Meet Jim Hogg
Chaplain & Enrollment Specialist,
Community Care

In his dual roles as enrollment specialist and chaplain for Community Care, Jim Hogg knows he is exactly where he is supposed to be. A recent visit with a man who had cancer confirmed it.

As a chaplain, Jim often visits with Community Care participants facing the end of life. He recalls a particular gentleman with whom “I really hit it off. We’d talk about sports, how the Brewers were doing, then he started opening up and sharing his thoughts and his feelings with me,” says Jim. In the hospital, Jim was beside him when he made the difficult decision not to treat the cancer, but it was the next visit that stays with Jim.

“I didn’t really feel like going to visit,” Jim says. “It was a Friday and I wanted to go home. I’ll go Monday, I thought.” But Jim felt a sense of conviction that God wanted him to go right away. He went. When Jim arrived, the man told him “I knew you’d come.”

“Thank God, I did,” says Jim. “He died the very next day.”

For many years, Jim had followed a call into ministry and mission work. That same call eventually led him to Community Care.

Jim had grown up “under the pews” in a church where his father was the pastor. He felt called to the ministry when he was a college student. He was a junior preparing to go into broadcast journalism at Texas Tech University when, at a Christian conference, he experienced “incredible emotion I had never felt before.” He spoke to a Christian counselor who advised him to tell God, “My life is yours; whatever you want me to do, I’ll do.” Jim did.

“Over the course of time, I got involved in ministry on campus and began to feel a peace in my heart,” Jim says. He met Karen, a like-minded woman, and the two of them pursued a life of serving God in ministry and mission. After graduating from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, Jim served as a pastor in a church in El Paso, Texas, and Reedsburg, Wisconsin, but both Jim and Karen had mission work “in our hearts.” It led them to Ecuador and Peru where they spent a total of six years.

The next stop was Milwaukee, serving as pastor of a church, but it didn't last. “As much as I wanted to be in ministry, I felt being a pastor was not a good fit for me,” Jim explains. He resigned from the post without employment or plans. He found work at the Milwaukee Christian Center, working with youth. While it was enriching to work with troubled, inner city youth, it was a stressful time for the father of three young children, as most of the youth activities were scheduled in the afternoon and evening.

Shortly afterwards, an employment ad for Community Care caught his eye. As a pastor, Jim had learned he was good at working with older adults and that he really enjoyed it. More importantly, he loved what he heard in his interview. “As an enrollment specialist, my work would bring people hope. I could offer them a holistic program that would help them with every aspect of their lives.”

When a position opened for a Community Care chaplain, a colleague encouraged Jim to apply. Jim was eager to serve participants’ spiritual and emotional needs, but he also loved being an enrollment specialist. “It energizes me to bring hope for a better future.”

“Community Care Chaplain Karen Nehls developed our excellent chaplaincy program. I feel fortunate to serve with her in this program.”

“I’m grateful to Community Care for making it possible for me to do both,” he says. Jim serves as chaplain three days a week and as an enrollment specialist two days a week.

Being a chaplain for Community Care is both similar to and different from working in Christian ministry, Jim says. Like a church pastor, Jim pays attention to the needs of participants. If he learns that someone has experienced a loss or is facing a difficult decision, Jim makes himself available to them for counsel.  But he does not evangelize about his own beliefs. “We meet people where they are and support them in their own spiritual journeys, regardless of their faith. Or maybe it is not a spiritual matter at all. We are there to give hope and offer support.