Lee has made missionary trips to Mexico and India, and, in 1997, traveled to Russia with Peace Officers for Christ International. In January of 2020, Lee made his way back to Russia to provide crisis intervention to the staff of an orphanage in Nizhny which provided care for older teens who had been trafficked, tortured and abused.
Lee and his wife, Mary, served extensively at Ground Zero in New York City following the collapse of the World Trade Center. Together they served with the American Red Cross Spiritual Care Aviation Incident Response (SAIR) team and with the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC). After their immediate response to 9/11, Lee returned to New York City three additional times to assist survivors. Under the auspices of Peace Officers for Christ, he helped with a banquet to honor Port Authority Police Officers and, at other times, returned exclusively to attend FDNY funerals in support of the grieving families of these American heroes.
Among other national tragedies, Lee responded with Pastor and Chaplain Mike MacIntosh to the Century Theater mass shooting in Aurora, CO where he provided crisis intervention for 33 of the survivors.
Lee served at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut where 26 people were murdered in the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in US history.
Lee assisted with Louisiana State Troopers at the tent city in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. While there, he also served alongside the New Orleans Police Department at the Lower 9th Ward, the area worst hit by the hurricane. At the same time, Mary served hurricane victims with the Red Cross in Baton Rouge. Later in 2012, Mary went on to serve with the Red Cross in New York City, helping victims of Hurricane Sandy.
In the fall of 2017, Lee assisted and served at Southerland Springs, Texas after the horrific massacre at the rural First Baptist Church, where 26 worshippers were brutally murdered on a Sunday morning. He met and became fast friends with marksman Stephen Willeford, who disrupted the mass murder and became known as the ultimate good guy with a gun.
Throughout Napa County, Lee and his team now serve twenty law enforcement and fire service agencies in the valley. For many years he served in Yountville as Intermittent Chaplain at the California Veterans Home Memorial Chapel. In addition to his role as Senior Chaplain, he trains and directs an elite team of volunteer chaplains.
Lee’s professional affiliations and education include:
- The International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC), Level Diplomat
- The Federation of Fire Chaplains (FFC)
- Serves as United States Secret Service Chaplain
- The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (AAETS), Board Certified Crisis Chaplain
- The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF)
- The National Center for Chaplain Development (NCCD)
- A Bachelor of Biblical Studies and Master’s Degree in Chaplaincy from Trinity Biblical University (TBU)
- Served as past Vice Chair of Chaplain Ministry in Public Safety for TBU
- A Master Certified Chaplain with ICPC
- A Board-Certified Crisis Chaplain with the AAETS
- A member of the ICPC Disaster Response Team
- A member of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team
- Served as subject matter expert on Peace Officer Standards in Training (P.O.S.T.) California Law Enforcement Chaplain Consortium Curriculum Advisory Committee and became one of the first P.O.S.T. certified Chaplains in California.
- A member of the Presidents Guild for the National Center for Chaplain Development
- Among his continuing education and training, Lee has received extensive training in critical incident stress management through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, (ICISF), including six certificates in specialized training from ICISF.
Among his many awards and recognition:
- in 2013 Lee was a recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service from CBS 5KPIX News
- Outstanding Public Safety Person of the Year with Napa Police Department
- Award for Outstanding Service to Vintage and Napa High School
- Male Role Model of the Year awarded by California State Legislature
- Napa Emergency Women’s Services Award
- Respect for Law – Law Enforcement Award from Optimist International
- Volunteer of the Year awarded by NCRP
- Honorable Discharge awarded by The U.S Navy, U.S. Submarine Service
Lee and Mary have lived in the Napa Valley since 1976. They have three children and three grandchildren.