c. 2008 Religion News Service

CARLISLE, Pa. _ Chuck Kish was driving near Carlisle a few months ago when he came upon a traffic accident scene.

When Kish, pastor of Bethel Assembly of God Church, saw the tarps covering the bodies, he knew it was a fatal crash.

“I saw an emergency medical technician walk over to one of the bodies. They lifted the corner of the tarp and he turned away,” Kish recalled. “I’ll forever remember the look on his face. I thought, he needs a chaplain.”

That traumatic moment planted a seed that will bear fruit this month when four volunteer chaplains from his church in South Middleton Township begin riding with crews from Carlisle’s Cumberland Goodwill Ambulance company.

It might be the first such program in Pennsylvania, and perhaps in the country.

The chaplains, including Kish, will be at the elbows of the emergency med