Still, Tinch was active in his church until the church split. That’s when he walked away.
“I wasn’t mad at God,” he said. “I couldn’t find a church to go to.”
Tinch recently ran into Pastor Lamar Ferrell, preacher at Berachah Church and chaplain of the Middletown Division of Police. They have been friends for more than 30 years. Ferrell said he was looking for a fire department chaplain to replace Clark Helvey, who retired.
But when Ferrell pitched the idea, Tinch said: “Let me think about it.”
Tinch, 64, had retired from General Motors/DMAX in Moraine two years ago after 26 years. He was enjoying retirement and wasn’t prepared to dedicate his time and energy to being a chaplain.
The two met at a golf outing and Ferrell told Tinch: “I need you and you need me.”
Tinch said: “That stuck with me. I couldn’t get that out of my mind.”
Then Tinch and his wife went on vacation and while sitting on a deck overlooking the ocean, they spotted a water spout.
“That’s weird,” Tinch told his wife.
Then another.
“I wonder if that’s a sign,” he said.
Tinch returned to his home in Franklin, joined Berachah and in March he was ordained, a feat he compared to “healing up an old wound.”
Graduating, he said “fulfilled something that had plagued me for 28 years.”
Ever since, Tinch has immersed himself into the fire department and firefighters. He wants to know their first names and their families. He knows that will take time. He has made runs with the firefighters and eaten dinner with them.
“I felt after meeting with them that there was a need to have a chaplain down here,” said Tinch. “To me, these guys are unsung heroes.”
Despite what they do for a living, firefighters are no different, Tinch said.
“These guys have issues and problems too,” he said. “To me, that’s why I feel like I’m here.”
Tinch believes his role is to listen to the firefighters and offer “spiritual advice” if needed.
“Sometimes you don’t have to have all the answers,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just the ministry of being present.”
Capt. Jon Harvey agreed. When Harvey joined the Middletown fire department in 1995, firefighters discussed the “bad runs.” Now, he said, they “retreat” to their phones, the Internet or the TV.
“We see the worst that society has to offer,” Harvey said. “People don’t talk about it. It’s more important now to have a chaplain around to talk to you. Sometimes you don’t want to tell your boss you’re hurting. You need that person to come in and listen.”
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