I hate cell phones. If you’ve spent any length of time around me you hear my spiel on the evils of cell phones. Can you hear my now? Maybe I don’t want to hear you now – maybe I want to be left alone for 5 minutes. I do confess my wife started me on this dark path toward cell phone sin back when we first got married and I use it it as she intended it to be use – to call her.

I love cell phones. Instant communication is great! My recruiter called me on Friday; someone who I’ve been wanting to hear from everyday for the past month. Basically curious to find out what’s next – where I am in the processes and all things Navy. Lets just say if someone could be annoyingly persistent in the process of trying to talk to a recruiter it would be me. Which in itself is sort of ironic considering their job is to “recruit” people to their cause – in this case the U.S. Navy. To be honest there was a change in personnel and I happen to jump into the fray at the just the perfect moment to contribute to the chaos of moving all applications packets from one recruiter to another.

The Application for Commission:

So if you want to enlist in the Navy the process is pretty thorough covering everything from a Physical Readiness Test (PRT) to the ASVAB (a test designed show your recruiter where your skills lie) to MEPS (think turn your head and cough on steroids). If however you are seeking a commission in the Navy as an officer, the process becomes down right diabolical. Let’s imagine your superman and you do everything at the speed of light. It will still take you 3-4 months to get everything done.

 So for an Application for Commission here is what is required in your “packet”

note: This is specifically for Chaplains, it will differ some for line officers and other staff corp officers.

The Application (6 pages worth)

Copy of every official document you’ve had (Pull out that library card, hero)

The Resume (dated and signed)

Tattoo Screening (You have to list every tattoo you have and its location – for me not so much.)

Waiver Of Liability (Basically as your trying to get back into shape for the PRT you can’t blame the Navy for injuries.)

Security Clearance (Yeah the beast of Revelation right here. 7 years of employment history and 5 years of resident history; if you stayed somewhere longer then a week you have to list it with exact dates – that by the way have to match the dates you listed on your application, or it will not pass. I think I spent about 10-12 hours filling this out. Seminary students move a lot.)

References (from everyone including your first pet – if he died tough luck you still need it.)

Ecclesiastical Endorsement (This one is going to take a while as well – see previous post)

O-4 Interview (This is an interview with a Lt. Commander or higher – you will need 2 of them)

MEPS (the physical – probably the most invasive physical you’ll ever undergo.)

CARE Board interview (You are flown to Washington D.C. And stand before a panel of command chaplains (4-6) and a line officer to give an accounting of yourself and your desire to serve as a chaplain in the Navy.) 

Now during this entire process another process is going on in the background unbeknownst to you called Scrolling. This is basically what the Navy calls a scroll (A form document) with all the potential men and women looking for a commission that goes up to Congress for approval. Now here is the catch. If your approved by congress before your application packet is done you just added 4 to 6 months to your lead time so that the Navy can verify and validate all information your submitted is true.

So anyway I get this call from my recruiter informing me that I have a CARE board date. Sweet! April 13th. I’m still liking the sound of this. Five weeks away; cool, plenty of time to finish the last few things I need; specifically MEPS and the O-4 Interview. 5 weeks – no – lets try 2. Oh and by the way I need to send my recruiter a copy of my SS card. Sure soon as I get home. I bet you see where this is going.

So that SS card, the one I’ve had for the past 31 years. I lost it last month. Replacement cards take 10 to 14 days. So this stupid little card that has a number on it – that I can say backward while doped up on NyQuil is seeking to single-handedly destroy my entire naval career because it went and got lost.

So that’s it – my packet is done save for MEPS, my O-4 Interview and that stupid card.

April 13th seems like an eternity away.

I was a bleary-eyed wreck. I blame my wife. Maybe it wasn’t her fault but at 4:30am it felt so wrong to be so awake. Moving in a concerted effort after just 7 short years of marriage we worked well together even though we both still very much wanted to be asleep. The point? We were headed to Atlanta, home of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the final step toward receiving a denominational endorsement for Naval Chaplaincy.
Rewind about 2 weeks and you would find me almost reluctantly shooting out an email to my endorsing agent at NAMB curious about when we could start the process over again for endorsement. I say reluctant because I half expected to be turned away. In the span of about 2 hours I received a reply with 3 short questions and an invitation to Alpharetta (a suburb of Atlanta) to the interview conference, the final step in the process of endorsement. That big oak door swung open so fast I think I heard a hinge snap.

To say NAMB is thorough would be one of the biggest understatements of the year.From memory here is a list of everything I needed up to this point.

1.  The usual applications and resume for starters
2. References:Pastor,Chairman of the Deacon Board,Women’s Ministry Director,Local Denominational Reference,and two other character references.
3. Doctrinal Stance on:Pretty much everything (expect 3-4 pages worth of about 12 question)
4. Missional PositionHow you do ministry, how you witness, how often you share your faith, etc. (again another 3-4 pages).

Granted not all endorsers are created equal and some simply sign off on you. In a nutshell the military wants you to have 72 hours at the Masters level (essentially a Master of Divinity) and 2 years of ministry experience. NAMB, which is the endorsing body of the Southern Baptist Convention, has to decide whether or not you meet those requirements. Point in fact: a Chaplain serves in the Navy but serves at the pleasure of his endorsing agency. If the endorser pulls your endorsement at any point your career is over. There is nothing the Navy can do about it. To that end be very sure that you agree with the endorser on all essential matters of faith before you seek their approval, because they will be with you for a long time – it’s not just a piece of paper, it’s a contract that you will abide by for the duration of your career.

The flight was for the most part uneventful save for the landing which everyone around me thought was normal but I knew better! I think I have a fear of landing. Take off – easy, flying – fine, turbulence – meh. Landing? Please God let me live.By the way, the whole trip was paid in full by NAMB – they even made us promise to send them a receipt for the tolls we encountered driving to the airport to meet the plane (I don’t think we did – but then again we’ve always walked a little on the wild side). We found our ride which took us to the hotel and then on to the NAMB headquarters after we checked in. Can I just say that every single person associated with the Southern Baptist Convention needs to make this trip. I had no idea what NAMB was all about apart from needing a piece of paper from them saying I’m not insane and capable of ministry in the navy.

Welcome to NAMB
What I got was a ride through heaven. Not pearly gates and streets of gold but an overwhelming sense that what this place was about was identifying, equipping, mentoring and sending out men and women, shoot even kids, for the work of leading a dark, dying world into the brilliant life-giving light of the Lord Jesus Christ. Overwhelmed was an understatement. It was a God-breathed moment in my life. This was right – this was good. This was of Him, for Him and by Him.
The interview was about an hour and every single deep dark secret was on the chopping block – full disclosure was the rule of the day. However, to say that the trip was about the interview would be only half right. The knowledge, fellowship and friends made on that trip will last a lifetime. Three short days and it was over. Incidentally, or rather more on purpose, we did meet another couple headed towards the navy and God-willing we will be in the same class at ODS, navigating the wiles of the military as brothers united through the bonds of Christ.

On February 17th I received my official endorsement letter – it made my day. Men far wiser than I had stamped their approval validating what Angela and I had felt in our hearts months before:

God was calling us to the Navy.

It is with a little anxiety that I write this first post. The idea for a blog detailing my journey into the Naval Chaplaincy and beyond is something that I’ve contemplated for quite a while as God has continued to burden my heart for the young men and women serving in our armed forces.
Having felt the first inclination of a call to chaplaincy back in October of 2008 Angela and I began to absorb ourselves in finding out more about the different branches of the military and what all it would entail in being a chaplain serving in the armed forces. I must confess what originally drew us to navy chaplaincy was the shorter length of deployments as opposed to the army. What I find ironic now that I look back on that initial assessments almost a year and a half later (knowing that deployments can vary and at times can be up to a yearlong) is that God used something very selfish in my nature to draw me towards the branch He wanted me in. In other words, I was looking for the easiest path and God allowed me to move in that direction because it was THE path. Having spent a year plus in the process I can safely say with confidence that there really is no such thing as an easy path. Chaplaincy – in whatever branch – will be stress-filled and a struggle moment by moment day by day. It is here that I find myself 16 months later resigned to one truth: I will say yes. Yes to His will, Yes to His way, Yes to His call.

So it begins.

Over the next 4 months Angela and I poured over everything we could get our hands on concerning Navy Chaplaincy. Doors began to fling wide open in ways we had not seen in a long time. The desert; that proverbial 40 years; (admittedly it was only 3 for us) was over! God was moving in our lives and we were anxious, excited, and a little scared at the whirlwind that was coming. I was being fast tracked for the August 2009 ODS (Officer Development School) class. There are only 3 times a year that direct accession chaplains go to ODS, January, May, and August. I was being pushed for a July CARE Board interview so I could make the August Date.

Then I get a call…

My Endorser at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) called to inform me that there was a slight hiccup in my Endorsement. No problem, I thought, God is in control here so how bad could it be. I needed another 6 to 12 months of ministry experience. It was June. I did the math and no matter how much Fuzzy Washington Insider math I tried I could not make 2 = 6.
I was young he told me, plenty of time he told me. All I could hear was that giant oak door slamming shut. Disheartened, feeling alone, forsaken of God – I pouted. A very manly pout, but a pout nonetheless – it wasn’t fair!

My endorser left me with some sage advice, that at the time I didn’t want to hear (but would eventually act upon to the Glory of God), and said call him in January and left it at that.
Life moved on, and so did I. I wound up moving into a position at a local church as the Discipleship Pastor, half with the chaplaincy in mind and half with an understanding that I might be there forever.
I think one of the greatest gifts my father has ever given me was the mentality that I should never find myself in ministry simply for the short term. Expect everything to be a life work until the moment God says “Go.”

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and January was upon us. God called. He said “Go.”

/Philip