A BIO OF THE PARSON

I was born in southern Alabama, but my family later moved to a small town called Graceville in northwest Florida when I began first grade, and I went on to complete all my formal primary and secondary education there. However, I still consider Alabama as my home state.

I have been married to my wife, Ellen, since 1981. We have two children, Amy and Joshua. Amy married her husband, Chris, in 2002, and gave birth to our only grandchildren, Makenzie, in 2004, and Connor, in 2007. Joshua finished high school in May 2004, and, due to some personal limitations, continues to live with us. I am as proud as any father would be of ALL their accomplishments and success in life.

I am also a conservative, Christian minister who serves part-time as a chaplain in the Alabama Army National Guard (AL-ARNG), though I am preparing to retire in February 2012. That means what little leisure time I have at the end of each day and each week, I have to divide with my family (and other personal responsibilities) and my abiding pleasure of using computer technology and its practical application for serving Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Therefore, my Parson Place ministry is part-time in addition to my regular, full-time ministry as a pastor and a part-time AL-ARNG chaplain. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day, so I frequently get behind on reading and replying to my email because I'm either updating the Parson Place web site or I'm working to publish a new book through my Christian publishing company, Parson Place Press, or I'm updating that Web site, or else I'm writing on my monthly column for Christian Computing Magazine in my limited spare time. Nevertheless, I usually respond to personal emails right away, while leaving all the miscellaneous newsletters, etc. for later review.

For hobbies, I enjoy fishing, gardening, writing, and, yes, using computers, though not necessarily in that order. I especially enjoy writing of any kind and creating web pages. You can check out my Articles from the Parson pages to see what I mean. Everything on the Articles from the Parson page is personally authored by me, and you can also check out the Parson Place Software Creations page to see some of the programs I've personally created. I welcome your feedback.

I published my first book, Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too!, in October 2004. However, I revised and expanded it and released the second edition in April 2011. It is available for sale at the Parson Place Press Bookstore and in other popular online bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Cokesbury, just to name a few. Go to the Froogle web site and type in the search term, "digital evangelism" and you'll find numerous links to other online stores that carry it, too. If you want to get it from your local Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, or Cokesbury branch, or any other bookstore, for that matter, you may need to ask them to order it for you. It is also available for ordering in the United Kingdom. Just give the book sellers the book's ISBN -- 978-0-9842163-2-1 -- to place an order from either Ingram Book Group, Spring Arbor, or Lightning Source in North America or the UK.

I have also updated my second book, A Time for Everything: the Kevin Zimmerman Story, in a second edition, and it is scheduled for release in January 2012. It will be available through these same outlets. Just give the book sellers the book's ISBN -- 978-0-9842163-6-9 -- any time after mid-January 2012 to place an order from either Ingram Book Group, Spring Arbor, or Lightning Source in North America or the UK. You can also read all about the subject of the book, Mr. Kevin Zimmerman, at his blog.

I'm currently writing on my third book which I hope to publish sometime in early or mid-2012. You can check back here to learn of its release, or you can connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or my blog to keep up with the latest happenings in my life and ministry.

THE PARSON'S CREDENTIALS

If you're curious about how I got to where I am at this point in my life, here's a brief description. I completed my primary and secondary education and graduated high school in Graceville, Florida. I earned an Associate in Science degree from Wallace Community College in Dothan, Alabama, then I took a break from college to enlist in the U. S. Army and served three years as a chaplain assistant.

After my discharge from the Army, I was appointed to serve a two-church, United Methodist charge in the Dothan District of the Alabama/West Florida Conference. I also joined the Alabama Army National Guard (AL-ARNG) soon after my discharge from active duty. At the same time, I resumed my education and went on to complete a dual baccalaureate degree in history and English at Troy State University (now simply called Troy University) in Troy, Alabama. I next received my Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. I was ordained an elder in The United Methodist Church in 1991. I served a total of 12 years as a local parish minister in the Alabama/West Florida Conference, and as a member of the AL-ARNG, before being selected by the Army Chief of Chaplain's Office in 1996 to serve on active duty as an Army chaplain. However, after nine-and-one-half years on active duty as an Army chaplain, I developed a couple of health issues which prompted a medical board evaluation. Although I was ultimately found fit for duty, the process cost me my active duty career. I was twice passed over for promotion to the rank of Major (the grade of O-4), so I transitioned into the Army Reserve in 2006 in hopes of getting promoted there. After being lost in the shuffle of paperwork and not even being considered for promotion in 2006, a timely invitation from the State Chaplain of the AL-ARNG drew me back. In July 2006, I transferred back into the AL-ARNG in further hopes of being promoted and so I could drill a lot closer to home. I was having to drive 3.5 hours one way each month for drill, or battle assembly, as they call it in the USAR. I was finally promoted to Major in the AL-ARNG in 2007. I plan to retire from the AL-ARNG with nearly 31 years of combined active duty and reserve component service as both enlisted and commissioned officer in February 2012. I can hardly believe how quickly my life has passed by these past three decades!

I have just retired on 31 December 2011 from The United Methodist Church after 27.5 years of pastoral ministry, having served the past 4.5 years as the full-time pastor of the Rosinton United Methodist Church in Robertsdale, Alabama. I believe God is directing me now to establish a fresh new pastoral ministry here in Mobile, AL, though He hasn't made all of the details clear to me just yet. You can stay posted on the latest news of my life and ministry either by checking back on this page periodically, or by subscribing to my low-volume professional email list. If you'd like to receive more frequent email communications from me via forwards of certain emails I deem pertinent and appropriate and direct personal updates, I invite you to send me an email request to join my personal email list.

MY STATEMENT OF FAITH

Perhaps you're wondering just what it is I believe. Well, let me tell you anyway. :-)

I mentioned above that I am "a conservative, Christian minister, who also serves as a chaplain in the Alabama Army National Guard." Let me tell you what I mean by each of those adjectives.

"Conservative" means I hold firmly to the Judeo-Christian principles and commandments stated in the Holy Bible, and I DON'T tolerate altering them in any way. I'm open to change in a lot of areas, but NOT by amending the Divinely revealed and written Word of God!

"Christian" means I adhere, as best I can in the weak flesh I inhabit, to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Apostles He commissioned with spreading the Gospel throughout the earth. If they said it, I try to follow it and obey it. It's that simple. That doesn't mean I ignore anything in the Old Testament though. I believe it is as relevant as ever. In fact, much of the New Testament is a restatement of the Old Testament and a clarification of its application for us as Christians today.

"Minister" means I am a servant of Jesus Christ and of His Holy Church. Everything I do, I do for Him and them. That's basically all I can say about that one.

"Chaplain" means I am a clergyman in a military uniform -- an Alabama Army National Guard uniform, to be precise. I don't know where some people get the erroneous notion that ministers of the Gospel who join the military are "leaving the ministry". Christian chaplains do everything civilian ministers do, and probably MORE than most. We preach, teach, visit, counsel, comfort and encourage, sometimes reprove (when necessary), evangelize (without proselytizing from other faiths, unless individuals express a desire to convert), and lead folks to a newfound faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior as a result of evangelism, preaching, teaching, and all the other things we do. We administer the sacraments of holy communion and baptism, conduct weddings, funerals, and memorial services, lead and/or attend administrative meetings, write devotional articles, and ... need I keep going? We do everything civilian ministers do, except we do it in a military uniform and according to military rules and regulations.

So, what MORE do we do than civilian ministers? Well, for one thing, we accompany our flock to war, on humanitarian aid missions, peacekeeping missions, and whatever else our Government deems to be in the best interest of our state (in the case of the National Guard) or nation (when called to action by the President). We are missionaries, of sorts, who offer the hope of the Gospel (in the case of Christian chaplains), as well as prayer, hope, and encouragement to anyone who asks for it (in the case of chaplains of all faiths). In war, we are noncombatants, which means we do not bear arms against anyone, but rather we pray with and for the wounded and dying and offer consoling hope and encouragement to the battle-wearied. In fact, military chaplains are the only branch who are expressly prohibited from using weapons for any reason. Our faith is in our God to protect and deliver us. Indeed, chaplain ministry is a challenging but glorious work for our Lord. If you are a minister seeking to make a difference in the world for God, perhaps He may be calling you to this kind of service for Him, too.

Well, I think that about covers the most important points of my faith. If you still have questions about what I believe, or if you're interested in my experiences as an Army chaplain or chaplain assistant, either in the Army National Guard, Army Reserve or the Regular Army, contact me directly for more information. As a recruiting assistant, I will gladly give you whatever help I can and direct you to the nearest chaplain recruiter for further assistance.

I invite you to watch this three minute Army Chaplain recruiting video for a brief overview of what the Army Chaplaincy does. I advise you to download it to your own computer first, however, to avoid buffering delays during viewing.

You can learn more about being an Army chaplain at GoArmy.com or at the Army Chief of Chaplains Office or the Army Chaplain School. If you think you might be interested in becoming a chaplain assistant, you can read more about that at GoArmy.com, too.