Before retiring in the summer of 2011, the two-star general spent 38 years in the U.S. Army, 27 of them as an Army chaplain. In 2007, he became the first Southern Baptist in 50 years to be promoted to chief of chaplains for the Army, based at the Pentagon. In that post, he was responsible for some 2,900 chaplains in the active Army, the Army Reserves and the National Guard.

Retired U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains (Major General) Douglas L. Carver has been appointed executive director of chaplain services for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in Alpharetta, Ga., with the goal of taking Southern Baptist chaplaincy to a “new level.”

In the newly created position, Carver, 60, will lead NAMB’s chaplaincy team by casting its vision and future strategy. Carver will continue to reside near Charlotte, N.C.

“It is not every day that God brings the opportunity to add a retired, two-star general to your team,” said Kevin Ezell, NAMB’s president. “Doug is first and foremost a man of God and a humble leader. He has led chaplains who are serving in the most difficult circumstances. I know he will help us bring an even greater level of care and equipping to our chaplains.”

The day-to-day operations and management of NAMB’s chaplaincy group will continue under team leader Keith Travis, who will report directly to Carver. Although Carver’s experience is specifically with military chaplaincy, he will bring leadership and support to all Southern Baptist chaplains endorsed by NAMB.

“This signals the expansion of chaplaincy at NAMB and will take it to a new level,” said Larry Wynn, the mission entity’s vice president for evangelism and leadership development. “It will expand our role in our nation with our chaplains and also with our SBC churches.

“We’re going to be more intentional in encouraging churches to adopt chaplains and military personnel and to be more involved in our chaplaincy ministry here at NAMB,” Wynn added. “Doug will be working to encourage churches to have more communications, programs and ministries for chaplains and military personnel.”

Wynn said he has “never met an individual who has more passion than Doug for the Gospel and for sharing it with the world. This is a huge win for Southern Baptists and the Kingdom.”

Carver said he hopes to forge a tighter relationship between NAMB chaplaincy and the people of the Southern Baptist Convention.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on Baptist Press—however, the link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]