Dewey, MDiv, Chaplain Rob

Chaplain Rob Dewey, MDiv, has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church since 1983. Prior to attending seminary, he served in North Carolina as a police officer and a volunteer member of the Black Mountain Fire Department/Rescue Squad. In 1990, he began the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, and in 2016, the Lowcountry Community Chaplaincy – ministries that support emergency responders and their families, as well as the general public in times of unexpected crisis. Based in Charleston, SC, Rob serves as the Senior Chaplain and has had the opportunity to teach and assist other communities in establishing similar Chaplaincy programs. He also has served as a Chaplain with the FBI, ATF, State Law Enforcement Division, the Air Incident Response Team (ARC) and DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team). In the capacity of DMORT Chaplain, he was deployed to New York City in 2001, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He was the first president of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Chaplains Association and the first chairman of the Disaster Response Committee for the International Conference of Police Chaplains. He co-authored ICISF’s “Pastoral Crisis Intervention Courses”. Chaplain Dewey was appointed in 2002 to be the National Coordinator for Disaster Response for the Episcopal Church USA. In 2016, Rob was honored to receive ICISF’s ‘Innovator of the Year; and in 2023 the Co-founder’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Rob was blessed when Charleston Southern University named the University’s Chaplaincy Center in his honor, and was awarded an honorary Ph.D.