Photo By Derika Upshaw | Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jake Snodgrass, III Armored Corps deputy command chaplain and...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas — Chaplains and religious affairs specialists from across the installation came together Aug. 27-28 for the Phantom Catalyst Course, a two-day workshop designed by III Armored Corps and the Religious Support Office (RSO) to help religious personnel better serve the Fort Hood community.
“We’ve designed it and built it to equip chaplains and unit ministry teams to revitalize Army chapels at Fort Hood of all faith traditions, and then to mobilize congregations to serve the installation,” said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jake Snodgrass, III Armored Corps deputy command chaplain, and instructor, planner and trainer for Phantom Catalyst.
The workshop provided chaplains from all religious backgrounds with tools to further their missions by creating an initial mission analysis focused on what their mission was, how they would accomplish it and analyzing their capabilities.
“We wanted to train our chaplains across the board to see the opportunity,” Snodgrass said. “We love Fort Hood and want to make it a great place.”
This is the second iteration of the workshop with over 100 attendees. Since the first iteration, Snodgrass said they saw an increase in mobilized events across the board, such as Agape Hood hosting almost 45 events throughout the summer across the installation.
“But what we want to be able to do is incorporate multiple congregations and continue to grow them so that they’re able to make that impact,” he said. “We were able to bridge some gaps and partner with some congregations and some unit ministry teams. We have seen some progress with the gospel service and the Pentecostal fellowship and a Catholic service and a variety of things.”
Chaplain (Maj.) Tim Stokes, brigade chaplain, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, said he likes the commanding general supports a project like this, ultimately solidifying the importance of what they do for the Soldiers.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for us to brainstorm how to get after building community here at Fort Hood,” he said, “getting after some of the high-risk Soldier issues that we see here by giving them not just healthy outlets, but pointing them to something higher than themselves and a community to be part of so they don’t feel so lonely and holed up in their barracks without support.”
Stokes said he hopes his team takes away the ability to be centered on a singular mission and purpose, so they can all work in the same direction. He has been a chaplain for over 10 years and to many different places and likes seeing the intentional effort in having all ministries work together.
“I think we tend to operate in silos,” he said. “Like this chapel’s doing their thing, then this chapel’s doing their thing. We don’t always work together in a way to get after it, and so I think this is a really cool opportunity because it gives us intentional time to actually work as a team. Even though we’re talking about different chapel communities and congregations, we’re all going after a singular purpose to reach Soldiers.
“We’re not all like-minded in theology or belief, but to be in a room together, brainstorming this like a team — I’ve never seen it done like this before,” he added.
Fort Hood chaplains and religious affairs specialists were not the only ones receiving training. Participants also included religious personnel from the British Army. Reverend Mike Parker, chaplain general of his majesty’s land forces, said the training and seeing how much Soldiers’ spirituality is incorporated into their services will help make the United Kingdom’s program better.
“The facilities you have, the churches you have on post, are reasonably well supported compared to the churches we have — our garrison churches back in the U.K. — where very few serving military people attend worship, and, on the whole, very few people attend worship,” he said. “So I want to take back from here some of that enthusiasm for using our resources, particularly our worship resources, to better serve the present military community rather than a veteran and civilian community, as is the case at the moment in the U.K.”
To find information on the RSO and religious services on post, visit the Fort Hood website at http://home.army.mil/hood/units-tenants/Garrison/religious-support.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 09.04.2026 11:50 |
| Story ID: | 573888 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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