Dr. Michael L. Reighard

Dr. Michael L. Reighard has been employed in the law enforcement and educational fields for more than 40 years. He began his work in law enforcement after graduating from Indian Hills Law Enforcement Academy in 1975. Since then, he served as Supervisory Chaplain in three United States Federal Prisons, providing pastor care to staff and inmates in institutions from a full range of security levels. His ministry experience at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners encompassed several types of chaplaincy ministries including, correctional, hospital, hospice, and mental health. In addition to his chaplaincy role, he led crisis support teams, participated in ethics committees, and established federal policies. During Michael’s previous pastoral ministries, he served churches in Wyoming, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, and New Mexico. Dr. Reighard has traveled to all fifty states in addition to over 30 counties, to provide training to pastors, lay leaders, and governmental agencies. He facilitates leadership seminars and trains chaplains for multiple settings. He has founded several ministry organizations. He is the founder of Jericho Commission (www.jerichocommission.org), a Christ-based re-entry ministry. Jericho Commission assists communities by providing mentorship programs for ex-offenders and those who are judicially at risk. After retiring from the Bureau of Prisons, Michael worked with the Billy Graham Evangelical Center in Wheaton, Illinois, spearheading an organization called the Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association (CMCA) (www.cmcainternational.org). As the founding President of CMCA, he created the leadership team and established a 400 plus membership base for this ecumenical, evangelical organization. CMCA is fast becoming the nation’s premier organization for correctional chaplaincy specializing in education, training, and certifications for chaplains and correctional workers. In 2013, Michael began developing a response program for the Assemblies of God (AG) called 461 Response Network (www.461response.org). Through this ministry, Michael and other chaplains prepare churches, districts, and community leaders for effective response to critical incidents (personal to large-scale disasters) in their communities. Developing a 461 Response Network includes logistics, protocols, national synchronization of Assemblies of God Districts, building teams, training, and software programming for data collection and retrieval. Michael also served as an adjunct professor for Wheaton College, Global University, and Caribbean School of Theology. Additionally, he is an International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) approved instructor.  In his role with the Assemblies of God Chaplaincy Department, Chaplain Reighard serves as the Critical Incident Ministries Representative, representing AG law enforcement, fire department, emergency response, and other critical incident chaplains.

Michael presently serves with AG Chaplaincy Ministries as the Critical Incident Ministries Representative (Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, Emergency Response, and Search and Rescue). He is also the Director of the 461 Response Network.