Hugh's News & Commentary

An overview of the retreat from the perspective of Hugh H. Morgan:

There is no doubt about it--the 2011 Chaplains, Spouses, and Friends Retreat was the best in our history. God honored us with some 58 people in attendance (the youngest was Jamil and Jessica Khan's baby girl, Tirzah (You can find her name listed in Numbers 27:7).

I had planned on 60 people. I didn't miss it by much. Here is a synopsis of this event that was held at Founders Inn, Virginia Beach, along with a trip to Colonial Williamsburg for a tour of that historic site, and a drive by of Jamestown on the way back to Virginia Beach.  This event was from June 20-23, 2011.

I am grateful to Almighty God for placing His Hand of approval on what we did. The weather was comfortable with cool breezes blowing the day we visited Colonial Williamsburg.

The very fact that the Holy Spirit graciously moved in our midst with such anointing and an accompanying intense desire to praise and worship Jesus was an answer to my fervent prayers for this retreat. The manifestations of the the gift of tongues, interpretation, and a prophecy were added blessings of what we treasure as Pentecostals. There were spontaneous prayers that came from the hearts of those who prayed out loud. In addition, we took time to form small groups to pray for one another. Great things happen when God's presence is experienced and we respond to Him in obedience and surrender. The pathway to victory and all blessings is through praise and worship.

One of our chaplains told me on Thursday morning as I was leaving the hotel that he had been in a spiritual desert, and had prayed for a renewal or revival. He said God more than answered my prayer.

Bishop Dayton Birt, superintendent of the Redemption Ministries Conference assisted us in obtaining the initial contract with Founders Inn and with a 10% discount on our dinner banquet. He was able to join us Tuesday evening, and was present all-day Wednesday for the teaching sessions and the dinner banquet. He is a gifted spiritual leader and God used him to give a prophecy over us.

We couldn't have asked for better speakers. Chaplain, Major General Cecil Richardson, Chief of Air Force Chaplains, and Dr. Vinson Synan, Dean Emeritus, School of Divinity, Regent University, and former Assistant General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, were awesome and inspired us all.

The theme was "Moral Courage."

An added blessing was the fact that Janet Richardson, Chaplain Cecil Richardson's wife, was able to accompany him to the retreat. Janet (or Jan) is a literacy expert who travels throughout the United States training teachers and conducting classroom demonstrations on guided reading. We were grateful that she could arrange her busy schedule to be with us.  She holds an earned Ph.D. degree. She has authored, The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader (Scholastic, publisher), as well as an audio resource entitled Moving Up in Guided Reading.

Jan Richardson said that she had never experienced more love and acceptance from any group like she did from our chaplains, spouses, and friends at this retreat.

Henry Pillow did a superb job in leading us to Colonial Williamsburg. We had chartered a 56-passenger commercial bus from Fun Tours. We had the senior driver from the company. The bus was first class with an indoor toilet.

Arlette Revells made our retreat look good with her professional design and production of the welcome poster, the program for the dinner banquet, piano playing, and photography ministry. She has partnered with us from day-one. She is the lady who designed our logo, many ads for Youth Quest, and other publications, e. g., our booklet about Chaplains Ministries, IPHC, both military and institutional, just to name a few assignments she has completed with state-of-the-art expertise.

God gave us a serendipity with the arrival of Tim Pawlenty, a Republican presidential contender for the presidency of the United States. He was in our hotel and was scheduled to be on the 700 Club a little later in the morning on Wednesday, June 22. What a gifted speaker he is, and we were pleasantly surprised by his knowledge and keen awareness of the importance of military chaplains. I sensed that he spoke from his heart and from his experiences of visiting our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq on many occasions as the Governor of Minnesota. What an added blessing, although we were not endorsing him as a candidate. I asked Dr. Vinson Synan to introduce him. Bishop Wesley Russ and his wife, Janice, had seen the former governor earlier getting off the elevator and spoke to him when he asked his aid for directions to the hotel restaurant. Wesley showed them the way.

Karen and Ken Godfrey made it all happen with their leadership in planning every detail of our retreat--working with the management in smoothing out the details of our contract with the hotel for meeting rooms, the banquet ballroom, the decorations of the tables which Karen furnished from her own resources, the communion table and linen tablecloth, bread and grape juice (chalice, pitcher, and cross), and obtained the sound equipment, the baby grand piano, etc., to meet our particular needs. Karen is a professional event creator, planner, and coordinator. What a gifted lady. She saved us lots of money, and her decorations of the banquet tables were magnificent and so beautiful. She is an artist in design for a dinner banquet, and negotiated 4 different kinds of desserts at the price of one. What a manager of resources.

Let me announce that today, Wednesday, June 29, Ken and Karen Godfrey are celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary. We wish them a happy wedding anniversary today. May God grant them many more anniversaries.

Ken Godfrey works for the Chief of Army Chaplains in Personnel. When you get to know Ken, you can easily understand his gifting for such a strategic position in the Chief's Office.  He is genuinely interested in others and shows compassion when he perceives people are in need of assistance.

How blessed we were to have Bob and Janice Lynch sing for us. They are exceptional singers. What amazing talent and anointing God has given them. The Holy Spirit used them as we were ushered into the presence of the Holy where we all worshiped the King of kings and Lord of lords. There followed a manifestation of tongues, interpretation, a prophecy, and special spontaneous prayers from the spirit of individuals present.

I am grateful to Lou and Becky Shirey for their ministry too. Lou's devotional message, and the prayer for Chaplain and Mrs. Richardson was meaningful and purposeful. We will never forget the meaning of the words of Jesus when He said, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30, NIV). Lou told us that the "yoke" God gives to us "fits." Becky has a keen sense of the presence of God, and is able to formulate a prayer out of a disciplined prayer life and a study of God's Word. Her prayer for Jan Richardson was magnificent and meaningful.

I rejoice that David and Carol Sessions could be present and that David talked about his personal relationship with Cecil Richardson when they were in the Chaplain Officer Basic Leadership Course at Maxwell AFB in the late 70s. It was fitting that he should be the one to make the presentation of the sculpture, "Divine Servant" to Chaplain Richardson. This replica of the sculpture by Max Greiner, Jr. depicts the washing of Peter's feet by Jesus. I will always believe God directed me to purchase that special gift for our speaker, Cecil Richardson--a servant/leader.

Melvine sang a solo at our dinner banquet that blessed all entitled, "He Giveth More Grace." She has blessed chapel congregations throughout the Air Force, in local churches, camp meetings, and revivals over the years of our ministry together.

Stephanie, our daughter, led us in singing "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" prior to the communion service. We used a freshly baked loaf of bread, a pitcher of grape juice, and a chalice. Chaplains Ken Godfrey and Timothy Moore assisted me with the communion service. We used intinction for the communion service. Intinction is the Eucharistic practice of partly dipping the consecrated bread, or host, into the consecrated wine (grape juice for us as Pentecostals) before consumption by the communicant. Bob and Janice Lynch sang "It is Well With My Soul" as we feasted on the elements of the Lord's Supper accompanied by Arlette Revells at the piano. It was our desire to honor our Lord's last desire before He would suffer by having communion to remember His death, His greatest work of redemption ["God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" ( 2 Corinthians 5:19, KJV)], while at the same time affirming our belief of Christ's Second Coming for His Bride, the Church.

In the midst of it all, it was my honor and privilege to announce the new appointment of Russell Gunter as the administrative assistant to Paul Vicalvi, the executive director of NAE Chaplains Commission. I will always give God the glory for this significant honor that has been offered to Retired Navy Chaplain Russell Gunter who achieved the rank of Captain as a Navy officer and chaplain (equivalent to the rank of Colonel in the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force) and served 23 years in the Navy as an IPHC chaplain. His last assignment was in the Pentagon as the executive director, Armed Forces Chaplains Board. He worked closely with the three Chiefs of Chaplains of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and for the under Secretary of the Department of Defense, Vice Admiral, Patricia Ann Tracey. Rear Admiral A. Byron Holderby, Chief of Navy Chaplains and the Chairman, Armed Forces Chaplains Board, was present for Russell's retirement. Bishop Wesley and Janice Russ were present, along with Melvine and me for this significant retirement ceremony in "The Hall of Heroes" in the Pentagon on July 20, 2000. Russell Gunter served for a term as a member of our Chaplains Ministries Board and added immeasurably to our discussions and decisions.

Meanwhile, Timothy Moore was selected for promotion to Commander (05, equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines, Army, and Air Force). His notification came late Thursday, June 23, 2011. He will pin on the new rank in August or September of 2012. We are so very proud of Tim.

As I was reflecting with Tim about his selection for promotion to the rank of Commander, he reminded me of the fact that he was the first chaplain I had endorsed as the director/endorser in April 1999. Should our plans materialize for me to retire in 2012, Tim Moore's promotion ceremony will be the last promotion I will officially attend prior to my retirement from Chaplains Ministries in August/September 2012. In the providence of God, He has allowed me to be Timothy Moore's endorser/confidant/mentor from LT (jg) - LT - LCDR - and now CDR! From O-2 all the way to O-5 - how about that! What an honor for Tim and me. The journey has been great as we have traveled to New Jersey, Sicily, North Carolina, Hawaii, and Virginia to see Tim, Pam, and their family.

This was my last retreat as director/endorser. What a way to conclude this significant retreat event that occurs every two years for our chaplains and their spouses.

We all rejoiced with the good news that Chaplain Randy Sellers has received orders to be transferred to Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan. Melvine and I would like to go there to see them on an official visit, and to travel to Hong Kong to see where my dear mother, Julia Payne (Morgan), labored as a missionary for our church from 1920-1929. I hope I can meet some of the Chinese who will be in their 80s and 90s that knew my mother. God has placed a love for Chinese and all Oriental peoples in my spiritual DNA.

God honored our planning and work for this special retreat. I am especially appreciative of the leadership of Karen and Ken Godfrey throughout the whole process. They were committed, determined and tenacious in helping me make it through many challenges, hurdles, and surprises.They walked with me through it all.

I give God all the glory, honor and praise. I am grateful for the support of our Chairman, Bishop Chris Thompson, Bishop Garry Bryant, Assistant Director, Evangelism USA and field director of ACT2Day Conference, and other members of our Chaplains Ministries Board who were all present with their wives.

This was my last retreat as director/endorser. What a way to conclude this significant retreat event that occurs every two years for our chaplains and their spouses.

Now, let me bring my portion of this Special Edition to a proper conclusion by giving you a couple of benedictions from the Bible:

Jude 24-25

24 Now unto Him Who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
KJV

Ephesians 1:15-23

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
NKJV