taylor, as a former police officer yourself, you are very much aware of how the job can impact somebody, whether that's psychologically, emotionally, and it can really take a toll on an officer's personal life and on the lives of their family.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Well, I'll say this both for police officers or law enforcement in general, but also for dispatchers, too.
You know, in second Peter 2. 7, it talks about how righteous lot his soul was vexed by the unrighteousness, the wickedness that he saw in Sodom by what he saw and he heard.
And so that's really the spiritual danger that comes along with the job of being a law enforcement officer, but also being a dispatcher.
The I've had some people ask me, well, why did I include dispatchers? And dispatchers are really the first responder to the majority of the calls. They're taking the call on the line and they're hearing oftentimes people being assaulted, they're hearing people sometimes being killed on the phone. They're hearing officers, their last words, sometimes before they die. So they're here. They might not be there physically, but they are hearing these things, which is emotionally very draining and traumatic for individuals, especially over a long period of time.
So I think everyone knows of the physical dangers that come along with being a law enforcement officer.
But that doesn't just impact the law enforcement officer, it impacts also their family as well.
My father was a police officer for 11 years, and so I come from a unique perspective of growing up in a, in a home where My father was a police officer, so I was the one at home while my dad was at work.
And then also being a police officer, myself and my wife having to be at home with the kids while I'm at work. And so one of the biggest dangers is just the things that you experience on your shift, hardening your heart, a hard heart is very dangerous because it affects your family life, it can affect your communication with your spouse. That's one thing that affected me while I was working with Lynchburg Police Department was I didn't communicate with my spouse what was happening to me at work. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to rehash those things that I had just been exposed to at work. And so when she would ask me, how was your day?
You know, I would just say, fine, it was good. And meanwhile, she's having to wash clothes that are covered in mud or blood or.
And she, you know, she doesn't know what happened on the shift. And I didn't want to talk about it. And so that is a big danger because that often leads to divorce, that often leads to officers, you know, some officers self medicating.
One of the.
One of the primary ways that officers die within the US And I don't know if the public really knows this or not, but there's more officers annually that on average take their own lives every year than are killed in the line of duty.
And I believe that's because of the darkness that law enforcement is exposed to shift after shift, after shift, without recognizing, even if they are a believer, without recognizing what they've been given, the armor of God to stand against the darkness that they're exposed to and guard their heart against these things from hardening it.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: What do you want? Operation Bless the Blue. What do you want? Weapons of righteousness. All ultimately to be for police officers. There's the ministry aspect of that, obviously, but how do you want to impact lives?
[00:11:09] Speaker B: So the primary where most of my time right now is going, since I'm not doing this full time, I'm not in law enforcement anymore, is Operation Bless the Blue.
And what I love about this outreach, and I'm so thankful the Lord kind of put this vision in my heart, is, you know, Christmas time is a very unique time of year.
It's where individuals who would not be open to hearing the gospel are open to hearing it at this time of year. And so the vision of Operation Bless the Blue is not only just to thank and encourage law enforcement with a monetary gift, but it's Also to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with every officer and every dispatch dispatcher within the US And I know that's a, that's a huge vision, but I've heard it said many times that if, if your vision, the vision God gives you can be fulfilled by your own strength, the vision's too small. And so that is truly the vision number one is that officers, every officer, the, the light of Jesus is exposed to that officer and they have an opportunity to be born again through that message being received in these gifts. And it says in Proverbs that a man's gift makes room for them. It brings them before great or important people.
And so I believe these gifts, when they're received by these officers, it opens up a door in their heart for them to receive a message that they might have not been willing to receive before. And I just, I want law enforcement to experience the abundant life that's in Christ and to walk in victory even though they're facing very difficult situations on a daily basis. To be able to walk in victory over those and to know their calling in Christ, that they don't have to do this alone. They can walk in the strength and power that comes along with knowing the caller, the one who called them into that line of work.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: Today on the Hometown Journal, we are talking with Taylor Clark. Taylor is the founder of Weapons of Righteousness and their outreach to police officers and dispatchers, Operation Bless the Blue. You can find out more about the work that they are doing@ Weaponsofrighteousness.org and when we come back, we'll tell you how you can get involved in encouraging and supporting law enforcement.
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[00:14:12] Speaker C: Hometown Journal Mark Edwards, back with you. Today we are talking with Taylor Clark Taylor is the founder of the organization, the ministry Weapons of Righteousness and the special outreach that they have to police officers and dispatchers. It is called Operation Bless the Blue.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: So yeah, with the Weapons of Righteousness side of it, when I was in law enforcement I had a lot of opportunities to talk one on one with officers and when I was having the devotionals that I was holding, there was a good Response there. And since starting Operation Bless the Blue, I've received a lot of good responses from individuals reaching out to me personally after receiving the gift. Officers and deputies that I've never met before but received the gift at that locality that have been very thankful for it, blessed by it, encouraged by it, and I could tell made an impact on their lives. And obviously the leadership at each department has been very thankful for the.
The community support that has been displayed through the outreach. And that's one of the goals, is that the officers know and understand that their community backs them, their community is for them, not against them, and that there are people that are out there that support them, which is not sometimes the case with the people they deal with on a normal regular basis.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Taylor, I want to give you an opportunity as we wrap up today to let people know how they can find out more about Weapons of Righteousness and then Operation Bless the Blue.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Yes, sir, absolutely. I appreciate it. Yeah. So the easiest way would be to go to our website, weapons of righteousness.org that'll bring you to the homepage. And then right at the top there, there's a link to go to Operation Bless the Blue. And like I said, that's the main. That's the most active part of this ministry is Operation Bless the Blue. I start preparing for that about six months before Christmas. And in this upcoming next year, my vision for next year is to reach 1,000 officers and deputies.
So to continually add more and more departments. And so what that requires is the people and the churches and the businesses in these communities to rise up.
So each officer and dispatcher, they get a package that includes a gift card. This year, that gift card, that's a $50 gift card to Thin Blue Line USA, which is who's partnered with us this year, they get a book. And that book this year is called Unconquered. It was written by Adam Davis, which was a prior law enforcement officer.
And then they'll also get an encouraging letter from a law enforcement supporter and then a Christmas card from the ministry itself where I write a message in there for the officers and dispatchers as.
And so that's what each gift package contains. And yeah, this year we're doing 517 of them.
[00:17:21] Speaker C: There's also an opportunity for some volunteer work when it comes to just writing letters to officers.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Yes, that's actually one of the hardest parts to fulfill each year is the letter part and all. It really is. There's more information on the website about how to do this. It's a three to four sentence letter that will go to an individual that the person just specifies whether they want it going to a law enforcement officer or to a dispatcher. And it's just that it's their opportunity as a community member to express their thankfulness for that officer or dispatcher and to give some encouragement. They can include a verse. They can, you know, whatever they feel like the Lord is leading them to write to that officer or dispatcher, they can share that. Now I proofread those and I make sure they're going to bless that officer, obviously, or that dispatcher.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: That is Taylor Clark. Taylor is the founder of the organization, the ministry Weapons of Righteousness. And if you would like to find out more about the work that they are doing in supporting our law enforcement community and dispatchers as well, the website is weaponsofrighteousness.org that's weaponsofrighteousness.org I'm Mark Edwards. Thank you for being with us for the Hometown Journal.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: You've been listening to the Journey Hometown Journal. If you're a part of an organization or know of one in the communities we serve and would like to be considered as a guest, please make your request at myjourneyfm.com email officemyjourneyfm.com or call 800-424-9594. The Hometown Journal is a presentation of the Journey.
