Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham and current Pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, has an interesting article with application to Christians in all walks of life, including the military:

You’re free to stay put.

In becoming a Christian, we don’t need to retreat from the vocational calling we already have-nor do we need to justify that calling, whatever it is, in terms of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness.

We simply exercise whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards-and with a renewed commitment to performing our calling with greater excellence and higher objectives.

Like R.G. LeTourneau, he makes the point that you don’t have to give up your current career field to serve God.  In fact, while some may specifically be “called” to “the ministry,” the Bible seems to encourage us to stay where we are and serve God in “ministry” wherever we are.  In short, we become missionaries to our field.

I once heard Os Guinness address a question about why the church in the late 20th century was not having a larger impact in our world when there were more people going to church than ever before. He said the main reason was not that Christians weren’t where they should be…Rather, the main reason is that Christians aren’t who they should be right where they are.

In short, many Christians today have “compartmentalized” their faith to Sunday morning, instead of living it out every day.

Just like every other profession, choosing to “serve God” doesn’t mean a Christian has to abandon the military profession.  Like the others, Christians in the military can be missionaries to their fields as well.

The way Christians impact the military — the world — for Christ is to be in it.