Photo By G. Anthonie Riis | Chaplain (Col.) James Boulware sits with his Isaiah and wife Sylvia at the Fort Knox...... read more read more
There’s a new chaplain in town, and as it turns out – it’s his town.
Chaplain (Col.) James Boulware has returned for a second tour at Fort Knox, and he’s come back to his hometown in nearby Radcliff after assuming duties as the new Garrison chaplain.
“I grew up right here,” he said. “My father was stationed here and retired here, and I graduated North Hardin High School in 1977. My mother still lives here.”
Boulware said his plans initially didn’t include the military, and that he came to Chaplain Corps in a roundabout way.
“The Army was definitely not anything I wanted to pursue,” Boulware said with a laugh. “In fact, I remember being in the gym one day and seeing two of three candidates sitting there, and they just looked miserable. I remember thinking - ‘I do not want that.’”
Boulware attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he met his wife and learned he had a penchant for business.
“I needed to pay for school and started a lawn and landscape business. I didn’t know a thing about cutting grass, but I heard you could make money,” said Boulware. “It wasn’t too long before I wasn’t working. I had crews working for me while I was in class.”
Boulware would sell three businesses after he finished seminary and moved his family across the country to begin his ministry.
“My wife and I were invited to start a church in Pennsylvania, so I sold the business and started my ministry in one of the project areas,” he said. “We started our mission work with a handful of people and a building we were renting. If we got $25 dollars on a Sunday, it was a big day. I had to figure out how to earn money without investing the time it would take to start a business. I didn’t want to take time from the church.”
He found a part-time job working one weekend a month and two weeks out of the summer.
“A friend of mine was looking to become a chaplain in the National Guard, but he didn’t have the schooling he needed,” Boulware recalled. “He told the recruiter, ‘I can’t do it, but I know the perfect guy for it.’”
Suddenly military service became the way to serve his flock and a means to feed his growing family.
“Before I enlisted, I had zero income. The [National Guard] was a very beneficial [opportunity] because they worked around my schedule. They allowed me to come up a day early to make up a day or to come in after church on a Sunday,” Boulware said.
After more than a decade of shepherding both civilians and Soldiers, Boulware said he said God was moving him to full-time ministry for Soldiers.
“After 9/11, I was deployed to Germany and was traveling all over ministering to Soldiers. I sensed out of nowhere that God was calling me to do this.” Boulware said. When I mentioned it to my wife, she said she’d felt it, too.
“We both felt it was confirmed when the Army called and asked if I would come onto active duty. Now, it’s been 18 years on active duty.”
The chaplain said there were times that he felt he was not the right man for the job.
“I[‘ve] really had to ask, ‘Are you sure you want me?’ because I think in business terms which means I can be results oriented, and I didn’t know if I would be the right kind of chaplain for the job.”
Boulware said he’s learned some lessons since that have taught him to empathize with others.
“It’s been nearly five years since my first wife of twenty-seven years passed away from cancer,” Boulware said. “Life has brought me different experiences and I’ve learned to grow from them.
“I know what it is to be a long time married, I know what it is to be a widower, I know what it’s like to be the single parent of six children, and now I’m a newlywed of 16 months with a baby on the way.”
Fort Knox Soldiers, civilians and their Families have their own circumstances, and Boulware said the chaplaincy is a source for hope and help.
“We know that people do better together, so right now, we are looking to [join] people dealing with similar issues [so they’re] doing life together,” said Boulware. “We want to have an intentional and aggressive reach into our community in areas of ministry and outreach.
“I see myself as a missionary in uniform. I’m serving Him and serving others by seeking out the needs and drawing people in need together.”
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| Date Taken: | 12.20.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.20.2019 19:32 |
| Story ID: | 356866 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 469 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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