Thomas Brian Webber, a U.S. Navy chaplain, has been promoted to the rank of captain. Rear Adm. Mike Tillotson, a commander with the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, administered the oath of office to Chaplain Webber.
Tom was selected in May 2011 to wear the rank of captain for the fiscal year 2012. The Navy allows officers who are ordered to specific senior positions to wear the next higher rank before officially receiving the monetary benefits of the rank, a process referred to as frocking. Tom, ordered to a captain’s position, is now wearing the rank compensatory to his duties.
After Tom was sworn in, reaffirming his intent to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, his wife, Karen, removed his old rank and pinned on his new rank as a captain, which depicts an eagle, or “full bird.”
Prior to becoming a military chaplain sent by Grandville Baptist Church, Grandville, Mich., Webber was a pastor for 14 years. During that time he developed a specialty that ministered to discouraged and deeply wounded congregations. Taking that insight with him on the field, he has given pastoral care to both military personnel and nationals in Iraq. Soldiers have benefited from his ministry of comfort, encouragement, and character development. And in Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he worked with school, civic, religious, and tribal leaders to help rebuild their nation and protect archeological treasures.
- Read about Webber’s earlier ministry in Iraq protecting Nebuchadnezzar’s 2,600-year-old palace in “Marines encounter history in Babylon“
His ministry since being in Iraq has been varied and remarkable: completing a six-month unaccompanied tour of the U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, being a research fellow at the U.S. Naval Academy Center for Study of Professional Military Ethics, and ministering as command chaplain on board the USS Abraham Lincoln are only a few roles he’s taken on.
Tom and Karen Webber are excited about what their future holds and are thankful to be together after 16 months of separation during Tom’s last tour on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The price of freedom to military families is often high, says John Murdoch, director of Regular Baptist Chaplaincy Ministries. For example, since 2001 Karen has celebrated Christmas in nine different homes. But the price is sometimes even higher. “Praise God that we in the GARBC have not lost any chaplains to this War on Terror,” Murdoch says, noting that the GARBC has, however, lost loved ones from its fellowship of churches. “Our freedom is never free; it always comes at a price.”
Pray for our Armed Forces personnel, as well as the chaplains and their families who minister on our behalf of our nation’s servicemen and servicewomen
