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Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
Preparation................................................................................................................................... 1
Ministry Opportunities................................................................................................................2
Ministry Evaluation..................................................................................................................... 2
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 4
1
Introduction
This interview was conducted with Chaplain Joshua McCormick on 22 January 2025 at
10:00am. Chaplain McCormick serves as one of the installation chaplains for the protestant
community at Minot AFB; his primary function is to be the unit chaplain for the 91st Operation
Squadron, as well as the deputy lead Protestant Chaplain. In these areas of responsibility, he
serves as counselor and advisor to the commander as well as the members of the 91st Operations
Squadron, and he is responsible for coordinating the Protestant contemporary services as well.
He has served as a chaplain for 8 months, having cross-trained from the Cyber operations career,
where he served as an officer for 5 years.
Preparation
As is currently standard for all military chaplains, Chaplain McCormick completed a 72-
hour Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree in preparation for his chaplain career. Additionally, he
served several years on staff at a local church in Alaska, where he did much of the administrative
work and service coordination. He is endorsed through the Southern Baptist Convention, and he
said that these requirements will vary from one endorser to another. He spoke of the conversation
he had with his endorser and how they wanted to be sure that he would be able to perform all
required faith traditions with a good degree of experience.
Chaplain McCormick spoke of the spiritual disciplines he exercises that helped him to be
spiritually prepared for the ministry as a chaplain. He spoke primarily of the discipline of
meditative prayer; he said that, during his initial call experience, he spent a great deal of time in
prayer and meditation to ensure that he had understood God correctly and that he was following
God’s will for his life. As he spoke, I was reminded of Donald Whitney and what he said about
linger by the fire. He stated: “when we apply the bellows of meditation to the fire of God’s
2
Word, we see more light (insight and understanding) and feel more heat (passion for obedient
action).”1 This seemed to be exactly what Chaplain McCormick was doing, he was applying the
“bellows of meditation to God’s Word” so that he could better understand God’s will and gain
insight for the way ahead, so that he might be more effective in his obedient actions.
Ministry Opportunities
He spoke of many opportunities he’s had even though his time as a chaplain has been
short to this point. He’s had many opportunities to preach at the contemporary services and lead
the services in the absent of the lead Protestant chaplain, in addition to coordinating special
events for the chapel parishioners. He also spoke of the many opportunities he has had to
minister to the unit populace of the 91st and how he enjoys building relationships so that he might
reach the lost in creative ways so as not to violate personal belief systems. One such ministry that
he spoke of with great enthusiasm is the “prison ministry” he established to reach those who are
in confinement on base and isolated from the community. He explained that he felt led to begin
this ministry after one of his unit’s members was put in confinement and he saw how isolated the
individual was, he said that he felt the need to and was convicted by the verses Matthew 25 that
speak of ministering to those in prison.
Ministry Evaluation
As we transitioned into his evaluation of his ministry and the affect it has had on his
family, he mentioned how he tends to grade himself more harshly and hopes that the view from
others, and more importantly from God, is that he is succeeding in accomplishing the tasks that
are given to him in a satisfactory way. He also spoke of the ebb and flow of applying the spiritual
1 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. (NavPress Tyndale House Publishers:
Colorado Springs, CO, 2014), 49.
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disciplines, and how he needed his time of prayer to keep focus, especially while preparing for
Sunday sermons. He emphasized how this “smooths the way” and allows him to remain in the
zone of preparation effectively. This was reminiscent of what Dr. Milioni said on the topic of
prayer when he described how prayer is a form of worship, and “sets the stage for prayer.”2 The
fact that Chaplain McCormick prepared for the worship of God by praying over his sermons and
keeping his heart and mind on God, enables the Spirit to work during the worship service at the
chapel.
The drawback that Chaplain McCormick mentioned is that he has less time with his
family. His duties often take him away from his family at odd hours and sometimes keeps him at
the office longer than usual. However, he confessed that this has taught him to create more
quality time rather than quantity of time. He said that the most effective way to do this is to look
for big investment opportunities that require less time such as showing up at the guard mount and
engaging with the members of the security forces that were about to go out on patrol. He
explained that this required very little effort on his part but the simple act of being there with his
people demonstrated to them that he was with them and available to them, even when it was
“inconvenient” or not required of him. This would then give him time back in other areas and
allowed him to see how he can also apply this concept with his family. He was very appreciative
of the strength of his wife; he spoke very highly of her efforts in supporting him and caring for
their children while he was away from home.
2 Dwayne Milioni, “Worship-Based Prayer” (lecture video),
https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/764900/pages/watch-worship-based-prayer?module_item_id=78184082. 1:25.
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Bibliography
Whitney, Donald S., Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. NavPress Tyndale House
Publishers: Colorado Springs, CO, 2014.
Milioni, Dwayne. “Worship-Based Prayer” (lecture video),
https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/764900/pages/watch-worship-based-prayer?
module_item_id=78184082.
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