Friday, November 11, 2016, was a national holiday called Veterans Day when we honored our military veterans.
It was my honor and privilege to have served our country in the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force, both on active and reserve duty. God called me to be a military chaplain while serving in the Marine Corps at Quantico, VA. I was able to see first hand the work and ministry of a Navy chaplain by the name of James Hull. His influence for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God made an indelible impression on me.
Navy Chaplain James Hull informed me about the requirements to qualify to become a military chaplain. Those requirements included 5 years of college, three years of seminary in residence, and two years of full time pastoral leadership experience. I served for four years as an Army Reserve chaplain, and later as an active duty Air Force chaplain for eleven years, and another sixteen years as an Air Force Reserve chaplain while serving as president of Southwestern College, and later as pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, and Athens, Georgia. Then, God gave me the opportunity to serve for fifteen years as the director/endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC. I am grateful to the IPHC Chaplains Ministries Board for endorsing me as a chaplain in the Army and Air Force.
We are blessed as a denomination to have Presiding Bishop Doug Beacham, General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, who has served with honor and distention in the Army Reserve Chaplaincy for 20+ years and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. We, who are military chaplains know we have a friend who knows what the military chaplaincy is all about in bringing God to men and women, and men and women to God. We know that Jesus is the only way to God.
We are grateful to be Americans, and to have served in the military of this great nation.
On Veterans Day each year, we pause to salute the women and men who have proudly worn the uniform of the United States of America and the families who have served alongside them, and we affirm our sacred duty as citizens to express our enduring gratitude, both in words and in actions, for their service.
We can do no less in the church. I hope the pastors and their church councils, and volunteers will have a special time in the morning worship service to express the congregation's gratitude to those who are serving and who have served in armed forces of our nation.
It was my honor and privilege to have served our country in the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force, both on active and reserve duty. God called me to be a military chaplain while serving in the Marine Corps at Quantico, VA. I was able to see first hand the work and ministry of a Navy chaplain by the name of James Hull. His influence for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God made an indelible impression on me.
Navy Chaplain James Hull informed me about the requirements to qualify to become a military chaplain. Those requirements included 5 years of college, three years of seminary in residence, and two years of full time pastoral leadership experience. I served for four years as an Army Reserve chaplain, and later as an active duty Air Force chaplain for eleven years, and another sixteen years as an Air Force Reserve chaplain while serving as president of Southwestern College, and later as pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, and Athens, Georgia. Then, God gave me the opportunity to serve for fifteen years as the director/endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC. I am grateful to the IPHC Chaplains Ministries Board for endorsing me as a chaplain in the Army and Air Force.
We are blessed as a denomination to have Presiding Bishop Doug Beacham, General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, who has served with honor and distention in the Army Reserve Chaplaincy for 20+ years and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. We, who are military chaplains know we have a friend who knows what the military chaplaincy is all about in bringing God to men and women, and men and women to God. We know that Jesus is the only way to God.
We are grateful to be Americans, and to have served in the military of this great nation.
On Veterans Day each year, we pause to salute the women and men who have proudly worn the uniform of the United States of America and the families who have served alongside them, and we affirm our sacred duty as citizens to express our enduring gratitude, both in words and in actions, for their service.
We can do no less in the church. I hope the pastors and their church councils, and volunteers will have a special time in the morning worship service to express the congregation's gratitude to those who are serving and who have served in armed forces of our nation.