FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–A Southern Baptist seminary professor has been approved for promotion to brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserves and, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate, will become the senior USAR chaplain.
Jim Spivey, associate professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, will have a four-year assignment as assistant chief of chaplains. He will spend 60 to 90 days on active duty each year at the Pentagon in Washington.
“This is a real privilege — more a privilege than an honor,” Spivey said. “It is an opportunity to help mentor chaplains and help facilitate their usefulness.”
One of his primary emphases is to be sure chaplains moving into other countries are “aware of the culture of the host country and knowledgeable about the religious complexities within that culture.” His personal challenge is to be aware of the needs of the different units being mobilized and the strengths of the chaplains under his command.
His selection was announced April 10 at the Chief of Chaplains Conference in Orlando, Fla. The promotion board rules on the recommendation May 15 and Senate confirmation will follow in a number of months. Only four chaplains in the U.S. Department of the Army hold the rank of general, two in the regular army, one from the National Guard and one from the reserves.
“There is only one one-star slot for chaplains in the reserves,” Lt. Col. Larry Racster, reserve affairs advisor in the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, explained. “Chaplain Spivey is not only over approximately 1,200 USAR chaplains, he also will be involved at the policy level for making decisions on mobilization of the reserves.”
Spivey has taught at Southwestern Seminary since 1987. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Auburn University in Alabama, a master of divinity degree from Southwestern and a doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford University.
He teaches a chaplain’s class at the seminary which includes non-military chaplaincy majors as well as reserve officers from the Navy and Air Force. But his fellow chaplains in the Army reserve in the class have the double honor of having Spivey as both their commanding officer and the professor who grades their exams.
Earlier Spivey was chaplain with the 607th MP Battalion in Fort Worth; the 383rd QM Battalion in Saudi Arabia and the 28th Aviation Group in Arlington, Texas; and staff chaplain for the 90th U.S. Army Reserve Command, San Antonio, and the 95th Division (IT), Oklahoma City.
He was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Brackley, Northhamptonsire, England, and presently is a member of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
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Mansfield is a newswriter at Southern Seminary.
