Great Day // February 18, 2007

In case you were wondering, I was deployed right out of seminary. I was working on my MDiv when I commissioned into the Guard and when they saw that I already HAD a Master's (and enough credits to equal 72 hours - which is the Army minimum) then they pulled me for the deployment.

Therefore, I never actually finished my Mdiv. I don;t have to, I fully meet the requirements and more but... I was only a few classes awaly and I feel that I owe it to myself to finish the degree!

So, this semester I am taking Church Administration and Management (been putting this class off), Ethics in Counseling (loving this class), and Conflict Resolution (this class is good, not exactly what I was expecting, but really good) - all great classes, though sometimes (like tonight) I question what exactly is motivating me to finish this thing.

I had my first Sunday as the associate pastor of the Gospel Service here on Post at Ft Stewart. Its just me and the senior pastor, Chaplain Johnson (SDA). Its a great honor to be chosen to lead that congregation. Sara and I attended on Wed night and the people were so loving - they had me preach this morning. We had a wonderful time.

As with most Gospel services, its a multi-cultural ministry, predominantly African American, and the largest congregation on post. It was such a blessing to be in the pulpit and bringing the Word.

Its such an interesting experience to attend (and now minister) at a post chapel. I confess that the first few times I went to any of the services (contemporary, traditional, liturgical, gospel) it kind of feels a bit like "playing" church. It like, "ok, you'll be the pastor this week and I'll be the pastor next week..." I'm not sure what exaclty it is that gives the feeling but its there. I think it may be that most services have so many chaplains that it just gets top heavy. (At the Contemporary service I think they had four or five chaplains - what church of 120 has four or five seminary-trained staff??) The Gospel service had an entirely different feel though. They only have one other chaplain (CH Johnson) the rest are all deploying or have already gone over - there were only two others) Since thats the case, it operates very much like a traditional, civilian church. I didn't feel like I was "playing church" today at all!! They have vibrant congregation that has a good outreach ministry and warm atmosphere. Of course, since I now am on staff there, I'm sure I have a bias...

Since I will be deploying out to Camp Shelby soon, my activities are limited. It will be the church that we attend as long as we are stationed here. Its going to be a great ministry.