NAMB Chaplains Model Gospel-Centered Care for Veterans in Transition

A Veterans Day report from Baptist Press highlights a distinctly Christian model of care for former service members whose return to civilian life has become unstable. Three North American Mission Board-endorsed Southern Baptist community-service chaplains—Fermin Ancho, France Alcantara, and Don Biadog Jr.—volunteer at Veterans Village of San Diego, a nonprofit holistic-support shelter that cares for about 3,000 male and female veterans each year. Their work includes weekly Bible studies and prayer at Veterans Village events, but the report emphasizes that much of their ministry is patient listening, relationship-building, and encouragement to trust the God who loves them. Biadog, a retired Navy chaplain, was asked by Veterans Village leaders in 2023 to develop a voluntary chaplaincy program that would complement the organization’s practical services. He recruited Ancho and Alcantara, both area Southern Baptist pastors, to serve with him. The nonprofit’s assistance addresses homelessness, addiction, unemployment, barriers to health and mental-health care, legal problems, and related challenges. Within that setting, the chaplains provide spiritual support while also taking practical steps: the article recounts Ancho driving one veteran to appointments connected with permanent housing, helping her reconcile with her daughter, and assisting the daughter with housing needs. Alcantara describes listening, offering encouragement, presenting Jesus Christ, and holding veterans accountable to the steps they say they want to take. Biadog frames the mission as reminding veterans that they are valued, respected, remembered, and still capable of renewed purpose after military service. The three chaplains’ stories show ministry taking place through recurring presence rather than a single holiday program, and through cooperation with a veteran-serving organization already equipped to address complex needs.

The San Diego ministry matters beyond one city because it demonstrates how churches can serve veterans without separating spiritual care from the complicated realities of reintegration. NAMB endorses more than 3,000 Southern Baptist chaplains serving in military, healthcare, public-safety, correctional, corporate, disaster-response, and community-service settings. The Veterans Village example shows what that national chaplaincy network can look like at street level: a Bible is open, prayer is offered, difficult stories are heard without hurry, and practical barriers are addressed through cooperation with existing specialists. Churches considering veteran ministry should resist two shallow responses—reducing care to a patriotic ceremony once a year or assuming that a worship invitation alone resolves housing, addiction, employment, legal, family, or mental-health struggles. A more faithful approach begins by learning which veteran-serving organizations already operate locally, asking what spiritual-care gaps exist, and placing screened, trained ministers alongside professional services rather than competing with them. Congregations can also create consistent listening spaces, recruit veterans who understand military culture, establish referral relationships, and prepare volunteers to recognize when specialized clinical or legal help is necessary. The chaplains in San Diego do not claim to replace those services. Their contribution is to accompany them with gospel hope, compassionate presence, prayer, Scripture, accountability, and tangible acts of neighbor-love. For Christians nationwide, that combination offers a practical way to honor service while taking seriously the long road many veterans travel toward stable housing, restored relationships, meaningful work, a church home, and renewed trust in God. Consistency, humility, and trustworthy referral partnerships are as important to that witness as the initial invitation to participate.