Chaplains,
I trust this letter finds your ministry and family doing well. I wanted to update you on recent changes in our Liberty Baptist Fellowship staff. I know you have shared our grief at the loss of our friend and longtime endorsing agent, Charlie Davidson. Charlie was a personal friend of mine for many years and a great part of our team here at Thomas Road Baptist Church. Please continue to pray for his wife Roydene, their daughters, sons-in-law and grandkids.
Charlie faithfully served as endorsing agent for LBF for many years. He deeply loved the chaplains and worked tirelessly to support them. He will be sorely missed. The old adage is true: what you do is replaceable, but who you are is irreplaceable.
On that note, I’d like to introduce you to the person who will pick up Charlie’s work and move forward. Many of you already know him as he worked with Charlie and has been leading at Liberty for some time now – Dr. Steven Keith.
Dr. Keith serves as Director of the Center for Chaplaincy at Liberty University. In this capacity, he orchestrates the Center’s mission of educating and equipping over 900 chaplain students to be Champions for Christ in secular and sacred environments. Additionally, Dr. Keith serves as the Professor of Chaplaincy in the School of Divinity. He serves as a chaplain for Operation Heal Our Patriots, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse for our military veterans.
Formerly, Colonel Steve Keith (USAF Ret.) served as an Active Duty Air Force Chaplain from 1984- 2014. Notably, as Director of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center (AFCC) he led the Congressionally mandated inauguration of the new Center for Chaplaincy and orchestrated interservice education for the Army, Navy, and Air Force Chaplain Corps. Additionally, he served as the Commandant of the Air Force Chaplain Corps College and was responsible for the education and training of all Active Duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard Chaplains and Chaplain Assistants, ministering to 800,000 military personnel and their families worldwide. Distinctly, Chaplain Keith served in 19 assignments worldwide and deployed several times to the Middle East, most notably to Iraq where he received the Bronze Star for exceptional ministry while under fire in 2004. Chaplain Keith was ordained to the ministry in 1981 and was commissioned as an Air Force chaplain in 1983. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Strategic Studies, Master of Divinity, and Doctor of Ministry. Chaplain Keith is married to Delta (Johnson) Keith and they have five children and one grandchild.
I know you will enjoy working with Dr. Keith. He has shared his heart with me concerning our chaplains, and he is committed to your success, whether you serve in the military, sports, business, hospital, etc. I believe God has amazing things in store for our continued outreach in the various branches of our Armed Services. Thank you for your continued faithfulness in serving our nation and serving our Lord.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Falwell
Dr. Steven Keith, Gen. Dondi Costin and Dr. Charlie Davidson.