Alabama native serves God, country as chaplain

There are many reasons to join the armed forces. Some join for college money. Others join out of a sense of patriotic duty. There are even some who join because they answered a call. Not a phone call but a call from God.
   
Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Endel Lee, a Navy chaplain and assistant professor of preaching and pastoral ministry in New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Leavell College, recalled how God used a combination of those factors to lead him into the military.
   
Lee joined a local Baptist church in Tanner Williams (Ala.) at the age of 15 and surrendered to full-time Christian service at the age of 17.
   
“I knew I needed to get smarter about ministry and study religion so I [enrolled at] a Christian college,” Lee said. “As I started college I realized that an education from a private institution was not cheap and my funds were getting low very fast.”
   
Low on funds and needing to finish his education, Lee took the advice of a friend who urged him to join the reserves so he could get money for college.
   
“After praying about it persistently, I just walked into the recruiting office and told the recruiter that I wanted to join the Marine Corps Reserves,” Lee said. “He asked me what I wanted to do. I said, ‘I don’t know. What have you got?’ He looked at me like I was crazy. We started talking through it and he told me they had a unit in town that jumps out of airplanes and scuba dives and things like that. I said, ‘Yeah, that sounds pretty good; sign me up for that.’”
   
Lee joined the Marine Corps Reserves in January 1982 and was assigned to 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company in Mobile. He achieved the rank of sergeant and was recognized as the Alabama Enlisted Marine of the Year in 1985.
   
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mobile in 1985 and then attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees, finishing school in 2000.
   
In 1987, he transferred to 2nd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment in Fort Worth and accepted a direct commission as a Marine Corps Reserve officer, serving in several positions. 
   
“My experiences and leadership training in the Marine Corps have definitely added more tools to my toolbox which I can now use to help people from a spiritual perspective,” Lee said.
   
service transfer.
   
“I get a lot of double takes,” Lee, a 23-year veteran, said. 
   
“People stop me because they see my pins and realize I was in recon and they see that I’m now a Navy chaplain. It opens a lot of doors for me to talk with people.”
   
He was four months away from possible retirement in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. 
   
Lee could have retired years ago, but he knew God was calling him to remain available for service wherever he was called upon to go by the Navy.
   
He was mobilized for active duty in January 2005 and is serving the 8th Communications Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (Forward) and Military Police Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward). 
   
Lee also acts as the deputy coordinator for Protestant worship at Camp Fallujah.
   
“My first priority is God,” Lee said. “I came here willing to die if I have to, so that I can help our Marines and sailors see their need for a personal relationship with God.”
   
When Lee is finished with his service in Iraq, he will return to teaching at Leavell College. 
   
“I hope that people look at my service and see what the Lord has done through me,” Lee said. 
   
God took a country boy from Alabama and formed an uncommon combination between recon and a chaplain in order to help our military members express their faith.” (BP)