How Did Veterans In Christ Get Started?

by John Sykes

It was sometime in 2003. I had a relatively successful business, a loving and lovely wife, Linda, and a wonderful daughter, Alice. I was also often angry and had very few real friends. There was very little joy or serenity or peace. Nothing satisfied me. Nothing seemed meaningful. It didn't occur to me why one of my favorite songs was Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody". I hated "religion", arguing that too much wrong had been done down through the ages in religion's name. I was an agnostic, big on the truth, who prided myself on living the Christian ethic. But I truly had the wrong idol(s) - self, pride, mammon, and on and on.

Linda asked me to attend First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale on a regular basis for a while. Fearing that our marriage was going to blow apart, I agreed. Little did I know that Linda had had what seemed like the whole church praying for me for years. Pastor Larry Thompson kept repeating, from the pulpit, "It's not about religion but about a relationship". I saw how the church's small groups loved one another and Linda and Alice. There actually seemed to be somebody, actually lots of somebodies, who cared. I kept wondering where the passion in the biblical actor, Mac McConnell, and the cast of the FBCFL Christmas Pageant, came from. Along came the Forty Days of Purpose program and the book "The Purpose Driven Life".

I finally knew the truth and that it would set me free (John 8:32). A lunch with Pastor Thompson followed to discuss whether any of my remaining issues were important, and they weren't. I accepted Christ and went forward at First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale on May 16, 2004. I was baptized on May 30, 2004, Memorial Day. I had my new heart!

For the next several months I looked for where I might obey the Lord's commands to serve Him and His church. Then, in one of my regular quiet times, God reminded me of something I had sworn thirty years earlier.

From 1968 through 1974, I served in the USMC and CIA. When I came home from Vietnam, I got spit on. It seemed like every social gathering was just an occasion for someone to call me a "baby burner". I swore then that I would, some day, help veterans, hoping that they would come home from other wars to a different reception.

So, thirty years later, with a new heart, I went immediately to Pastor Thompson and found that the church had nothing organized for and to veterans. Pastor suggested that I submit a proposal. He got it about 3 days later. Veterans In Christ was born.

Now I needed the time and treasure that I had said I would spend on this proposed mission. Only three days later my leading business competitor and good friend called me to have lunch, something we did often. I went to yet another lunch but little did I know. He had been trying to buy me out for years but I didn't like the offers. This day he doubled his last offer! It took me about 5 minutes to make up my mind to finally sell. The Lord didn't have to slap me upside my head. Any fool would have recognized that He had provided.

The sale of the business was finalized in October of 2004. Veterans In Christ at First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale has over 60 people dedicated to its vision "to honor veterans for their patriotic service and enlist them as soldiers for Christ".

Praise the Lord!