Keeping the Chaplain's door open.
Veterans Chaplaincy is a non-denominational community of veterans, their families, chaplains, and others who believe that service is part of being a disciple of Christ — walking together through faith, service, and recovery in Northern California.
We exist to carry the Good News to warrior-spirited veterans — and to their neighbors — by meeting people exactly where they are, and by meeting the practical need first so the door to the spiritual one can open.
From the first days of bootcamp, service members are trained to go to their Chaplain when they are struggling. That instinct does not go away when the uniform comes off — but the Chaplain often does. Under financial pressures in the secular world, many chaplaincy programs have been cut back or rendered ineffective, and veterans are left reaching for a door that is no longer there.
We keep that door open, and we build a bridge between military chaplaincy and the civilian church so that no veteran walks alone.
A word from Chaplain Tom
“I served in the U.S. Navy from 2002 to 2015, deploying at sea and to Afghanistan. Today I serve as a team of one — offering peer support, spiritual mentoring, prayer, and counsel to veterans and their families, at no cost. I have seen the Lord's power to restore through love, grace, and community, and my calling is simple: to be a brother who shows up. We partner with any church or outreach willing to serve alongside us.”
— Chaplain Tom Hayward, Founder & Chaplain
Outreach is where the connections happen
Raising awareness of the issues facing veterans while, at the same time, carrying God's love to those in need.
Over the last year and a half I have had the privilege of serving at many outreach events alongside many different organizations. What I learned is simple: every event puts me shoulder to shoulder with other veterans, with unhoused neighbors, and with people who would never walk through the doors of a church. By operating strong outreach ministries under one chaplaincy, we reach far more people than any one of them could alone.
What God has laid on my heart is a long-forgotten early Christian tradition — what I call “Soup and Prayer” ministry. Pre-Constantinian Christianity was defined by generosity. Where there was hunger, Christians brought food; where there were orphans, they built orphanages. They did not wait to be asked, and they did not serve only their own. The witness was the work.
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
The warehouse
The outreach ministries operate out of a small warehouse that serves as our storehouse. It is a shared ministry space, made available to other churches and outreach organizations who want to help Veterans Chaplaincy carry out its missions.
Everything in the warehouse belongs to God. We simply have the privilege of caring for His resources so they can bless as many people as possible.
Our operating model