Tag Archives: christian

Air Force Couple Celebrates Unborn Daughter’s Short Life

Her name is Savannah Joy…

In a story that is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, an Air Force article documents the story of Senior Airman Joshua Hurtley and his wife, Rebecca, and the upcoming birth of their first child:

Her name is Savannah Joy. Her date of birth and date of death are expected to be one and the same – Oct. 7, 2013…

Savannah has a congenital defect that is fatal “nearly 100 percent” of the time.

The article is an amazing testimony to the faith of the couple, though the article is jilted by unnecessary comments on the “decision to continue” the pregnancy — something the Hurtley’s seemingly never questioned:

Yet despite the diagnosis of the second opinion being exactly the same as the first, the husband and wife took it as a blessing…

“It was at that moment that despite our devastation, we started to focus on what Savannah had, rather than what she didn’t have. God has given her life, and it is our job as parents to help her live it.”

The Hurtleys don’t have all the answers, but they know the One Read more

US Military Christian Preschool Moves Off Post

The Mustard Seed preschool program had been run at the US Army garrison at Yongsan, South Korea, for more than 30 years.  Apparently, someone applied to become director of the preschool but was rejected — so they filed an anonymous complaint that triggered an investigation of the entire program.

Initially, the Army was simply going to shut it down, but it relented when parents voiced their concerns over the hardship a sudden closure would cause.  The Mustard Seed school has now moved off post to Seoul International Baptist Church, where it can still serve US troops and civilians without military involvement.

“We decided to see if it would work, and it worked beautifully,” said Jon Goldsmith, executive director of the Seoul International Baptist Church, which now operates the Mustard Seed Preschool. “It’s not really out of context for us because we have a large military presence at our church, and we were the closest church to the base, with a sizeable representation from the base.”

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Airmen Serve on Mission Trip to Honduras

Two Security Forces Airmen, Senior Airmen Joe Potalivo and Nicholas Gahm, recently volunteered to go on a mission trip to Honduras with their church, Radiant Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Their main objective…was to help build three, large, brick buildings, that once completed, would house more than 100 orphans. They did a little of everything, from erecting insulation to constructing a perimeter security.

While work was the order of the day, there was another component they may not have anticipated:

“Every day we would come to work, many of the village children would be there waiting on us, greeting us with smiles and Read more

Reports: US Military Christians Targeted for Beliefs

FoxNews had a somewhat inflammatory title to its article, “Air Force cracking down on Christians,” in which columnist Todd Starnes noted the story of SMSgt Philip Monk, currently being investigated after filing a complaint of religious discrimination.

Lost in some of the controversy, though, was this near the end of the article [emphasis added]:

[Monk’s] not the only Christian at Lackland Air Force Base facing persecution for opposing gay marriage, according to Monk’s pastor.

Steve Branson is the pastor of Village Parkway Baptist Church, about five miles from the Air Force base. He tells me that as many as a half dozen of his church members are currently facing persecution…for their religious beliefs.

“Sgt. Monk is just the tip of the iceberg,” Read more

Atheist Army Officer Wants Recruits to Avoid Liberty U

US Army Capt Sara Sharick publicly identifies as an Army officer and recruiter — and she’s an atheist. When a potential Army recruit walked into her office one day, she was “disappointed” to learn he wanted to attend Liberty University.

So my Center Commander asks him where he plans on going to college. I’m thinking K State or KU, some place local. He says “Liberty University.” I just about choked…I pull out my phone and look up if Liberty even has an ROTC program. Sure as [redacted], both Army and Air Force. So disappointed.

Why is she “disappointed?”  She says Liberty University is home to “the crazies,” apparently referring to Christians, given that Liberty is a mainstream Christian university.  (Sharick joins Michael Weinstein’s loathing for the school, when he called it “horrifying” that Liberty would teach the same material other universities do.)

At first, Sharick seemed willing to grit her teeth and help the kid out:  Read more

Jewish Chaplain Considers Messianic Jews

The issue of US military chaplains being Messianic Jews boiled over several years ago.  Ultimately, the Navy decided that a Messianic-Jewish chaplain-candidate had to wear the Christian cross as a religious symbol, rather than the Jewish tablets he wanted.  He chose to resign instead, and no one else has stepped forward to continue the controversy.

Still, there are Messianic Jews within the military, and Chaplain David Frommer wrote about his experiences while deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, when he discovered that one of the half-dozen Jews in his congregation was Messianic.

one of the Jewish civilian contractors arrived with a personal box of Havdalah supplies, prepared to conduct the service on his own in the room across the hall. He was one of my favorite congregants and had enthusiastically participated in all the services and classes I had offered…“It’s so Read more

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