Current hospital chaplaincy service.
A life of service and presence
Chaplain
Mannie G. Gomez
A hospital chaplain, ordained Apostolic minister, veteran, and longtime advocate for bringing trained spiritual care to patients and families.
The person behind the initiative
A calling shaped over a lifetime.
Mannie’s path to chaplaincy was not a straight line. It moved through family, military service, faith, ministry, and the unexpected hospital experience that taught him what presence can mean.
Born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mannie graduated from Central High School in 1969. After being drafted, he served in the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne from 1971 to 1973, then studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, graduating in 1975.
He was later headed to Los Angeles for work aboard an ocean liner as a garde-manger when a stop in Phoenix became the spiritual turning point that changed the course of his life.
A ministry of presence
The work begins by entering another person’s story with humility—ready to listen, learn, and remain present.
Work, ministry, and service
A steady life of showing up.
Long before hospital chaplaincy, Mannie learned to serve people through the daily disciplines of work, ministry, and community care.
In 1978, he began working at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station as a laborer. He later moved into security, where he served for 11 years, and eventually transitioned to Nuclear Records when his health required a different kind of work.
Set apart for ministry in 1989 and ordained in 1995, Mannie served at a small church in Cashion and led its food bank. He also made space there for security personnel and others who needed fellowship and support. Those years of practical ministry helped prepare him for the chaplaincy work that followed at Good Samaritan and throughout the Phoenix area.
Faith and formation
Rooted in the Apostolic Assembly.
A turning point in Arizona
While traveling toward California, Mannie stopped in Phoenix. His brother Tony Gomez sent him to Bible camp in Prescott, where Adam Lopez Jr. preached from Revelation 4:2–3. Mannie received the Holy Ghost that first night and was baptized in Jesus’ name the following Sunday, August 7, under the ministry of Bishop Gilbert Daiz.
Ordained for ministry
He was ordained at the Apostolic Assembly’s national convention in Phoenix and has remained devoted to the Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus.
Foundations
Formation that stayed with him
At the Apostolic Bible College of the District of Arizona, Mannie completed the foundational Tomo I and Tomo II courses. With the patient support of a teacher who invested extra time in his learning, those studies became a hard-earned and lasting part of his biblical formation. He holds that foundation with gratitude while deeply respecting the broader academic paths others pursue.
Clinical Pastoral Education
Good intentions became trained care.
Four units of CPE transformed Mannie’s understanding of ministry at the bedside.
At Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center—later part of Banner–University Medical Center—he entered the first bilingual CPE program of its kind in the country. The program asked him to combine direct patient care with reflection, supervision, self-awareness, and disciplined learning.
That formation, beginning at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in 2000 and continuing through 2004, established the foundation for more than two decades of hospital chaplaincy.
Four units
of Clinical Pastoral Education in a pioneering bilingual program
Continuing service
Presence across the continuum of care.
Mannie’s ministry has extended through hospitals, hospice, nursing care, and long-term care settings throughout the Phoenix area.
Volunteer service with Hospice of the Valley in 2006 and Hallmark Hospice from 2006 to 2007.
Volunteer service at John C. Lincoln Medical Center from 2014 to 2016.
Volunteer service at Highland Manor Nursing Home in 2018, previous service at Desert Terrace Healthcare Center, and a return to Desert Terrace from 2025 to the present.
Carry the work forward
The invitation is still open.
Mannie created this site to make the path into chaplaincy easier to see—and to help the next person take a thoughtful first step.