As Samford University continues to honor the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, we are beginning a series highlighting alumni of Beeson Divinity School who serve their country in the field of military chaplaincy.
Lt. Col. Loren Aderhold
U.S. Army Division Chaplain, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific)
Aderhold, MDiv ’99, and his wife, Sheila, MTS ’95, felt called to missions during their time at Beeson Divinity School but weren’t sure what that would entail.
Upon graduating, Loren began pastoring a local church in Alabama. After eight years, the focus on missions re-emerged in his heart.
“Having previously served in the military, I maintained an awareness of the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Aderhold said. “At the time (2007), the surge in Iraq was ongoing and the surge in Afghanistan was on the horizon. There was also a shortage of chaplains available to serve all the deploying units, and the chaplains serving had already deployed multiple times.”
Aderhold had previously enlisted in the Army after completing his undergraduate degree, intending to attend Officer Candidate School before the Lord called him to pursue theological training.
“Beeson nurtured a firm foundation of theology and praxis that sustained me first while pastoring a local church and then particularly carried me through the most difficult days of deployments to combat,” Aderhold said. “When faced with the biggest and hardest questions of life, I had an assurance of the Lord’s sovereignty over chaos in this world and Hisgenuine love for me. That foundation sustained me and empowered me to care for others in the face of loss and trauma.”
As a division chaplain, Aderhold has the “specific privilege” of serving and mentoring other chaplains and religious affairs specialists throughout his formation, while continuing to minister to individual soldiers and their families and helping pastor a chapel service or congregation.
“Being able to support them in setting a healthy trajectory in their ministry early on will steward what other chaplain leaders have invested in me,” Aderhold said.
“Soldiers are often a long way from their hometown, family of origin and home congregations. The Lord opens the door for me to be present in their lives at strategic times to encourage them and provide pastoral care. This world is a broken place. As a chaplain, I have seen some of its worst. But God has not left this world to its own devices, and in desperation and difficulties, hope in Christ overwhelms despair.”
MORE: Learn how Beeson can prepare you for chaplaincy ministry.