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Published Friday, October 03, 2008 in Religion
Chaplain with Iraq experience to speak Sunday at church
The Times-Herald
A Senoia resident who has served as a military chaplain in Iraq will be stepping into the pulpit at Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church Sunday.
When Father Jonathan Landon, a U.S. Army chaplain with the rank of major, speaks , he is expected to share insights from his time in the war zone as well as preach.
"He will probably do a bit of both," said Bishop David Epps, pastor of the church.
Landon will preach and celebrate Holy Communion at Christ the King at 8 a.m. and again at 10 a.m.
Landon was born in 1966 in Okinawa, Japan, where his father was stationed by the U.S. Navy. He was baptized at the age of 3 and was taught to believe and live the Christian faith all his childhood.
His mother introduced him to the Charismatic movement. Landon "experienced the reality of the gifts and work of the Holy Spirit at the age of 12," Epps said.
After graduating from high school, Landon enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve as a psychological operations specialist. In 1986, he married Rebeka Sturman, whom he had met when they were students at the Defense Language Institute.
While serving in the reserve, Landon completed a bachelor of arts degree in political science at California State University in Sacramento. He also completed the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
He entered active duty in February 1989 as a military intelligence officer. During the next six and a half years served as a battalion intelligence officer, interrogation platoon leader, assistant battalion operations officer and recruiting company commander.
During that time, Landon felt a strong call to ministry. He became a candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church.
In 1995, he resigned from active duty and returned to the Army Reserve to serve as a chaplain candidate while pursuing his master of divinity. In 1996, Landon was enrolled at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio.
He attended a Robert Webber workshop where he learned Webber's concept of "blended worship" and heard the Charismatic Episcopal Church mentioned as a church which skillfully implements that concept. Intrigued, Landon began to look for information in the CEC, with little success.
That autumn, a CEC church was begun in the nearby city of Medina, Ohio. Landon met with the vicar, then Deacon Bill Wade, to discuss the history and theology of the CEC and attended worship at the Community of the Holy Spirit CEC where Canon James Fisher was the rector.
Landon and his wife began the process of transferring from the United Methodist Church to the CEC, and the chaplain transferred to George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Ore.
In the summer of 1997, the Landsons were received into the CEC and confirmed by Archbishop Douglas Woodall, archbishop for the armed forces. Jonathan Landon submitted an application as a postulant for Holy Orders.
He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Douglas Kessler in June 1998 and served as vicar of St. Timothy's CEC in Eugene, Ore., from June 1998 until June 1999. He completed his master of divinity degree in December 1998 and was ordained a priest the next year.
He also entered active duty as an Army Chaplain in 1999.
Landon deployed with the 47th Combat Support Hospital to Mosul, Iraq for a year, returning to the U.S. in October 2006.
Most recently Landon served as brigade chaplain of the U.S. Army 2nd Recruiting Brigade, which consists of nearly 3,000 soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and contractors in eight states, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Landons now make their home in Senoia. They have three children -- Denise, Jonathan Paul and Naomi.