When the Dog Walks In, Something Changes
There is a moment that comfort dog teams know well. The door opens. The golden retriever walks in. And something in the room shifts.
Shoulders drop. Eyes soften. A person who hadn’t spoken in hours looks up and reaches out a hand.
“When you meet Solomon, he craves attention from his people and has a deep desire to connect with others,” says the team at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. “He loves to lean into people to ensure he gets enough pets and scratches.”
That lean — that simple, unhurried press of a golden retriever against a grieving or anxious person — turns out to be one of the most powerful tools in ministry.
Across the Southeastern District, five congregations are part of the Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry: King of Glory in Williamsburg, Virginia; Eternal Shepherd Lutheran Church in Seneca, South Carolina; CrossWaters Island Lutheran Church in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; St. Stephens Lutheran Church in Kinston, North Carolina; and Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Catonsville, Maryland. Each team is built around a trained golden retriever, a dedicated group of handlers, caregivers, and ministry partners, and a shared conviction that God can use a dog to open a door that might otherwise stay closed.
More Than a Visit
LCC’s K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry is a national network of more than 100 purebred golden retrievers, each receiving approximately 2,000 hours of training over two years before certification. The dogs serve as a bridge, not just to comfort, but to conversation, prayer, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.
The ministry goes wherever people are hurting: nursing homes, hospitals, schools, hospice facilities, veterans programs, first responder agencies, and community events. And when tragedy strikes on a larger scale, comfort dog teams deploy. Seth, from Eternal Shepherd in Seneca, has responded to the Surfside condo collapse, the Charlotte officer shooting, the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia, and Hurricane Helene in Asheville. Faith, from St. Stephens, was deployed to Charlotte after four police officers were killed in the line of duty, to Winder, Georgia after the Apalachee High School shooting, to Florida State University after a campus shooting, and to Asheville in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Zoara, from CrossWaters in Hilton Head, responded to many of the same deployments alongside sister teams. Kezia, from Emmanuel in Catonsville, has served at Great Mills High School in Maryland after a school shooting, at the LCMS Youth Gathering in Houston, and at the University of Virginia following the 2022 campus shooting. Solomon, from King of Glory, was also present at the University of Virginia that day, alongside Kezia and Amos.
In each place, the dynamic is the same: the dog walks in, and people open up.
“Some people will open up to a comfort dog before talking to people,” reads the LCC mission description. Scientific research supports what teams experience firsthand — petting a golden retriever triggers measurable changes in the nervous system, reducing anxiety and inviting a sense of nonjudgmental support.
God Moments
Every team has them — moments when ministry happens not because it was planned, but because a dog walked down the right hallway at the right time.
The Seth team at Eternal Shepherd was called one day to a Labor and Delivery unit at their local hospital. As they walked the hall, they stopped to offer a visit to a woman they hadn’t planned to see. She began to cry. She told them she felt God didn’t love her, that she had suffered too much. They listened. They prayed. “It was a beautiful God moment,” wrote Top Dog Kyra Carbone, “holding hands with this precious young lady — whom we may never have met if we hadn’t walked down that hall.”
At CrossWaters in Hilton Head, Zoara’s team was ushered into a hospital room by nurses who simply said, “They need you.” They didn’t know why. A new mother, father, and baby were there, and something was wrong that no one was saying aloud. The team formed a circle — nurses, parents, and comfort dog team — and prayed. “We had no idea what the situation was,” the team shared, “but God did.”
In Williamsburg, Team Solomon visited an elementary school where a young teacher had died of cancer. Solomon made multiple visits to that classroom across the remainder of the school year, giving grieving children a safe place to express what they were feeling. At the University of Virginia after the campus shooting, a young man who had recently lost his own golden retriever held onto Solomon for a long time, finally able to name his grief.
And at St. Stephens, handler Savannah put it simply: “Faith has forced me to step outside of my comfort zone, go to new places and meet new people I would never encounter on a given day. I am able to say I have met new friends, built stronger relationships and met so many people along the way who have helped me grow as a servant for Christ.”
Meet the Teams
Kezia | Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Catonsville, MD Kezia serves as the only LCC comfort dog in Maryland — and she brings something unique to her work. Triple vested in general, police, and military ministry, she serves elderly care facilities, elementary schools, the VA Hospital, police events including National Police Week, the Ronald McDonald House, communities in crisis, and more. Named after one of Job’s three daughters (Job 42:13), her verse is Isaiah 58:11. Her sister Johanna serves as a comfort dog in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Solomon | King of Glory Lutheran Church, Williamsburg, VA Solomon joined King of Glory in the fall of 2021 and has completed approximately 800 community outreach visits. His team of 28 handlers, caregivers, and ministry partners serves first responders, educators, senior living residents, hospice patients, and more across greater Williamsburg. Solomon’s weakness? Soft things — tissues, socks, stuffed animals. His strength? An inexhaustible need to be loved on. Find Team Solomon on Facebook.
Seth | Eternal Shepherd Lutheran Church, Seneca, SC Seth has been serving since May 2019. Named after the third son of Adam and Eve, the 8-year-old golden makes weekly visits to the local hospital, cancer center, hospice house, and EMS call center, and visits assisted living facilities, high schools, Clemson University, and more. His verse: Philippians 4:6–7. His Top Dog: Kyra Carbone.
Zoara | CrossWaters Island Lutheran Church, Hilton Head Island, SC Commissioned in October 2019, the 9-year-old Zoara was named after the Biblical town of Zoar — a place of refuge. Spunky even now, she fulfills Island Lutheran’s mission of “knowing and sharing the joy of salvation through Jesus Christ,” one visit at a time. Her verse: Psalm 32:8.
Faith | St. Stephens Lutheran Church, Kinston, NC Faith Comfort Dog John 11:25-26 joined St. Stephens in January 2023. Her ministry began when Top Dog Sandy Matthews saw golden retrievers on the news comforting victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting — and noticed a fish on their blue vests. The rest, as they say, is history. Faith visits nursing homes, hospitals, schools, veterans courts, first responders, and wherever she is needed.
