Retired national guard chaplain marks 15 years as FBC Hanceville pastor

Jimmy Bland said he was happy to share his pastor with the military but he is glad that Colonel David McGowin has retired from the National Guard and has scaled back to having just one career.
   
As chief of chaplains for the Alabama Army National Guard and pastor of First Baptist Church, Hanceville, McGowin maintained two positions for more than 30 years.
   
Most people would kick back and relax after retiring but not McGowin.
   
After his retirement from the military in November he still has a full-time job as pastor. He celebrated 15 years as pastor of First, Hanceville, Feb. 23.
McGowin said he attributed three things to being able to juggle both jobs. “Time management, God’s grace and a loving wife,” he said.
   
Bland, who leads an adult Sunday School class and is a deacon, said the church never felt neglected by its pastor.
   
“Brother David will have more time for himself and retirement will be more beneficial for him than the church,” he said. “We always knew his first concern and love was the church. We viewed his service as an extension of First Baptist on the missions field.”
   
This is par for the course for a man who has never led a “normal” life. McGowin spent the first 23 years of his life in Panama with his parents doing missions work and planting churches.
   
He came to the United States to attend Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham and then New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
   
McGowin began his career with the military in 1970 while he was in seminary. The army offered a program for chaplains and McGowin decided to attend.
   
“We learned everything that other military learned — protocol, commands and procedures,” McGowin said. “We even had to go to boot camp. The only thing different for chaplains is that we don’t fire weapons.”
   
During his military career McGowin served in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Alabama Guard. Since February 1999 he held the position of chief chaplain in State Area Command, the Guard’s state headquarters in Montgomery.
   
One Sunday each month he would attend drills for the Guard, which included his preaching at the 7 a.m. Sunday worship service.
   
After the service he would leave Montgomery and drive the two hours home to Hanceville to make it just in time for the 10:30 a.m. worship service at First Baptist. On those Sundays he would leave on his uniform.
   
“The general gave me permission to leave the uniform on to preach, and I always got a positive response from folks,” he said. “We have a patriotic congregation and the children especially love the uniform.”
   
As chief of chaplains McGowin said his main duties were to monitor the morale and spiritual welfare of the servicemen, help the 42 junior chaplains under him, and provide religious coverage for the units.
   
He also assisted with some secular and military education and helped servicemen advance in promotions. He led worship services at drills each month, conducted weddings, funerals, memorials and also provided a lot of counseling. 
   
“I did a lot of helping families through crises,” he said. “Like now as troops are being called up, I would help churches know how to minister to them and give suggestions for communication like sending letters and goodie boxes for encouragement.”
   
With the possibility of war looming and the fact that six servicemen from his congregation have already been called up, McGowin said he has mixed feelings about his involvement now that he is retired from the military.
  
“Part of me wants to go but I can’t,” he said. “So I’ve beefed up my prayer time for them, and I’m leading our church to be thoughtful about this. We’ve put up a world map and put photos locating where our church members are so we can be mindful to pray for them.”
   
Members of the state national guard headquarters surprised McGowin with a retirement ceremony on Nov. 6 after he preached at his final Guard worship service and presented him with two awards. They included the Legion of Merit, one of the nation’s highest peacetime awards and the Alabama Distinguished Service Medal, the state’s highest award.
   
Upon receiving the awards, McGowin said he was speechless. “It was overwhelming,” he said. ‘I had expected just to chat with these folks but they surprised me with so many things.”
   
McGowin said he’ll miss the comraderie that working in the military provided.
   
“I’ll miss the ministry of working with families and individuals,” he said. “I’ve developed close friendships and they provided support for me, and I was support for them.”
   
With his extra time, McGowin spends more time with his wife, Judy, his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. He also said he expects to stay busy. “I’m continuing on with personal and spiritual development,” he said. “I also go fishing or play golf once a week.”