Capt. Pete and Monica Stone
Capt. Pete Stone, Grace Brethren chaplain in the U.S. Army, recently sent a reminder of why we pray for our military chaplains—who often have seemingly unintentional conversations that have eternal results. Chaplain Stone (pictured at right with his wife, Monica), serves with the 1-160th SOAR (A) located at Ft. Campbell, Ky. He will soon be deployed and will not be able to attend Fellow/Shift, the national vision conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
As a chaplain, one of the most rewarding things I do is spend massive amounts of time with unbelievers, skeptics, those who have fallen away from the faith, and those who are trying to find their way. They each have a story to tell, and they usually want to tell it. One of my greatest privileges is spending enough time with these Soldiers that they would entrust me with the sacred ministry of listening to them.
I believe that every prayer you pray in support of our chaplain ministry anoints every minute we have with our Soldiers with supernatural power. To illustrate, I wanted to share an excerpt from a letter I received not too long ago from a company commander I served with over three years ago. I joined his company one night for a 12 mile ruck march. I remembered talking with him about Christ but never thought much about it again. He since moved onto other things. He just sent this letter a few weeks ago. It serves as a reminder to me that it is prayer that empowers what we do—your prayers and my prayers. God is at work on a plane we often never see. But we affect that plane and influence it through prayer and through being available to the opportunities that arise.
“Pete, . . . I just wanted to share with you that things have finally clicked for me. I also just wanted to thank you, as I feel that you were instrumental in helping me take that journey. . . . I will say for years to come, that it was on a road march at Fort Campbell at the trail of a formation during an unintentional conversation with a Chaplain, that someone cared enough, in just the right way, to tell me what I already knew, but that I had been keeping from myself, was that I wasn’t saved . . .”
In the letter he shared about his new faith in Christ and what God has been doing in his life.
We often never see these results, but we keep laboring because it is the Holy Spirit through the power of the Gospel that saves. Prayer is the fuel. We are the vehicle. To God be the glory. Thank you for being a part of this incredible ministry with us chaplains.
For more news of Grace Brethren military chaplains, see the Eagle Commission.