Hugh's News & Commentary

An e-mail from Chaplain (Captain) Sarah D. Tarpley, United States Army Chaplaincy at Fort Jackson, South Carolina:

Chaplain Morgan

Friday, 8 April 2011, is the special day I've been working and waiting for to finally arrive after 13 weeks of training, graduation from CHBOLC (Chaplains Basic Officer Leadership Course) at Fort Jackson, SC, where the Army Chaplain Center and School is located.

What an experience this has been. It has been an absolutely thrilling time of learning and training to become an Army chaplain. I know that I'm in the absolute will of God as an Army chaplain.

After Graduation, I'm headed straight to Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX. I will become a part of the 123rd Brigade Support Battalion (BSB), 4 Brigade (BDE), 1 Armored Division, as a Battalion Chaplain. I am so excited to assigned to Fort Bliss, go to work there, as well as getting to know my soldiers, all 1,200 of them.

Around August we will be heading for a year deployment to Iraq. I couldn't be more excited about ministry to my soldiers that God is now giving me to serve.

CH (CPT) Sarah D. Tarpley

[Editor's Comment. Chaplain Sarah Tarpley is making history. She is the second IPHC ordained woman to become an active duty military chaplain; but the first IPHC ordained woman to become an active duty Army chaplain.

Chaplain, Major Eva Christine Beatty Sorrow, United States Air Force, was the first and has now retired after more than 20 years of distinctive and honorable service to our nation.

Sarah was an Air Force Reserve chaplain for a number of years. It is refreshing to find a person like Sarah so committed to Jesus Christ that she is willing to serve a noble cause by ministering to young men and women in the Armed Forces.

Apparently, it was not God's will for Sarah to serve in the Air Force. She graduated from the Chaplain Officer Basic Leadership Course at Maxwell AFB several years ago. Melvine and I drove down to Montgomery, AL, for her graduation banquet at the Officer's Club, and her graduation at the Air Force Chaplains School. It was there that we met Sarah's parents, Jim and Glady's Tarpley. Her father is a retired Master Sergeant from the Army, and her mother is a school teacher in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Chaplain Sarah Tarpley served at a number of Air Force Bases as a reserve chaplain to make it possible for active duty chaplains to be deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. While pastoring the First Love Pentecostal Holiness Church in Enid, Oklahoma, she was attached to Vance AFB, for her training. She pastored the same church where Oral Roberts was pastoring when he launched his crusades to bring the healing message of Jesus Christ to the world. She served there for approximately two years.

Sarah volunteered to serve for six months at Vance AFB, full-time in what is called a back-up or fill slot to allow an active duty chaplain to be deployed. Immediately following that assignment, she volunteered once again to go to Seymour-Johnson AFB, in Goldsboro, NC, to serve another six months.

Not to be undone, she volunteered again, and did ministry as a chaplain at McConnell AFB, in Kansas, for an additional six months.

I endorsed Sarah for active duty along with three other of our Air Force Reserve chaplains--Timothy Sessions, Shane Marley, and John Kwon.  The Air Force only selected two for the four, which was a .500 batting average for me as an endorser. Unfortunately, they did not select Sarah Tarpley and John Kwon. The Air Force never told us why they were not selected. I will always believe that the Air Force missed it big time, but they could only select 12 Protestant Chaplains that particular year. So, two out of four is not bad, but not good for Sarah and John.

Needless to say, Sarah and John were greatly disappointed. I have told all of our candidates not to place all their eggs in one basket. There is never any absolute guarantee that any person will be selected. There can always be a slip between the lip and cup.

The years that followed were tough for Sarah and John. Sarah requested to be attached to a Category A Air Force Reserve Unit at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, LA. She did that successfully, but needed to earn more money to keep things together. So, she applied for a residency in CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at a Veterans Hospital in Mississippi, and earned not only a stipend to provide for her financial needs, but acquired 5 units of CPE.

In the meantime, Sarah assisted me at Youth Quest in Oklahoma City in the recruitment of youth, just prior to the General Conference that year. Then, once again, she served at our Chaplains Booth at the 26th General Conference in Greensboro, to help me recruit future chaplains. You can always count on Sarah to serve where needed.

Sarah never gave up. She asked me what I thought about her going in the Army as a chaplain. I told her that my mother taught me early on in life that there are more ways to skin a cat than one. So, I endorsed her for the Army chaplaincy. She passed the physical exam, weight requirement, etc., and was selected for active duty in the Army Chaplaincy.

Chaplain (Colonel) Jerry Jones, Command Chaplain at Fort Sill, OK, adminstered the oath of office for her to become an Army chaplain with the rank of Captain. Her parents were present, her pastor and his wife, and Bishop Frank Tunstall and his wife Lu.  Bishop Tunstall is her conference superintendent and is a leader among all of our conference superintendents in supporting his chaplains. Hugh's News reported that ceremony with photos.

I know of no other person who has had such determination, desire, persistence, perservance, and stamina to endure multiple hardships to make it to this level of service as an Army chaplain. She had hurdles and obstacles unlike most candidates I have worked with. She never gave up. I tell her often that she has Spizzerinctum and is filled the Holy Spirit and great faith. Her story is an inspiration to all who will listen.

Even before she graduated from the Army Chaplains School and before reporting for her first duty assignment at Fort Bliss, TX, she contacted her commander with a request for TDY funds and permissive leave to attend our Chaplains and Spouses Retreat at Founder's Inn, June 20-23, 2011. He granted her request and is paying her airline ticket, hotel room and per diem. You can see she is resourceful person, and a go-getter. I tell my chaplains to ask, and believe God to grant you favor.

Unfortunately, Melvine and I will not be able to attend her dinner banquet on Thursday evening, April 7, and her graduation on Friday, April 8, 2011, at Fort Jackson, SC. Melvine and I, along with Greg and Stephanie will be traveling to Birmingham to visit my older sister, Mary Evelyn Morgan McDuff, and her family. This was the only time that Greg and Stephanie could work it out to be away from their teaching positions.

Sarah Tarpley is a graduate of Southwestern Christian University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biblical Studies, and where she played basketball on the women's basketball team. She is a graduate of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, MO, with a Master of Divinity degree. She is an ordained minister in the Heartland Conference.

I stand to salute Chaplain (Captain) Sarah D. Tarpley, United States Army Chaplaincy for her courage, commitment, and perseverance in achieving her God-given calling to serve as a military chaplain in the Army Chaplain Corps.