Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 19

HDI will hold the first annual
Disaster Leadership summer
workshop June 4-8 with the
aim of equipping church
leaders to develop effective
disaster ministries. Speakers
will include Jim McGee ’91,
CEO American Red Cross,
Central Coast Region, and
Ben Lowe ’07, national
spokesperson for Young
Evangelicals for Climate Action.

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produced a booklet for caregivers and counselors, Helping Children
Cope with Traumatic Events, which became a vehicle allowing the
College to demonstrate care and concern. “As soon as I saw it, I was
convinced we should get it into the hands of people in the Newtown
area,” says College Chaplain Dr. Stephen Kellough.
Gifted at teambuilding, Drs. Aten and Boan have developed
partnerships with organizations such as World Relief, the American
Bible Society, and the Restavek Freedom Foundation to do research
and to provide training and technical assistance to the global church.
No matter where the team works, Dr. Aten says, “The most
eye-opening part of the research is hearing how people’s faith has
gotten them through. Through our research, we’ve demonstrated
how people’s faith helps buffer them against a number of common
psychological and physical negative consequences after a disaster.”
Their greatest challenge is quite simply “the overwhelming global
need for training on how to prepare and how to respond to trauma
and disaster,” says Dr. Aten.
But the need isn’t just “out there.” For example Dr. Aten’s own
church ministers in an apartment complex where 26 families lost
their homes to fire this fall. After helping people with everything
from clothing and food to transportation and housing, Rev. Chris
McElwee of Wheato