Leadership
Ralph Thompson
Lead Chaplain
In addition to serving as the Executive Director and Lead Chaplain for Emergency Chaplains, Ralph also works with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina seeking to increase participation in the area of Public Safety Chaplaincy.
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Prior to establishing the ministry of Emergency Chaplains in 2008, Ralph served for ten years as Pastor of Administration and Discipleship at Bethesda Baptist Church in Durham.
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He is a graduate of Danville (VA) Community College, Southeastern College at Wake Forest, Louisiana Baptist University and received his Master’s Degree in Biblical Counseling from Master’s International School of Divinity.
Ralph has been married to Carter since 1986. They live in Durham with their son, Carl, and an amazing dog named Gracie.
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Carter Thompson
Lead Counselor
Carter is from Danville, Virginia but has lived in Durham for over 30 years. She is married to Ralph and they have a son, Carl.
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While working as an Administrative Assistant at Duke, she felt the Lord leading her to become a Christian Counselor. She enrolled in an online program at Louisiana Baptist University, where she completed both her undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Psychology and Christian Counseling.
Ralph and Carter founded Emergency Chaplains in 2008 and she has served as our in-office Counselor since that time. Carter has also been a volunteer counselor for Pregnancy Support Services in Durham, North Raleigh Ministries and 2nd Mile Ministry at Grey Stone Church. Carter has been married to Ralph since 1986. They live in Durham with their son, Carl, and an amazing dog named Gracie.
Johnny Hewett
Senior Chaplain
A Durham native, Johnny began preparing for ministry while still working full-time. He attended night classes at Southeastern College at Wake Forest and graduated in 2002 with an Associate of Divinity degree. After more than 28 years at GSK he took early retirement in 2005 in order to serve as Associate Pastor of Edgewood Baptist Church.
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In addition to his experience as an Associate Pastor, Johnny has extensive experience as an Adjunct Chaplain at Duke Regional Hospital where he served as a volunteer for 15 years. Johnny’s experiences as a pastor, counselor and chaplain have uniquely qualified him to serve as a Senior Chaplain with us. He is compassionate, a patient listener and a giver of wise advice. His presence during times of crisis has brought hope and comfort to many people over the past 20 years.
Hewett currently serves as the Ministry Development Chaplain for Western North Carolina. He is currently serving as the Pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Green Mountain, NC.
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Dylan Stone
Staff Chaplain
Dylan joined our staff part-time in September 2016 as Admin Assistant, and then full-time in January 2019 as Staff Chaplain. He's a Durham native and proud Duke fan, but also loves Tennessee football. Dylan has been married to his high school sweetheart, Morgan, since 2017.
He is a graduate of The College at Southeastern with a B.A. in Global Studies and Southeastern Seminary with a Masters in Ministry Leadership.
Dylan serves on the Durham Crisis Response Team, as Chaplain for District 1 of the Durham Police Department, and as Chaplain for Troop C (Dist. 7) of the NC State Highway Patrol.
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