INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–Prayer keeps us on God’s agenda, Maj. Gen. Douglas Carver, the U.S. Army’s chief of chaplains, told fellow chaplains during a luncheon at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Indianapolis.
“Let’s make sure we’re on God’s agenda, because it’s much better than what you and I can come up with in our feeble abilities,” Carver said.
“Our soldiers carry a heavy, heavy load,” Carver added. “And we get to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ unencumbered while in uniform.”
Carver addressed the luncheon for chaplains hosted each year by the North American Mission Board. The board endorses chaplains on behalf of Southern Baptists.
Citing the importance of Southern Baptists in the work of military ministry, Carver emphasized the vitality a local church can give to military personnel at home and during deployment.
“Just about every good thing has happened to me happened in a Southern Baptist church,” Carver said. “North Broad Baptist Church in downtown Rome [Ga.] is where I was licensed, ordained, commissioned and sent.
Officer won’t face court-martial in alleged assault of male soldier
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, April 7, 2008
HEIDELBERG, Germany — A V Corps chaplain accused of sex crimes and assault has been allowed to resign his commission rather than face a court-martial.
Capt. Anthony C. Mastromarino was allowed to “resign for the good of the service in lieu of court-martial,” officials said. “He is leaving the service,” said V Corps spokeswoman Hilde Patton.
Such resignations, which normally conclude with a less than honorable discharge, are a way for authorities to deal with cases that are deemed troublesome to prosecute, experts said, for a variety of reasons.
Mastromarino was charged in January with several crimes that prosecutors said he committed against a male soldier in Vilseck last June: forcible sodomy, indecent assault, indecent exposure and fraternization. He was also charged with twice threatening and assaulting a woman — in 2005 at Fort Campbell, Ky., and in January in Heidelberg. He also was charged with assaulting a military policeman called to the January incident.
70,000 copies of new book debut to American troops in the Middle East
DALLAS, Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ — Millions were inspired by the stirring, visceral account of Lt. General Hal Moore’s Vietnam war experience as told in the New York Times #1 bestseller We Were Soldiers Once…And Young. The major motion picture adaptation, We Were Soldiers, was hailed by many as “one of the best war movies ever made.” But there is so much more to the story.
In A General’s Spiritual Journey, observed and written by Hal Moore’s driver, General Moore opens his heart and soul about the role faith has played throughout his many life experiences. The evocative collection of memories and private thoughts are observed and written by his friend and “driver.” From his childhood in Kentucky, through West Point, to the bloody battlefields of Korea and Vietnam, in business and family, and into his current days of writing, speaking, and living without his beloved wife Julia, Hal Moore leaves little doubt as to what he has always valued most in his life–his God.
Military.com | By Bryant Jordan | February 04, 2008
Soldiers may come to Chaplain (Maj.) David Langer’s services for a little bit of peace. They may come for God.But they come armed, nonetheless.
“Most of the guys just put their weapons under their chairs,” said Langer, a Congregational minister and Army chaplain assigned to the 5th Iraqi Army Division Military Transition Team, which travels throughout Diyala province.
There are no rules against taking the weapons into the service, he said.
