Tag Archives: Military

Saddleback Church Hosts Military, Camp Pendleton Memorial Service

A local campus of Rick Warren’s California Saddleback Church hosted special Memorial Day services on Sunday, including a visit from a local wounded warrior:

Machine gunner Sedrick Hay, who has been a part of 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, 2nd Battalion 5th Marines and currently, the Wounded Warrior Battalion, will share his story that includes having been deployed three times, once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He is a member of Saddleback Church and will lead those attending in a moment of prayer.

The article notes this is not a one-off ministry event for Saddleback. Rather, the church has partnered with the military at Camp Pendleton to provide a variety of support services for members of the military:  Read more

Special Forces Chaplain on Unconventional Ministry

Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal has an interesting article from US Army Chaplain (Capt) Tim Crawley, probably one of the few chaplains to attend and complete a few Special Forces courses:

After my chaplaincy training, I was given the opportunity to attend the Army’s Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS). Upon successfully completing selection, I was invited to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course, the arduous “Q Course,” approximately 18 months of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion.

Chaplain Crawley writes how the education on Unconventional Warfare had an “uncanny application to ministry leadership.”

His 7-phase application is an interesting Read more

Archdiocese Offers Mass at Recruit Training Center

As noted in an official Navy article, Catholic Bishop Robert Coyle, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, recently visited the US Naval Recruit Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois. He was able to meet with the Command’s leadership and celebrate communion with trainees at the Recruit Memorial Chapel. As every trainee of every branch knows, the ability to celebrate one’s faith during the intensity of basic training can provide the support and strength to persevere:

During Catholic services at RTC, recruits volunteer to sing in the choir or serve at the altars. Recruits can also offer prayers, read scripture and take Holy Communion. According to Seaman Recruit Katrina Biggs, taking Read more

Air Force May Change Religious Freedom Policy

Mikey Weinstein’s confused take on the Air Force’s policy:  It’s like an umbrella in a tsunami…

McClatchy asked the question no other media outlet has in the past few weeks: What ever became of the “offsite” Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said she was convening?

Late last month, James and Welsh convened a “Religious Freedom Focus Day” conference of senior chaplains and legal and manpower officials to discuss the policy. An Air Force spokeswoman, Rose Richeson, declined to make the results of the April 28 meeting public, saying it would be “too premature to provide an interview.”

It would seem, though, someone may have heard what occurred:

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council…said that based on what he’d heard from people at the meeting he expected the Air Force to “make a policy change shortly.”

The article says Perkins’ statement “alarms supporters of the policy,” and cites exactly one person: Michael “Mikey” Weinstein.  The policy Read more

USCIRF Appointee: Religious Freedom is Fundamental Right

Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest, was recently appointed by President Obama to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. The USCIRF makes policy recommendations to the US government regarding “freedom of religion or belief abroad.”

In a recent column, Reese expounded on the 2014 USCIRF report (published before his appointment) and highlighted the USCIRF’s assertion that religious freedom is a “fundamental human right,” one that even the US doesn’t always get exactly right:  Read more

Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell, Bill Wagasy Talk Faith, Service

Former US Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell — best known for the book and movie Lone Survivor — and Bill Wagasy recently spoke to a group of Texas high school students on leadership, character, and faith in God.

“Billy and I are kind of cut from the same cloth, if you will,” Luttrell said, mentioning the students should pay attention to Wagasy’s advice. “We started up together, came up together, deployed into combat together…”

Between Wagasy’s talks on honor, developing character, brotherhood, fearing God and developing intellect, the students Read more

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