WEBVTT 1 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:26.600 Hello and welcome to Word and Work an Intersection. 2 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:28.400 I'm your host Dale Meyer. 3 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:32.400 This hour will talk with Noah the Comfort dog. 4 00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:35.900 Well actually will talk with his humans. 5 00:00:35.900 --> 00:00:36.500 Dr. 6 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:38.800 Glenn Nelson and his wife Sue Nielsen. 7 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:40.200 Dr. 8 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.000 Nielsen is a professor of practical theology on our Concordia Seminary 9 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:44.300 faculty. 10 00:00:44.300 --> 00:00:48.900 Welcome Glenn and Sue and O' welcome to you. 11 00:00:48.900 --> 00:00:49.700 Noah. 12 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:53.400 One of the things we like to do here at Word and Work is find out about 13 00:00:53.400 --> 00:00:54.000 our guest. 14 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.900 So would you just tell us about yourselves. 15 00:00:55.900 --> 00:00:57.400 Where where did you grow up? 16 00:00:57.400 --> 00:01:00.600 How did you meet? I grew up in Central, Wisconsin. 17 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:06.900 We went to college together at Valparaiso and we met at the chapel. 18 00:01:07.100 --> 00:01:11.100 That's appropriate. I was head of the ushering staff and Sue 19 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:14.300 volunteered to be an usher and she volunteered to do the 8 o'clock service 20 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:14.900 with me. 21 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:20.000 So it's just the two of us and well things blossom after that. 22 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.600 I've been here at the Seminary since 1990. 23 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:26.500 So I just pasted 30 years here at the Seminary. 24 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:30.500 I've been a Director of Vicarage and the last three years that Director of 25 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:35.100 Placement plus a few other classes I teach and homiletics in 26 00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:35.800 communication. 27 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:40.000 I have to tell the audience Glenn is one of the hardest-working profs 28 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.900 we have and most of our profs work hard but you put in long hours with 29 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:46.700 vicarage and placement duties. 30 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:53.600 Sue. I grew up in Chicago and I'm a retired nurse I used to work for 31 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:58.700 the Missouri Regional Poison Control Center and retired about a year 32 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:08.600 ago and now I spend my time with grandkids and with Noah. Where in Chicago? South suburbs 33 00:02:08.600 --> 00:02:16.200 Chicago Heights, Park Forest. Yes, I know that because I grew up in Chicago Heights. Okay. Yeah, that's Home 34 00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:20.400 territory and Park Forest at that time was just a brand new developed 35 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.000 community. 36 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:24.000 How many grandchildren do you have? We have 3. 37 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.800 We have a granddaughter Lana 38 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:34.100 who's 12 almost 13. Grandson Grayson who's 9 and then our youngest Vera 39 00:02:34.100 --> 00:02:35.200 is 4 months. 40 00:02:35.200 --> 00:02:39.600 That's great and grandkids are a real real delight. 41 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:42.200 How do you hook up with Noah? 42 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:49.000 We began at Timothy with an opening meeting and asked if there are 43 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.100 people that would like to be involved in a Comfort Dog Ministry. 44 00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:54.400 Timothy being? Timothy Lutheran Church here in St. 45 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:54.600 Louis. 46 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:57.800 That's where we are members but to get to that spot 47 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:01.700 I'm going to turn it over to sue because she saw something happen and 48 00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:11.200 said we need to comfort dog. There was an article that MSNBC did on the Comfort 49 00:03:11.200 --> 00:03:16.700 dogs when they were deployed to Sandy Hook and watching what the dogs 50 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:18.900 were doing for the Sandy Hook Community. 51 00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:22.100 I said we need this here. 52 00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:27.500 And so we got in contact with Lutheran Church Charities the parent 53 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:32.200 organization and to find out how we would get started with this and 54 00:03:32.200 --> 00:03:34.800 how we would get the ball rolling to get a comfort dog. 55 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.600 If it's not the easiest thing to do you have to go through some hoops 56 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:39.900 to do it. 57 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:43.900 I mean for the sake of the dog in for the sake of the reputation of 58 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:47.200 the church, but you went through all those hoops obviously and did it. 59 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:51.700 We had to get financial support which we did we did get a grant from 60 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:56.200 Lutheran Foundation which helped us in in raising the money for 61 00:03:56.200 --> 00:03:56.600 Noah. 62 00:03:56.600 --> 00:03:59.500 We had to put together a Ministry plan. 63 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:04.600 So make sure that we knew kind of some of the things that we wanted to 64 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:09.300 do with Noah and then we had to have a primary and secondary 65 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:12.900 caregivers a top dog who's in charge of the ministry. 66 00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:26.100 And a vet and a groomer lined up for when we got our dog. Noah you got quit a life. He has quit a support staff. All your people your handlers. 67 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:29.900 Did Noah come to your trained or was that something you worked on 68 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:35.500 together? Lutheran Church Charities trains all the dogs anywhere from 69 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:38.000 13-14 months, 70 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.100 that's the earliest up to two years. 71 00:04:40.100 --> 00:04:45.700 It's usually about 18 months and then they will place the dogs into 72 00:04:45.700 --> 00:04:48.900 congregations or institutions. Noah is not our dog 73 00:04:48.900 --> 00:04:51.800 he actually belongs to Timothy Lutheran church, but Lutheran Church 74 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:58.200 Charities has their own trainers and then during the week the dogs stay 75 00:04:58.200 --> 00:04:59.600 with volunteer trainers. 76 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:04.200 They are not paid the volunteer trainers and they work through all the 77 00:05:04.200 --> 00:05:06.700 commands and usually about 18 months, 78 00:05:07.700 --> 00:05:11.900 into the training, they started two months, they start at two months 79 00:05:11.900 --> 00:05:12.700 with the dogs. 80 00:05:12.700 --> 00:05:16.400 And so most of dogs come out at a year-and-a-half to two years. 81 00:05:17.900 --> 00:05:20.900 One of the great blessings is from my perspective 82 00:05:20.900 --> 00:05:26.900 since you're a prof here active on campus iit's no surprise when 83 00:05:26.900 --> 00:05:31.300 Noah is here. You know that I think you do all the work but we think of 84 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:34.700 Noah as yes also our comfort dog. Right. 85 00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:42.900 So when he began at Timothy Lutheran in August of 2014, I actually 86 00:05:42.900 --> 00:05:46.000 asked your permission I said could we have the Comfort dog 87 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:46.700 come on campus? 88 00:05:46.700 --> 00:05:48.300 I'm not sure you gave permission. 89 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:51.600 I think Diane gave permission and sure enough 90 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.300 we had Noah and then a year later you were able get Esther at your 91 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:58.400 church at Holy Cross in Collinsville. There is a cute story about getting 92 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:01.700 Esther the Holy Cross Collinsville just across river 93 00:06:01.700 --> 00:06:04.700 where Diane and I belong. Diane has always loved dogs. 94 00:06:04.700 --> 00:06:09.000 So I'm sitting at home here at the Seminary campus and Diane is at a 95 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.900 preliminary meeting about getting a comfort dog for Holy Cross 96 00:06:11.900 --> 00:06:12.500 Collinsville. 97 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:16.500 She calls up and she says could we donate some money to this? 98 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:24.000 I said yeah I guess so, about a hundred dollars she said no, I was thinking of 99 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:29.100 more than that. So we have Esther and we love this program. 100 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:31.700 What's the mission of the Comfort dog program? 101 00:06:31.700 --> 00:06:37.100 Well Lutheran Church Charity describes it as a comfort dog is to show 102 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:44.000 the compassion, the mercy the presence and the proclamation of Jesus 103 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:49.500 Christ to those who are hurting or in need through our congregations 104 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:54.800 or institutions that have a comfort dog. And so compassion mercy, 105 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.300 presence and then proclamation of Jesus for those who are really 106 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:04.900 hurting. Now what we found out is that Noah can go to any 107 00:07:04.900 --> 00:07:08.000 variety places not just people who are really hurting or need. 108 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.700 So when he's at church on Sunday mornings our congregational members 109 00:07:12.700 --> 00:07:13.400 greet him like 110 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:16.000 and it feel better. 111 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.200 Let's just put it that way. 112 00:07:17.200 --> 00:07:19.800 He goes to classrooms. 113 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:26.100 We make presentations around town, but the primary purpose was to show 114 00:07:26.100 --> 00:07:28.900 compassion bring comfort show mercy. 115 00:07:30.200 --> 00:07:35.500 In the name of and when we have opportunity to show Jesus as well. And 116 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:38.500 I think Noah can do that 117 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:44.700 sometimes it's better than human beings can. When when we're 118 00:07:44.700 --> 00:07:51.200 at a place like a hospital or or when we take him to a store people 119 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:56.200 who would never give us an opportunity to say anything to them will 120 00:07:56.200 --> 00:07:59.600 suddenly stopped us and want a pet Noah. And will start up a 121 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:04.200 conversation with us and in the hospital that sometimes will lead to a 122 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:07.800 prayer or will be invited into somebody else's room. 123 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:09.000 We went to see one person. 124 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:11.800 Oh, Noah, is taking a look 125 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:12.800 he wants to say hello to you. 126 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.400 All right. 127 00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:14.200 What do you know? 128 00:08:14.200 --> 00:08:15.800 Why do you think I need a prayer? 129 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:18.100 I sure do. 130 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:19.800 Love you. 131 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:28.400 Please pet me the sign says. What's the difference between a comfort 132 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:29.400 dog and a service dog? 133 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:36.299 Comfort dogs are not actual service dogs they are trained on the level of a 134 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:36.900 service dog. 135 00:08:36.900 --> 00:08:41.400 So they have the amount of hours of training that a normal service dog 136 00:08:41.400 --> 00:08:50.200 would have. A service dog though is as a dog that that assist one 137 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:55.400 individual so it may be a seeing eye dog get maybe a wheelchair assist 138 00:08:55.400 --> 00:08:55.700 dog. 139 00:08:55.700 --> 00:09:01.500 It may be a diabetic alert dog, but they are their focus and their 140 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:07.600 work is for that one person. Comfort dogs comfort a variety of of 141 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:11.700 people so they are considered working dogs. 142 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:16.300 So he is kind of its own little category 143 00:09:16.300 --> 00:09:23.200 so to speak.A therapy dog is usually somebody's pet who doesn't have 144 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.700 quite as much training as these Comfort dogs do but we'll do some of 145 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:30.500 the same things will 146 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:34.900 go in and comfort or make hospital visits and that that they are somebody's 147 00:09:34.900 --> 00:09:42.000 pet with less training then what Noah has. For along time Diane and I had Ferdie, short for Ferdinand, 148 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.000 and he was not trained but these Golden's have the instinct to do what 149 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.800 you were describing and Ferdie was a great Ambassador on campus 150 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:54.300 as you know with that there'd be a group of of of adults or children 151 00:09:54.300 --> 00:09:59.300 he go right into the crowd and and draw them to himself and just just 152 00:09:59.300 --> 00:09:59.700 be there 153 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:03.700 so this is wonderful. One place 154 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:09.600 we were at it's called Stepping Stones and we were there with Esther 155 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.000 a Comfort dog 156 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:16.400 and then also Sheba Comfort dog from Immanuel in Washington, Missouri 157 00:10:16.400 --> 00:10:19.200 and Zilla Comfort dog from Immanuel in St. Charles. 158 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.100 The other dog in St. 159 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:23.000 Louis area is Taby St. 160 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:27.200 Paul De Pere. But we have four dogs at the Stepping Stones this year 161 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:29.900 the Stepping Stones is an opportunity for kids 162 00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:35.400 who have lost a loved one parent the grandparent and it's put on by 163 00:10:35.400 --> 00:10:39.300 our hospital Barnes Jewish Hospital and they bring 60 kids to Camp 164 00:10:39.300 --> 00:10:43.100 Wyman out in Eureka for a weekend help process their grief. 165 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:46.600 They asked the dogs to come on Friday night and they have a little 166 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.500 concert for the kids and then they have a ceremony around a swimming 167 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:55.200 pool where they release boats and that's a very emotional time for the 168 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.200 kids because it's sort of letting their grief and loved one 169 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:03.300 go on this boat into the swimming pool. And we were with preteen girls 170 00:11:03.300 --> 00:11:07.700 this year and Noah got up and went over to one of the girls because 171 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:13.600 she was really struggling with the grief and Noah is there for 172 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:18.200 a little bit but what will be open and say that we lost our son 173 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:23.900 Matthews two and a half years ago suddenly from a pulmonary embolism. 174 00:11:23.900 --> 00:11:29.500 And at this moment Sue was really feeling some of the grief come back 175 00:11:29.500 --> 00:11:30.100 upon her. 176 00:11:30.300 --> 00:11:35.600 We're watching all this happen for the kids and Noah got up and left 177 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:40.800 the person and came over to Sue and put his head on her lap because he 178 00:11:40.800 --> 00:11:42.100 could sense that 179 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:46.200 she was really struggling at that moment with her own grief as we are 180 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:47.900 trying to tab Noah with the other kids. 181 00:11:47.900 --> 00:11:51.600 These are God's creatures and one of the things I've learned from the 182 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:57.200 Comfort Dog Ministry is these are God's creatures and and he made them 183 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:01.100 among other things to do comfort like this. 184 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:04.500 What is a normal week look like for Mr. 185 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:04.700 Noah? 186 00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:12.500 We have six Adult Day Care Centers that we take him to so usually I'm 187 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:16.400 at at least one or two of them a week. 188 00:12:16.400 --> 00:12:31.400 We do one of our handlers visits Laclede Groves, a senior assisted living center, and we also do 189 00:12:31.400 --> 00:12:32.800 hospital visits to St. 190 00:12:32.800 --> 00:12:37.000 Mary's he visits the radiation oncology and the chemotherapy infusion 191 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:42.900 centers. Is that a standing appointment? He does that every Thursday morning. 192 00:12:42.900 --> 00:12:47.800 We may have a school visit in there somewhere where we may be visiting 193 00:12:47.800 --> 00:12:50.800 a specific class or the whole school. 194 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:00.200 Church services, not only Sunday mornings, but Wednesday Lenten and 195 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:05.000 Advent services and any special Christmas, Easter, New Year's. 196 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:08.800 I don't know Noah I talked about how hard the faculty works with you 197 00:13:08.800 --> 00:13:13.900 probably work harder than all of us. So if he doesn't have 198 00:13:13.900 --> 00:13:18.100 something on one day that's when I bring him to the Seminary and 199 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:21.100 I'll walk him around to the various offices and have them with me and 200 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:22.900 we also have students who have been trained. 201 00:13:22.900 --> 00:13:24.800 So each year 202 00:13:24.800 --> 00:13:29.400 we have a student down in the Woods and that student will take him to 203 00:13:29.400 --> 00:13:33.800 classes or Chapel or walking around the woods for some of the family's 204 00:13:33.800 --> 00:13:39.500 down there who might need Noah to visit with them as well. He usually has 205 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:42.700 anywhere from one to three visits a day. 206 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:48.200 So he doesn't do things on Saturday and seldom on Sunday, but he'll 207 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:53.900 probably be at anywhere from I'd say 12 to 15 different places during the 208 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.400 week. It's a Ministry of presence. And and it's not just Sue and myself 209 00:13:58.400 --> 00:14:02.500 because they're Golden's Golden's have this ability to go to different 210 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:02.900 people. 211 00:14:02.900 --> 00:14:06.700 So we have trained handlers at Timothy eight or nine of them. 212 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:09.500 So different handlers will take him to different places 213 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:13.600 throughout the week. So Noah is comfortable with being with 214 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:19.700 different handlers. Oh yes. In fact when we're at an event and say I'm there by myself 215 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:27.800 with Noah and wear with Esther and Mary who's might be there with 216 00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:31.000 another handler and not say I have to leave and go somewhere for a 217 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.500 second Noah be comfortable being with Mary as well. 218 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:38.800 All the handlers are trained uniformly so that the dogs are very 219 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:41.500 comfortable with anybody who's been trained to handle them. 220 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:42.600 Well, that's great. 221 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:47.600 How many Comfort dogs are there in the St Louis area? Well you mentioned that before. We have 5 222 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:53.500 but then we also have one in Concordia, Missouri 223 00:14:53.900 --> 00:14:56.600 3 hours and there's one down in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin. 224 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:03.400 Yeah, and then we have we've got a couple of congregations 225 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:04.600 waiting one down in Springfield. 226 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:09.200 And then one at Christ the King in Lake Ozark and we have a 227 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:13.300 congregation up in the Springfield, Illinois area that has a dog and 228 00:15:13.300 --> 00:15:17.500 one down in Memphis, Tennessee and Charleston, Illinois. 229 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:21.500 So these are all the ones that are we could immediately gathere 230 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:25.700 together for a large deployment if we needed to because there is a 231 00:15:25.700 --> 00:15:29.500 disaster or a school shooting or something that. You mentioned Sandy 232 00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:35.300 Hook and Joplin and and our comfort dogs went they were deployed. 233 00:15:35.300 --> 00:15:35.800 Correct? 234 00:15:35.800 --> 00:15:37.400 Yes. Yeah the Comfort Dogs did but that was before Noah was born 235 00:15:37.400 --> 00:15:50.200 Sandy Hook was. But Joplin got their dogs because of the tornado 236 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:53.900 the dogs came down and then they left Louis and 237 00:15:53.900 --> 00:16:00.600 Jackson there after a week and they were trained. Jackson has since 238 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:06.400 passed and Louis is semi-retired but still making visits. Just like a 239 00:16:06.400 --> 00:16:08.200 pastor they retire but keep on making visit. 240 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:20.700 Exactly. Now if you talk about deployments out of the area I took Noah down for 5 days after the flooding in Baton Rouge along 241 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:24.200 with Tabby Comfort dog, and there's four other dogs there and Sue had 242 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:27.300 an interesting visit deployment as well. 243 00:16:27.300 --> 00:16:33.300 We deployed a little over 2 years ago to Benton, Kentucky to Marshall County High School. 244 00:16:33.300 --> 00:16:38.200 They had a shooting their two kids were killed 17 were wounded. 245 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:43.900 We were there the following week once the day that the kids came 246 00:16:43.900 --> 00:16:48.100 back to school and the shooting happened in the Commons area. 247 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:56.500 And when the kids came back to school they were really afraid to go 248 00:16:56.500 --> 00:17:00.300 into the commons area cuz that's where everything happened. And so we 249 00:17:00.300 --> 00:17:04.400 made sure that the days that we were there we had dogs in the commons 250 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:10.800 and that was how some of the kids were able to go back into the 251 00:17:10.800 --> 00:17:13.400 commons because only because the dogs were there. 252 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:14.900 Wow, wow, that's awesome. 253 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:20.300 How can how can a member of the audience find out more about Comfort 254 00:17:20.300 --> 00:17:20.599 Dog Ministry? 255 00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:24.700 Well, Noah is on Facebook. 256 00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:28.099 He has his own Facebook page Noah Comfort dog. 257 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:31.000 So if you go on Facebook and just type into a comfort dog his page 258 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:34.500 will come up and there was a little message spot there. 259 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:37.900 We also have a little gift for you right now. 260 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:41.800 He has his own business card 261 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:47.200 and but because that I don't have a business, he now also has his 262 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:53.200 own dog tag and so-and-so there's his picture in this dog tag and on 263 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.000 the back and just talks about Timothy Lutheran Church, and if they 264 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.700 want to get ahold of us, they can call the church at 314781 265 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:07.800 8673 again, 781-8673 but the easiest thing is to go on his Facebook 266 00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:09.400 page and just send us a message. 267 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:13.200 We respond to those within a day. I didn't realize Noah was such an 268 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:18.000 entrepreneur Facebook got his own bling, well 269 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:18.500 Thank you. 270 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:25.500 This has been fascinating and I hope you're enjoying and learning as much as I am. 271 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:28.800 We're going to take a short break now, but please stay with us. 272 00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:31.200 Concordia Seminary St. 273 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:36.000 Louis provides continuing education resources for pastors and Lay 274 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.600 people to discover all the Concordia Seminary has for you. 275 00:18:39.600 --> 00:18:43.600 Visit us on the web at CSL. 276 00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:44.400 EDU. 277 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:51.400 Welcome back to Word and Work an Intersection on your host Dale Meyer 278 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:52.200 today. 279 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:53.600 Our guests are Dr. 280 00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:55.700 Glenn Nielsen and his wife Sue. 281 00:18:55.700 --> 00:19:01.600 They have brought along Noah the Comfort dog or did Noah bring you and 282 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:04.600 we're learning all about the Comfort dog program. 283 00:19:04.600 --> 00:19:06.600 This is this is just wonderful. 284 00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:07.800 I appreciate it. 285 00:19:07.800 --> 00:19:10.000 And you know, my wife is a dog lover 286 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.600 so she'll enjoy a listening of this program. 287 00:19:13.600 --> 00:19:19.200 What's the difference between compassion and evangelism in the 288 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.500 ministry of the Comfort dog? 289 00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:25.600 Some people talk about it as the mission of the church. 290 00:19:25.600 --> 00:19:34.600 It could be called that but we as believers as Christians want to 291 00:19:34.600 --> 00:19:39.100 show compassion and care to people even at those moments when we 292 00:19:39.100 --> 00:19:40.800 don't have an opportunity to share Jesus. 293 00:19:40.800 --> 00:19:47.700 So when we are out we may not be able to engage people into a full 294 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:50.800 conversation about Christ and his death and his resurrection. 295 00:19:50.800 --> 00:19:53.700 So it's the compassion Ministry at that point. 296 00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:57.300 We're bringing the dogs to them. 297 00:19:57.300 --> 00:19:59.400 So they can feel better. 298 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:05.200 It's an opportunity for all of us as handlers to be a presence in 299 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:05.900 people's lives. 300 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:10.500 They know we're from the church and then I'm occasion were able to say 301 00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:15.900 a prayer with somebody but evangelism usually calls for a greater and 302 00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:17.800 ongoing relationship with people. 303 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:22.400 The way that happens is through his Facebook page. 304 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:26.800 So we'll put pictures up of Noah that are fun pictures. 305 00:20:26.800 --> 00:20:30.800 Like he's outside playing will have pictures of a visit and you just 306 00:20:30.800 --> 00:20:32.500 show where he's at that day. 307 00:20:32.500 --> 00:20:37.500 But there are number of posts that we put up that might be about 308 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:38.000 Easter. 309 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:42.000 He's up at the altar in front of Timothy and we'll talk about Christ's 310 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.300 Resurrection or we'll have a Thanksgiving and we'll mention how we're 311 00:20:46.300 --> 00:20:48.300 thankful for what Christ has done for us. 312 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:54.800 So when we have those moments of putting something on Facebook and 313 00:20:54.800 --> 00:20:56.300 then Noah has 314 00:20:57.700 --> 00:21:00.200 About 3.400 followers. 315 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:08.300 Wow. So that is going to scroll by on people's pages and he'll reach 316 00:21:08.300 --> 00:21:11.500 people in many of these are very very dedicated followers. 317 00:21:11.500 --> 00:21:13.000 Many of them are probably Christian 318 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:17.200 so it's not evangelism as much but is as a building up of the Saints. 319 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:20.400 Have you gotten some responses from people who want to learn a little 320 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.600 bit more about the faith? 321 00:21:21.600 --> 00:21:27.700 We don't get those kind of responses back on on Facebook itself. 322 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:37.600 I'll give one moment where we had a picture of Noah on Facebook and we 323 00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:42.200 got a response on a comment underneath the Facebook post that said 324 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.100 Noah came to visit me when I was at St. 325 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:46.700 Mary's getting cancer treatments. 326 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:49.600 Even though a part of another denomination 327 00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:55.100 I want to give great thanks to Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod for 328 00:21:55.100 --> 00:21:56.600 having this Comfort dog program. 329 00:21:56.600 --> 00:22:01.800 So we'll get comments like that and we have opportunities we make 330 00:22:01.800 --> 00:22:04.800 these presentations to the Lions Club of the Rotary. 331 00:22:04.800 --> 00:22:10.800 We are able to bring in the message of Jesus Christ to these groups 332 00:22:10.800 --> 00:22:12.600 when seldom would they have heard it 333 00:22:12.600 --> 00:22:17.100 otherwise. You were mentioning during our break that Noah is not just a 334 00:22:17.100 --> 00:22:21.200 church ministry at Timothy, but really a community Ministry. 335 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:27.800 We most of Noah's time is actually spent out in the community. 336 00:22:27.800 --> 00:22:35.800 He spends really a fairly small portion at Timothy or here at the 337 00:22:35.800 --> 00:22:40.800 Seminary, but we're out visiting Adult Day Care Centers were visiting 338 00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:44.100 hospitals were visiting urgent care centers were visiting 339 00:22:45.100 --> 00:22:46.700 all different kinds of places. 340 00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:51.000 So the majority of his work is out in the community. Funeral 341 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:59.200 visitations funerals that's become one of the major activities for the 342 00:22:59.200 --> 00:22:59.800 comfort dogs 343 00:22:59.800 --> 00:23:04.300 now this funeral visitations and going to schools where there is a 344 00:23:04.300 --> 00:23:07.800 child has died in the classroom or child's parent has died. 345 00:23:07.800 --> 00:23:14.600 And so we are more and more being invited into schools public schools 346 00:23:14.600 --> 00:23:20.600 Lutheran Schools to bring the dogs in after a really sad event. 347 00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:25.600 It's much less now natural disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes is 348 00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:32.800 involved in to funeral visitations and school visits, but he is he is 349 00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:37.200 really out in the community quite a bit. And we have we have magnets on 350 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:41.900 our cars and our van and so we might be in a parking lot and 351 00:23:41.900 --> 00:23:44.100 somebody will say I know Noah 352 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:51.100 they don't know us but they know Noah. They just see that magnet. We were talking about 353 00:23:51.100 --> 00:23:57.300 evangelism and compassion and I have heard people talk about 354 00:23:57.300 --> 00:24:02.200 pre evangelism and in my knowledge of the scriptures, there is no category 355 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:03.200 called pre evangelism. 356 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:08.600 It's called is love with no ulterior purpose is to show the love of 357 00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:14.000 Christ that compassion and thank God if it leads to discussion about 358 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.900 Jesus, but that that's not the immediate purpose 359 00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:22.800 it's just a show the love.Right. The dogs do not discriminate 360 00:24:22.800 --> 00:24:28.400 they have no bias that they show an unconditional love for anybody 361 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:33.800 that comes to them and as handlers one of the things that we've been 362 00:24:33.800 --> 00:24:39.700 trying to do is to let the dog do the work, but then be available for 363 00:24:39.700 --> 00:24:43.300 prayers for conversation, but particularly to listen to people's 364 00:24:43.300 --> 00:24:44.300 stories. 365 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:50.300 To be at a funeral and to listen to the kids talk about a 366 00:24:50.300 --> 00:24:55.800 classmate that just died but it's a very safe place for people with 367 00:24:55.800 --> 00:24:59.900 the dog and then they trust us because we're with the dog we're 368 00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:03.400 handlers. You know with our dog Ferde we could tell when Ferde was 369 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.800 happy and pleased about something and also when he was not you see 370 00:25:07.800 --> 00:25:08.400 that with Noah? 371 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:15.500 Not as much anymore, but when I first got him if he was having a long 372 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:19.500 day, he will get do you have a little tell like he might start 373 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:24.800 nibbling on his leg a little bit or if he starts getting up and 374 00:25:24.800 --> 00:25:26.100 wanting to walk around a bit. 375 00:25:26.100 --> 00:25:27.500 That's when we know he needs a break. 376 00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:31.600 We don't try to have her have him go more than a couple hours at a 377 00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:36.000 time until he has a break water away from everybody. 378 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.100 I mean the dogs 379 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:41.600 receive a lot of attention. When we're at a school 380 00:25:41.600 --> 00:25:45.500 for example, he could have you could have six to eight kids around 381 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:45.800 him. 382 00:25:45.800 --> 00:25:50.900 All petting him at the same time and Sue is amazing when we're at these 383 00:25:50.900 --> 00:25:53.900 kids cuz she'll be right down there talking with the kids letting them 384 00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:58.400 pet him and carrying on a conversation with him. And she's she's got 385 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:03.300 six kids and Noah in front of her and but if you let that go on 4 or 386 00:26:03.300 --> 00:26:07.800 5 hours Noah's going to be antsy. Understandable dogs don't 387 00:26:07.800 --> 00:26:12.700 always have the stamina that human beings have you know. I'm 388 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:19.600 wondering does the presence of Noah Comfort dog cause physical changes 389 00:26:19.600 --> 00:26:28.200 in a person like like blood pressure? Well Sue's a nurse I'll let her talk about that. Studies have shown that when 390 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:31.300 you pet a dog get does lower your blood pressure it lowers your heart 391 00:26:31.300 --> 00:26:31.800 rate. 392 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:34.800 You just feel better. 393 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.200 I'm sure you know, I don't have a blood pressure cuff to take people's 394 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:43.600 blood pressures when we're we're visiting with them, but I firmly 395 00:26:43.600 --> 00:26:49.600 believe that. Heart rate goes down people smile more when we're at a 396 00:26:49.600 --> 00:26:53.000 kid's classroom and they are going through some grief because a 397 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.200 classmate has died. 398 00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:55.600 There's tears all over place 399 00:26:55.600 --> 00:26:59.000 we bring Noah in all of a sudden we've got smiles. But we'll give you a 400 00:26:59.000 --> 00:26:59.300 little demonstration here. 401 00:26:59.300 --> 00:27:05.100 Alright, alright, and for those of you who are listening on the radio 402 00:27:05.100 --> 00:27:09.200 Doctor Nielsen will describe what he's doing. 403 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:09.700 All right. So Noah is up. 404 00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:17.100 So let's say we want Noah to visit somebody he has a special 405 00:27:17.100 --> 00:27:19.600 command called visit and so I'm going to do that. Okay, Noah visit. 406 00:27:19.600 --> 00:27:26.200 And he will put his head right on your lap and then you can pet his head.Oh, that's nice nose head 407 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:30.500 is on my lap and I'm petting Noah and Noah's looking at Sue like it 408 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:35.900 who this guy? So we do that in case somebody's in a wheelchair. 409 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.200 There's another one we can do him North with me. 410 00:27:41.600 --> 00:27:42.300 Okay, Noah sit. 411 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:45.000 They're you go. So now 412 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:51.500 you can pet his head. Noah is sitting right next to me and 413 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:55.300 your fur is so clean. 414 00:27:55.300 --> 00:27:58.700 You must have had a shower or a bath. 415 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:06.400 He has a groomer once a month, but he is brushed everyday everyday so 416 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:17.400 it when people touch the ears are especially soft. I am going to do one quick command. This is called the lap 417 00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:32.600 in case somebody wants to give a hug. As in l a p lap. Noah lap. Oh, Noah jumped on my lap. 418 00:28:32.600 --> 00:28:36.100 Do you feel much weight from Noah? No. He's been trying to put his weight 419 00:28:36.100 --> 00:28:42.100 on his back feet so that people will not feel burdened or hurt 420 00:28:42.100 --> 00:28:43.500 especially if there's an older. 421 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:48.200 So this is just called to lap that allows them give a hug. 422 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:49.300 We're at a funeral visitation. 423 00:28:49.300 --> 00:28:54.600 I was able to do this for a woman who lost her niece who have been 424 00:28:54.600 --> 00:28:55.300 living with her. 425 00:28:58.300 --> 00:29:01.600 Okay Noah is off my lap and on down. 426 00:29:01.600 --> 00:29:02.400 Back to resting. 427 00:29:04.600 --> 00:29:10.300 And he knows, and he knows probably about 20 20 different 428 00:29:10.300 --> 00:29:10.800 commands. 429 00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:17.300 So you just seen visit, lap, sit, down, stay. 430 00:29:17.300 --> 00:29:24.100 There's a variety of to give you a quick and so if he when when it's 431 00:29:24.100 --> 00:29:24.900 time for him to eat. 432 00:29:26.100 --> 00:29:31.700 We put his food in a bowl and then he sits there and he does not get 433 00:29:31.700 --> 00:29:37.800 to go eat until we say go eat and that's one of the ways we train 434 00:29:37.800 --> 00:29:42.000 a little bit of this patience. We can switch him from side to side with 435 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:47.500 a command in case we need to have them on one side or the other but he 436 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:49.300 knows about 10 different commands. 437 00:29:49.300 --> 00:29:54.100 Now, not every golden retriever able to do this 438 00:29:54.100 --> 00:29:58.200 I think there are some who don't make the cut. Very few. 439 00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:04.400 But yeah, there are some that for one reason or another may not make 440 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.600 it through and those dogs are adopted out. 441 00:30:06.600 --> 00:30:11.000 You've had no up for like 5 5 and 1/2 years? 442 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:14.200 How is your relationship and the work 443 00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:15.500 evolved over that time? 444 00:30:16.800 --> 00:30:23.700 When we first submitted our ministry plan to LCC to Lutheran Church 445 00:30:23.700 --> 00:30:27.700 Charities within six months it looked completely different. 446 00:30:30.300 --> 00:30:33.600 Adult Day Care Centers were not on our radar screen at all. 447 00:30:33.600 --> 00:30:41.100 And we have one organization Young in Spirit who one of our pastors 448 00:30:41.100 --> 00:30:46.200 does a worship service for them on Mondays and told them all we have 449 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:47.200 this Comfort dog 450 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:49.800 would you like him to come visit? 451 00:30:49.800 --> 00:30:55.800 And so we found we started there about a month after we got Noah and 452 00:30:55.800 --> 00:31:00.700 it's been five and a half years now. And it's kind of grown by word of 453 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.600 mouth to include more Adult Day Care Centers. 454 00:31:04.600 --> 00:31:09.200 So that was completely off of our radar screen but a real important 455 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:15.300 Ministry that that we found with Noah. Another item that the visit that 456 00:31:15.300 --> 00:31:17.000 has been added just for the last year. 457 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:20.100 I'll let Sue talk about Club comfort. 458 00:31:20.600 --> 00:31:29.800 One of the top dogs for the dogs at Sandy Hook after they ended up 459 00:31:29.800 --> 00:31:34.800 spending five weeks there at Sandy Hook and left two dogs there 460 00:31:34.800 --> 00:31:38.100 permanently and have since placed to third one there. 461 00:31:38.100 --> 00:31:44.600 She was concerned about what happens after the dog visits. 462 00:31:44.600 --> 00:31:51.000 Is there somebody that's continuing to offer comfort for these people. 463 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:56.100 So she started something called called Club Comfort and it's for children 464 00:31:56.100 --> 00:32:04.400 in school Junior High, High School, Upper Elementary School. And they 465 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.600 talk about comfort and what are some ways that people can show Comfort. 466 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:15.300 What are ways the dog show comfort and then they make a little plaque for 467 00:32:16.100 --> 00:32:22.800 a person that made me hurting or struggling. And it has grown now to a 468 00:32:22.800 --> 00:32:27.600 national group and at Grace Chapel Lutheran Church 469 00:32:27.600 --> 00:32:30.700 there school had started a Club Comfort. 470 00:32:30.700 --> 00:32:35.500 So Noah and I are there on Tuesdays and we help the kids learn about 471 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:42.100 helping give comfort and making plaques to different people and 472 00:32:42.100 --> 00:32:47.900 organizations to. This is so great. What's the normal working life for a comfort dog? 473 00:32:47.900 --> 00:32:54.700 We don't like to talk about that. So Noah is going to be 7 in May he'll turn 474 00:32:54.700 --> 00:33:02.700 7. Golden's if they stay healthy will live to be 11, 12, 13 years old. 475 00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:08.400 Golden's do have a tendency to develop has types of cancer or hip 476 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:12.000 problems, but Noah show no evidence of that and we're very thankful 477 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:12.600 for that. 478 00:33:12.600 --> 00:33:16.000 But I would say in 4 years 479 00:33:16.100 --> 00:33:19.900 when he turns 11 he will be in semi-retirement. 480 00:33:19.900 --> 00:33:27.500 So so so Noah can join us in retirement, huh. But then Sue likes to call 481 00:33:27.500 --> 00:33:27.700 him 482 00:33:27.700 --> 00:33:32.600 he'll just be a comfort rug at that point. Because he won't have a quit as 483 00:33:32.600 --> 00:33:36.800 strenuous of a schedule and he'll probably just lay like this most of time. 484 00:33:36.800 --> 00:33:43.600 Well that will be well earned Noah that will be will earned. Your a gift from God. How is the 485 00:33:43.600 --> 00:33:44.500 program funded? 486 00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:53.500 Donations at Timothy the first couple of years we had in our church 487 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:58.900 budget $500 and then the donations started to come in. 488 00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:03.600 I would guess that each year it cost anywhere between four to six 489 00:34:03.600 --> 00:34:08.300 thousand dollars with vet visits and and transportation to and from 490 00:34:08.300 --> 00:34:16.100 conferences or deployment his food the little dog tags that we 491 00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:18.600 buy. Noah bling. Noah bling. 492 00:34:18.600 --> 00:34:19.000 Yes. 493 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:23.699 And so we put all that together and each year 494 00:34:23.699 --> 00:34:28.000 we just receive donations people contribute to it from our 495 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:32.199 congregation, but actually it's pretty much we go to a make a 496 00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:34.800 presentation and they give this a donation for it. 497 00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:40.699 So we we've not had to do any fundraisers for Noah other than maybe 498 00:34:40.699 --> 00:34:45.400 have a church dinner or Lenten service. Other dogs do have 499 00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:45.800 fundraisers, 500 00:34:45.800 --> 00:34:55.000 T-shirts or dinners or whatever but it it's all by donations and 501 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:58.500 Lutheran Church Charities operates the same way. The National 502 00:34:58.500 --> 00:35:01.900 Organization works with what's called a dollar in dollar out program. 503 00:35:01.900 --> 00:35:06.400 So you give money for a particular deployment that money goes for 504 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.200 deployments. And one more time. 505 00:35:09.200 --> 00:35:13.300 How can an audience member find out more about the Comfort dog 506 00:35:13.300 --> 00:35:13.400 Ministry? I actually have Noah's card here. Noah has a card a business card. He's got his on business card. 507 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:25.500 But again Noah Comfort Dog on Facebook is the best way and just send us a message, but 508 00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:26.800 Timothy Lutheran Church in St. 509 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:36.500 Louis in 314-781-8673. There is also never a charge for the comfort dogs to come so 510 00:35:36.500 --> 00:35:42.800 we never charged for any visit and that's true for all 130 plus 511 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:44.600 Comfort dogs around the country. 512 00:35:44.600 --> 00:35:45.700 There is never a charge. 513 00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:47.700 Significant point. Dr. 514 00:35:47.700 --> 00:35:47.900 And Mrs. 515 00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:51.600 Nielsen, and of course, you Noah comfort dog. 516 00:35:51.600 --> 00:35:55.100 Thank you for being with us today and for telling us all about the 517 00:35:55.100 --> 00:35:59.100 Comfort Dog Ministry and thank you are audience for joining us. 518 00:35:59.100 --> 00:36:04.200 I'm Dale Meyer, and this has been Word and Work an Intersection. 519 00:36:04.200 --> 00:36:09.100 may the intersection of Word and Work be busy on your corner.