They risked their life for you. What would you do for them?

November 9, 2015

Wednesday is Veterans Day, 2015; it’s the day we honor the men and women who have served in our armed forces. Whom do you plan to honor?

The Census Bureau is the best source of statistical information about the American populace; here’s their current inventory of the men and women who have served us in uniform, and are still alive for us to seek out and lift up:

–  There are 19.6 million veterans in the United States; 8% are women
–  9.3 million are over-65; 1.6 million are under-35
–  3.6 million have a service-connected disability

Since the draft was abolished in 1973, the decision to serve the country in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard has been voluntary. The patriots who have dedicated themselves to that role have been willing to place themselves at the disposal of their nation’s leadership – to serve our international defense needs – with the knowledge that they were likely to risk their life in the process.

Paul used military metaphors to describe the challenge of living as a soldier in the continuing battle between the god of this world and the God of Heaven: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:2-5)

Nations recruit armies to defend their borders and protect their values. The Kingdom recruits believers to assume the mission that was launched by the Lord Jesus while he was here: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) The prisoners and the oppressed – spiritually – are still waiting for their rescuers to arrive…

We – The Master’s Program – got a jump on Veterans Day this year. A few months ago, we recognized an opportunity to honor the veterans whose lives have been dedicated to serving us through the challenging years of the Gulf Wars. Phil Brown – one of our core team – has led the charge on a powerful new initiative: we’ve extended scholarships to qualified veterans to participate in TMP.

These are service heroes who are nearing the end of their military careers, or have just re-entered the private sector. Well-schooled in military leadership, they recognize the value of our mentoring offer to help them explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling as they find balance, margin and focus in their new life, outside government/military career service.

We currently have 20 participants who have come into various TMP cohorts alongside our existing participants, and they’re already adding significant value to these groups. They are being sponsored by TMP grads and friends of the ministry… but we have about five more who are waiting to begin as soon as we find the funding partners who will help make that possible.

Here’s a bold request, for Veterans Day: would you be willing to help us honor these champions by helping to underwrite their participation in TMP? If you’d like to talk with Phil to explore this patriotic Kingdom commitment, click here. He’ll e-mail or call you to share the details.

Thanks, God, for the brave Americans who have placed their lives on the line for us all…

Bob Shank