Chaplain (Colonel) Elmer Harmon "Jim" Ammerman, Retired Army chaplain, and endorser for Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, Inc., died May 17, 2011
Elmer Harmon Ammerman was born in Conway, Missouri, on July 20, 1925, to Lela Chloe (Harmon) and Elmer Henry Ammerman. He entered his Glorious Eternity on May 17, 2011, at age 85. As a baby he was nicknamed Jimmy by his grandfather, the name he was known by all his life. He was married to his bride of 66 years, the former Charlene Marie Beachboard, on February 27, 1945.
Jim is survived by his wife Charlene; four children, Carol Beth Bartholf and husband, Gene of Dallas, Texas, Mark Ammerman and his wife, Kathy of Geneva, New York, Steve Ammerman of Dallas, and Crystal Leach and her husband, Ed of Gatesville, Texas; eight grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.
Jim’s military career began as a seventeen your old seaman on a Destroyer during World War II. Three-and-a-half years later, when World War II ended, Jim was in the last phase of Naval Aviation training. He requested early release from active duty in obedience to God’s call on his life.
He was a graduate of Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, in 1954. Jim was an ordained minister and held both Doctor of Theology and Doctor of Divinity degrees. Jim joined the United States Army in 1954 and began his career as a military Chaplain.
During his military service Jim served as a paratrooper chaplain with the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and five years with the Green Berets. He served with the 1st Cavalry Division twice and with the 1st Armored Division.
His last European assignment was with V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany, where he supervised 83 chaplains of 14 denominations, giving religious coverage to 50,000 troops plus their dependents. Immediately prior to his retirement, he served at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was Post Chaplain and pastor to the Command and General Staff College with its 1,000 most promising mid-career officer students selected for training to be the Colonels and Generals of the future.
Jim retired from the U.S. Army in 1977 and founded Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, Inc., a recognized Endorsing Agency by the Armed Forced Chaplaincy, operated from Dallas, Texas. CFGC is a world-wide ministry, primarily to the U.S. Armed Forces. Through the CFGC he worked with military, hospital, and prison chaplaincies as well as with industrial and institutional chaplaincies. He recently began chaplaincy work in Venezuela and other South American nations.
Jim, with his wife Charlene, made many missionary journeys including two around the world and into communist lands.
His literary credits include several professional journals and religious publications, as well as the books, After the Storm and Supernatural Events in the Life of an Ordinary Man. Jim appeared frequently on radio and on television as a guest on CBN’s 700 Club, Rays of Hope, Festival of Praise, TBN and other programs. He was a much-loved speaker at Spirit-filled meetings and conventions of all denominations and for Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International.
In January, 2010 Jim entrusted leadership of CFGC to Dr. Klon Kitchens. Memorial donations in Jim’s name may be made to the CFGC.
Funeral services for Colonel Ammerman are 12:30 p. m., Friday, May 20, 2011, at Colonial Hills Baptist Church, 820 E. Wintergreen Road, Cedar Hill, Texas, 75104. Visitation with the family is also at the church, 6-8 p. m., on Thursday evening, May 19. Burial with full military honors will be in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
[Editor's Note: I met Jim Ammerman in December 1997 at the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. He was not a member of the National Association of Evangelicals Chaplains Commission. He eventually pulled away from NCMAF and began a third endorser conference of which I was never a part. However, I remained friends with Jim and his wife, Charlene. He was in declining health for several years prior to his death, and suffered greatly. I often prayed for him, and tried to stay in touch. May God bless his wife, Charlene, and their family in these days of grief. I pray that the Holy Spirit will bring them comfort in the midst of their sadness.]
Posted on
Thu, May 19, 2011
by Hugh Morgan