Your Next Pastor Might be a Soldier (or Sailor, or Marine)

In our local church on Sunday, Chaplain Chris Melvin reminded us of the importance of keeping our minds on the big picture when confronted with the evil around us. CH Melvin (MAJ) has just been selected as Senior Chaplain for the Arizona Army Guard. However, his connection with Pastor Jason Wermager, our own long-time assistant pastor, is the story on which I would like to focus.

Chris and Jason first met when they were both in Air Force tech school in Colorado. Jason asked the then unsaved Chris if he could borrow Chris’s car to go to church on Sunday. A friendship formed and both ended up stationed at George Air Force Base in California. Jason was preparing to go out to look for a church on a Sunday morning when Ron Smith, a church planter with Armed Forces Baptist Missions (and FBFI board member) spotted him and invited him to church. Jason and Chris both ended up at Ron’s church and somewhere in the process, Chris came to know the Lord. Both Jason and Chris grew and served at that local church.  Ron introduced Jason and Chris to his wife’s sisters. The two airmen married the young ladies, making all three brothers-in-law.

Jason and Chris were stationed at the same base again in Arizona (Luke AFB) and began attending Tri-City Baptist Church in Tempe. They eventually both left the Air Force to prepare for ministry at IBCS. Upon graduation in 1998, Jason joined the pastoral staff at Northwest Valley Baptist Church and has been serving here faithfully for over 20 years. Chris pastored and was also recruited and mentored by Mike Sproul as a Guard Chaplain. He is now serving as a full-time chaplain in the Arizona Army Guard.

There are two observations I would like to make about their story.

Military ministry has the potential to produce future preachers.

Many men who are now faithfully serving the Lord were saved and/or called to ministry while in the military. This is one of the reasons why the chaplaincy is an important part of what we do in the FBFI. Military ministry should be evangelistic but there is more. While military ministry today focuses on the many problems our servicemen and women face (PTSD, moral injury, marriage, and personal issues), we must also remember the future potential of many serving for ministry. After all, it was a previous generation of World War II veterans that founded and built many of the great ministries in present-day fundamentalism.

The local church is an important part of military ministry.

In the case of Jason and Chris, two local churches were where they were discipled and given direction for ministry. While chaplain ministry is important, local church military ministry is important too. Churches with the opportunity to minister to nearby military bases should place a priority on doing so. The ministry might be short-term because of the transient nature of the military, but the impact for the Kingdom can be immense. There are those like Ron Smith in this story, who are already doing military ministry. I thank God for you. I know it can be disheartening when your congregation moves away or a base closes, but do not be discouraged. The impact of your hard work and faithfulness is being seen all over the world.

On this Veteran’s Day, I thank God for our veterans who have served faithfully to defend our freedoms. We all owe them a huge debt of gratitude. I also thank God for the potential I see in the amazing group of young men and women who are presently serving. They not only a ripe evangelistic mission field, but also a fertile source for future ministry leaders.