The Libby Family

Chaplaincy…ministering outside church walls in the moments people need Christ’s hope and truth the most.

Emergency Services Chaplains - Pen Florida District

We are honored to have the support of our Pen Florida Superintendent, Dr. Terry Raburn, and to partner with 46:1 Response and our Pen Florida Men’s Ministry Director, Rev. John Hensel, as the coordinators of Pen Florida Disaster Response.

HOW IT STARTED…

In November 2022, Jason traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands with the Pen Florida Men’s Ministry Director, John Hensel, for a Men’s Conference at St. Thomas Assemblies of God.

During that trip, they discussed the importance of utilizing church teams in ministry and as a tool of discipleship. Pastor Hensel shared that both he and Dr. Terry Raburn’s hope is that one day we would have someone in Pen Florida who could be the boots on the ground to make sure that our churches are restored as quickly as possible so they could focus on caring for their communities.

It was on that night, November 12, 2022, that Pen Florida Disaster Response began and Jason became the coordinator.

The unfortunate truth is that we don’t live in a world where we can confidently say “if” a disaster happens. We must be prepared for when!

HURRICANE SEASON

Hurricane season begins on June 1st and ends on November 30th of each year. The most active time for hurricanes to develop and threaten our shores is from mid-August to mid-October. During this season we are actively monitoring the weather in the tropics daily so that we can be ready to deploy people and resources immediately following the passing of a storm.

In 2025, NOAA forecasted a range of 13 to 19 named storms, with 6 to 10 of those becoming hurricanes and 3 to 5 being major hurricanes. In order for a storm to be named, it must have sustained winds above 39mph.

We prayed that these predictions were overstated and the storms that formed would stay far from inhabited land. We are thankful that the storm count stayed on the low end of the predictions and that not a single one of those storms made landfall in Peninsular Florida. Praise God!

We started gathering information in early 2024 with the a five question survey so we could build a database for Pen Florida Disaster Response. Over 100 of our Pen Florida Churches replied to this survey, helping us to get started with the correct contact information. We have continued to collect and update the data since then so we can better serve Pen Florida.

TRAINING SEASON

Jason is a Certified Critical Incident Stress Management (CCISM) trainer. When we are not actively responding to a storm, he is available to train those that serve others so they are better equipped to respond in a crisis.

At the end of 2022, Jason started training with classes on Assisting Individuals in Crisis, Group Crisis Intervention, and Psychological Body Armor.

During the summer of 2024, he completed two rigorous courses: Advanced Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Advanced Group Intervention. These were challenging trainings that required the participants to role play trauma interventions with difficult scenarios associated with disasters and casualty events.

In the fall of 2025, Jason completed several courses: an instructor training for Assisting Individuals in Crisis, a course for Pastoral Crisis Intervention, an instructor training for Group Crisis Intervention, and a course and instructor training for Crisis Informed Peer Para Counseling.

We believe that it is necessary for our pastors and our churches to learn these principles and the differences between what we know as “pastoral counseling” and “trauma intervention.”

If you want to learn more about CISM training, the classes that are available, or how to schedule a training, please email jason@thelibbyfamily.org

OUR STORY

We serve as U.S. Missionaries with Chaplaincy Ministries in Florida and we are blessed to be a part of the Pen Florida District.

For over a decade we served in various roles in both pastoral ministry and church administration before stepping into missions. We have seen the value in having strong teams and building a culture of service in our churches.

We are coordinators for Pen Florida Disaster Repsonse and Jason is a Certified Critical Incident Stress Management (CCISM) trainer providing training to those that serve others so they are better equipped to respond in a crisis.

We are constantly working to build a strong network of people and resources, provide crisis training, and help our churches during these times of crisis.

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