Faith Meets Academia
Welcome to Faith Meets Academia!
Struggling to connect your faith with everyday life, career ambitions, or academic pursuits? Hosted by a university professor and ordained minister, Dr. Adrian Reynolds, this podcast will help you translate your faith-based values into personal growth, professional development, and academic success. Faith Meets Academia emphasizes that faith and work can forge a mutually sustaining partnership.
Each episode breaks down complex academic concepts into everyday language and connects them with timeless spiritual principles for transformational learning and development. By the end of each episode, you will be equipped with practical tools to set the tone for a purposeful, productive week.
Join the journey today!
Your host, Adrian Reynolds (Ph.D.), is an ordained minister, learning coach, and assistant professor of medical education at an R1 university. He is on a mission to merge educational innovation with biblical wisdom. Dr. Reynolds brings over two decades of teaching experience across the educational continuum: from working with underserved, high school students as a state-certified instructor of Spanish to coaching students in graduate and professional degree programs in evidence-based teaching skills and the science of learning.
Dr. Reynolds’ work is located within the rapidly growing field of applied learning sciences and is driven by both socio-cognitive and sociocultural approaches to learning and teaching. His preventive model of academic coaching has been published in journals such as Medical Teacher and Clinical Teacher. He has held over 1,000 (one-on-one) academic coaching sessions with medical students, residents, fellows, and pre-med students. Dr. Reynolds has developed numerous peer-teaching programs for medical students in addition to courses in the science of learning for residents, pre-med and high school students.
Dr. Reynolds has been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for over 10 years both nationally and internationally. He has long been recognized to seamlessly intertwine academic concepts with biblical principles: His approach to preaching and teaching the word of God is centered around growth mindset (Philippians 4:13), transformational learning (Romans 12:2), and reflective, mindful practice (Philippians 4:8, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:97).
As a missionary ambassador, Dr. Reynolds has embarked on transformative journeys that bridge cultures and continents, bringing tangible support and hope to those in need. Most recently, in the fall of 2023, his dedication to humanitarian causes led him to Mozambique: From the bustling streets of Maputo to the serene countryside of Inharrime, through the unwavering support and sponsorship from faith-based leaders and communities, Dr. Reynolds has played a pivotal role in the allocation of humanitarian aid and educational resources, providing essential support to elevate community wellbeing.
Earlier that year, he engaged in a mission focused on cultural exchange and relationship-building in the Maputo province to better understand and address local challenges. Through these missions, Dr. Reynolds exemplifies the true essence of a missionary ambassador, integrating service, education, and faith into impactful action.
Faith Meets Academia
Episode 29 - From Military to Ministry: Embracing the Transition While Navigating the Journey~with Master Sergeant, Rev. Alton Lee, Sr., Part 2
What happens when a decorated Air Force veteran swaps his military uniform for a pastor's robe? First Sergeant (now retired), Pastor Alton Lee returns for Part 2 of this series to share his deeply personal journey from the armed forces to spiritual leadership. You'll learn about the incredible influence of his grandfather, Evangelist Cornelius E. Yancey, whose spiritual guidance and prayers set the stage for a remarkable 20-year career in the Air Force.
Beyond the threads of duty and faith, Pastor Lee's story is a compelling testament to the leadership skills honed during his military service. Whether it's navigating the complexities of a pandemic to aid a fellow airman or transitioning these skills into his pastoral role, his experiences are a master class in resilience and adaptability.
You'll take away invaluable insights on leading through difficult times, balancing personal growth with family commitments, and the importance of mentorship.
As Pastor Lee reflects on the nuances of transitioning to civilian life, he shares key strategies for adapting to new, sometimes lonely, environments and the role his family played in this journey. He highlights the importance of learning the language of the civilian sector, networking, and marketing oneself in a new light. His heartfelt gratitude towards his supportive spouse and family underscores the power of teamwork and mutual support. Whether you're a veteran facing your own transition or someone interested in the intersection of military service and ministry, this episode provides a rich collection of insights and inspiration.
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DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely my own and do not reflect or represent the positions, policies, or opinions of my employer, any organization or academic institution with which I am affiliated. This podcast is a personal initiative, and is not connected to my official/ formal duties and responsibilities as a university professor.
Pastor Lee. All right, welcome back. Welcome back. All hail, sir. Is it well, it is well. Is it well with thee? It is well, it is well. So let me ask do you feel like sharing this much about your military experience, the transition going from there into civilian life, into ministry, into civilian life into ministry, sharing some aspects about you that may not usually come across in a sermon, and not only that, but putting this out to the world? Do you feel like that's a little bit out of your comfort zone?
Rev. Lee:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm pretty much. I won't say that I'm a quiet person, I tend to be very observant. I'm always just very guarded. I observe kind of more than I speak, and so, yeah, this is definitely out of my comfort zone, but it's also. It's beneficial too, because these last couple of months have gone by, it's been so much transition and so many things have happened between the beginning of the year up until now that I really haven't had a chance to process it, and so having these conversations and speaking with you and opening up about things military, career and the like it's kind of given me a chance to reflect and really kind of process like what just happened here.
Dr. A.:Yeah, yeah, I'm glad that you're you're finding in finding it beneficial, absolutely, absolutely, and and definitely it's been a blessing for me. So October 1st that was like that was Monday, right? Yes, sir, so that was day one of you being, like officially, a veteran.
Rev. Lee:Yes.
Dr. A.:I know there was the retirement party the end of June, but technically, on paper, like this, past Monday was your day one. I'm free, you're free. So we're going to dig deeper into the transition a little bit later, but just to touch on this a little bit. Well, let me use your own words. How does it feel to be free? How?
Rev. Lee:was day one. Let's start there. It was a great day, man. It felt good. Up until that point I still had my uniform hanging up. I still have my uniform hanging up, just in case you never. You never know if I got called back into action. So I still kind of had things in place and ready to go, just in case seriously yeah, yeah, absolutely, man.
Rev. Lee:You know, I kept one t-shirt, one because I started to downsize a little bit. We get a couple sets of different uniforms and t-shirts and work socks and boots and all of those things, so I started to downsize a little bit, but I kept one set of everything just in case.
Dr. A.:So, just in case, tell me about the just in case piece. So you're saying up until the day when you officially retired you could have been called back in or deployed or something?
Rev. Lee:Not necessarily deployed, but I just didn't know the chances of me getting called back in for, say, they wanted to do 100% urinalysis of the unit Because I still belong to the unit on paper. They could have called me in for a mandatory appointment or something like that. And typically if you get called in for a mandatory appointment, then like that, and typically if you get called in for a mandatory appointment then you have to report in uniform, and so I just kept it. Yeah, I could have got called in for a manning assist, but they needed me to come in and just kind of supplement or provide guidance on an issue that may be going on in the unit. I could have got called in for that as well.
Rev. Lee:Okay, I've kind of been getting calls since I retired in an unofficial capacity, just kind of asking my advice on things, because the person that took over for me was a temporary fill-in, so he didn't get the training and he's not technically assigned, he's not assigned as a first sergeant, so he didn't go to the first sergeant academy and graduate. He's just a senior NCO filling in the role and so he's been reaching out, my commander has been reaching out, my senior enlisted leader has been reaching out and just kind of asking for input and guidance as they kind of navigate different challenges that have come up since I've left.
Dr. A.:That's interesting. So let's go back in time a little bit here. So you graduate high school and then, a year after you went into military, like right, like the same year.
Rev. Lee:It was the following year, so I turned 18 in December and I was gone in January following year. So I turned 18 in December and I was gone in January, and so I didn't intend to serve. I can't say that it was something that I sought after or anything like that.
Dr. A.:Yeah, talk a little bit about that, cause I was going to ask you how, how did you get into the military even in the first place? So go ahead.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, so it was one of those things. I grew up in a single parent household. My mom, she raised three boys kind of on her own, doing the best that she could, and she always just kind of instilled in us just principles of just being good men. She wanted us to be good men. She wanted us to be men that took care of business, that went out, that worked hard. She always just told us that as men you have to carry yourselves in a way that's presentable. You have to work hard. There's no sympathy out there for grown men. You have to go out and fend for yourself and do whatever it is that you need to do to provide for yourself. And so one of the big things that she always told me and my brothers was that when we turned 18, we either had to be in the military or school. But the way she put it, I'm not going to have grown men just laying around my house and not doing anything. And so, man, she started preaching that I mean I would say maybe 15, 16. And so Just getting y'all prepared, yeah, and I believed her.
Rev. Lee:But I didn't really take it serious and so I never did like ROTC. I never did. I just didn't plan on serving and thinking back at it now, I come from a family of servers. My grandfather served. He was in the army. I had two uncles that served in the army, my cousin he served in the Air Force, but it wasn't anything that was like really talked about. Like I know some people they say like, yeah, I want to serve because my grandfather served, or I come from a family, my family served. It's a tradition in our family. Everyone joins the military. Like I knew that they served. But it was one of those things where I know my grandfather was mandatory. He got drafted, same with my uncles, and so it was never like it was a family thing and so but yeah, my mom, she pretty much told us, when you're 18, you either go into military or school.
Rev. Lee:And I tried to do the school route. I'd actually applied, I had okay grades in school. It could have been better, but I tried the college route. I applied for a couple colleges. I got accepted but as I did the financial aid and started working, that I was having issues getting scholarships and getting financial aid. Like every time I applied for financial aid it would get sent back. I got to add this. So I got to make changes and so that pressure of having to make a decision kind of was there.
Rev. Lee:Funny story, man, is that as I started to semi-embrace joining the military, I got connected with a recruiter. I started going to some of the appointments for medical screening, for medical screening, and so I actually I'm going to say I lied, I don't do that anymore. So I told the medics that I had migraines because I wanted to get disqualified. I just did not want to join. I was dead set on, I just wasn't sold. And so yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rev. Lee:So I told them I had migraines and when I finally decided that, I saw that the school thing really wasn't going to work out. I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to do the military, I'm going to join the Air Force. I made it harder for myself. I had to go through all of these extra screening processes because they had to make sure that my migraines weren't as bad as I had described them during the screening process, man, and so I really fought it as long as I could. But yeah, man, I turned 18, december 16th 2003 and January 28th 2004,. I was getting on a bus headed up to Richmond to ship out to the Air Force.
Dr. A.:Wow, wow, that's amazing Talk about like culture shock.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've always been very transparent that it was not necessarily my desire to join the military, so I did everything I could to not and it just gets into that happen. So, yeah, that's a part of the, that's a part of my journey. Man, part of the story.
Dr. A.:Man, yeah, yeah, yeah, wow, that's that's fascinating. Thanks for sharing man, absolutely so, based on. I mean, your cv is just impressive is an understatement. I get lost in it. I mean I'm looking at it, I'm like this guy's, like I mean he's done it all, like this is amazing. I mean so, as you began your air force career, I mean you took on some highly technical roles non-destructive inspection specialists and what were, what were some of the biggest challenges you face in that type of a role? And second part to that is how did it shape your attention to detail and problem solving skills, because it seems like that's the kind of role that required those skills.
Rev. Lee:Yeah. So first let me backtrack a little bit. It Prior to me shipping out to basic training the Sabbath, before leaving out my last Sabbath at church, my grandfather he prayed for me and he anointed me. Me and my grandfather had a very, very tight relationship. He took me all over with him. As my grandmother got sick and she didn't travel as much, I became his wingman. I was a wingman before the Air Force even told me what a wingman was. Wow. I was his travel buddy and he took me everywhere Passover assembly, a youth convention. My grandfather, he, really took a liking to me and an interest in me.
Rev. Lee:Every third Sabbath of the month in Virginia and Pewsville was youth Sabbath and we used to rotate positions on who was going to be what, but no one ever wanted to be the youth pastor, and so I stepped into that role early on. I think I was about nine years old and eventually I just became the official youth pastor years old, and eventually I just became the official youth pastor. And so at that time that's another reason why I really didn't want to join the military because I was turning 18 years old. Me and my grandfather, our relationship was tighter than ever. I was his right hand. I was kind of helping out as a deacon, working with the tabernacle deacon that we had. I was really starting to meet people around the church. I was really enjoying my role as a shepherd and now it's like man. I got to leave, so that last Sabbath my grandfather, he prayed for me, he anointed me, and I really believe that that prayer and that anointing it really became the foundation of my 20-year career.
Rev. Lee:When I originally joined, I did not intend to do 20 years. I thought I was going to do four years and I was going to get out. I was going to go in, go to school, get a degree and get out. That's what the recruiter told me I was going to be able to do. The recruiter lied to me too Between basic training, your technical training, and your on the job training, learning your job, it's just you don't get a chance to even start your education until you're already two years in, and so there was no way I was going to get a four-year degree in two years.
Rev. Lee:I say that that prayer and that anointing became the foundation of my career because even with my job choice as non-destructive testing technology, most people when they sign their contract they don't have a job. They come in as what we call open general or open mechanical. So that means you're joining and you're committing, you're signing a contract, and then whatever job becomes available you get. When I signed my contract, I had the job non-destructive testing technology and that job is very lucrative in the civilian sector, and so that was just one blessing. I joined, I had a guaranteed, a good job, one that if I decided to get out after four years, it would sustain me for the rest of my life, and so that was like that was blessing number one.
Dr. A.:Wow, wow, wow. Could you give us more details about your grandfather, to state his name, his role in the church, your grandfather to state his name, his role in the church.
Rev. Lee:Yes, sir, so my grandfather, the late Evangelist Cornelius E Yancey he was the pastor, he was the third pastor in the history of the Pughsville tabernacle passed away August of 2004. And so I left in January of 2004 and then he passed away in August of 2004. And so I left in January of 2004 and then he passed away in august of 2004 wow, yeah.
Dr. A.:Needless to say, he would be tremendously proud of all that you've you've accomplished, and and doing that while staying true to your faith. And now sitting in a seat where he once sat. Yeah, yeah, he's on it, man, yeah, yeah. And and your most recent pastor, Elder Anthony Wilson yeah, Elder Elder Wilson. Yeah, so I found out he was in the military as well yes, so he served, and, I believe, the army as well.
Rev. Lee:Transportation, if I'm not mistaken.
Dr. A.:Yeah and eventually he served as well.
Rev. Lee:Yes, he served in the army as well okay, so one.
Dr. A.:So from one army man to another army man and then to an Air Force man. Wow, who planned that? I know, let's just say it was the Lord. It was all in the plan. How long did you serve in that role? Non-destructive inspection specialist. For the whole time you were in the Air Force.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, just about. So I did 15 years in non-destructive. The civilian sector calls it non-destructive testing, in the Air Force we call it non-destructive inspection. So it's NDI and NDT. And so I went to Naval Station Pensacola in Pensacola, florida, for a couple months to learn NDT. That's where the NDI school is at. It's on a Navy base in Pensacola, and so it's a very technical career field and, believe it or not, most countries have officers serving in that role. The US is the only country that have 18-year-olds fresh out of high school doing non-destructive testing, non-destructive inspection.
Dr. A.:And when you say officers, sorry, that would be more senior.
Rev. Lee:More senior members, billion, some billion dollar aircraft and we're entrusting it to an 18 year old straight out of high school to manage and to take care of these billion dollar aircraft and as far as the challenges that comes with it, it's a lot of weight that's put on your shoulders. As a non-destructive inspection airman, we are responsible for inspecting every inch of that aircraft, and not at one time. But aircraft has routine maintenance, has scheduled maintenance and we're responsible for ensuring that the aircraft is safe to fly, and so we have various inspection techniques. It's the best way that I can explain it to people. I call it.
Rev. Lee:It's like medical, but for aircraft we do ultrasound, we do x-ray, we have dye this dye penetrant inspection, a magnetic particle inspection, eddy currents, where we're able to send sound waves into a component and if there's a crack or a defect that's in that component, the sound wave would get disrupted and it'll cause a display on the screen that we're looking at and that's how we can tell that there's a defect. So, with NDI, a lot of times you're out on the flight line by yourself and the pilots, the operators, they're waiting on your call to let them know whether that aircraft is safe for flight. When a lot of times they try to put pressure on you hey, this is a priority one presidential mission. We really need this aircraft to take off. And you're the lone guy out there having to let them know like hey, sorry, I found a defect, that's going to ground the aircraft. To let them know like hey, sorry.
Dr. A.:I found a defect that's going to ground the aircraft. Wow, so hold on. When you say priority one presidential mission, you mean like you're it's based on, like an order from the president, or you're inspecting Air Force One or something.
Rev. Lee:No, no, no. So it's an order from the president, so there's a mission. It could be a humanitarian. So my first base I worked on a cargo aircraft and so a lot of the missions that we did, that we supported. We did a lot of humanitarian missions. We did a lot of moving people in and out of deployment zones, or AOR, we call it the area of responsibility, and we also we supported the president and so whenever the president goes to these different countries and you see his helicopters and his limousines and all of those things there, our aircraft, our cargo aircraft, we take those assets to the location so that he can have the same level of security and the same level of movement that he has in the USs. He's able to have it in the countries that he visits wow, so okay.
Dr. A.:So of course, you also had multiple deployments in support of some major military operations. Let's kind of talk a little bit about these deployments, how they shaped your careers. So for those deployments, help me understand. Like you, you were still serving in this role of non-destructive inspection specialist right.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, so each deployment kind of evolved. So my very first deployment was to Ramstein Air Base, which is in Germany. My second deployment was to United Arab Emirates, in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi, and that was a four-month deployment. And then I did three deployments to Afghanistan, kandahar Airfield, which is in southern Afghanistan, and so still supporting, doing non-destructive inspection, downrange, and so the only difference with being downrange and being in the States or in garrison or home station is that the missions are, of course, higher stakes, and so a lot of times with the air force we're supporting missions from afar, and so we may have troops on ground in Afghanistan. The aircraft that's supporting may not necessarily be in Afghanistan, they could be at a, at a, at a base and in another country, but we're able to project air power from one location to another location to support the troops on the ground. And so a lot of the missions that I supported when I was deployed, I was still doing non-destructive inspection but getting those aircraft in the air safe to flight. They were down for maintenance a lot, a lot more frequent, but the maintenance that we were doing on the aircraft, the inspections that we were doing, of course, were more high stakes because you want to get those aircraft greened up so that they can perform their missions, and so every deployment that I was on I supported a different aircraft.
Rev. Lee:So my first deployment was cargo aircraft. So of course those missions are getting people getting equipment back and forth in and out of the deployment zone. The second, the deployments to Afghanistan. I worked on an A-10 aircraft, which is an attack aircraft they call it the Warhawk and then I worked on a fighter aircraft the F-16. And those aircraft were the ones that were supporting the troops that were on the ground. So different missions but still important.
Dr. A.:Got you. Tell me what was one of the most impactful experiences you had in these deployments deployments, man impact.
Rev. Lee:I would say the last deployment that I had that I went on 2019, Kandahar, afghanistan. It was the first deployment where I was by myself. Most times when you deploy, you go with your unit. So you would take 100, 200, 300 airmen from one base and you'll all train together and you'll fly from your home station to your deployed location together to support the aircraft that you brought into the theater. So that comes with perks, because you have people, that you have friends that may be going on a deployment. We have peers and just familiar faces, and so deployments are hard because you're away from your family for long periods of time. You work long days, long nights, sometimes with minimal sleep, and you're having to to do this. So it helps when you have familiar faces, friends that are there downrange with you, your faces, friends that are there downrange with you. This last deployment that I was on it was eight-month, almost nine-month deployment I was supporting a surveillance mission. I was the government ground rep, or the government liaison, for a big contract that the Air Force had with civilian contractors. So they call it a GOCO government owned, contractor operated mission. And so the government owned the aircraft, but the contractors, the civilian contractors. They flew the aircraft and did the maintenance on it and I was the sole government rep on the ground to make sure that they performed the maintenance and the operations in accordance to the contract. And so I was there by myself no unit, no friendly face and I was there for eight months.
Rev. Lee:And so that deployment I would say it had an impact because for the first time I really had to lean in on my faith.
Rev. Lee:I really had to lean in on my faith but I mean, I really had to lean in on my faith because I didn't have much outlets, I didn't have any familiar faces there to kind of vent to talk to. So, man, I prayed, probably more than I've ever prayed before, and I really found myself worshiping. We sing a song how can I sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? And, man, I would find myself sometimes in deep worship singing a church song, or I would listen to church music and I would really sing while I was there and really pray. And that got me through some of my longest, longest days, being able to really draw scriptures, learning how to encourage myself. We say that a lot but, man, when you really have to do that, what does that look like. How do you really apply that? And I really had to learn how to encourage myself, really tell myself it's going to be all right, and I feel like I really grew spiritually during that time period.
Dr. A.:Wow, no, listen. I mean scripture says David encouraged himself in the Lord. So you got to experience what that felt like. I'm going to I know the faith aspect is going to come up again, but I'm going to transition to your leadership role as first sergeant. So as your career progressed, you took on more and more leadership responsibilities right, and I want to hear more about your time as a first sergeant and some of the unique challenges that role presented. So what was the key to balancing mission readiness with supporting seems like a big part of your role supporting well-being and morale of your airmen, correct, like what was the key to striking that balance?
Rev. Lee:Yeah. So as a first sergeant it's called it's a special duty. So not everybody in the Air Force gets to be a first sergeant. You're kind of handpicked for that role. Most times, as you're kind of progressing in your career, you end up having a supervisor or a mentor or a commander that really sees the unique leadership skills within you. That kind of set you on that road to becoming a first sergeant. And so that's kind of what happened with me.
Rev. Lee:I was doing non-destructive inspection for 15 years and the opportunity presented itself to be a fill-in first sergeant. So I wasn't a full diamond-wearing first sergeant where I went to the academy. So I did that for a year and as a first sergeant your role is you're the eyes and the ears of the unit, of your squadron, and so you're the commander's eyes and ears. You're the front line, you're the face of the commander. When the commander isn't around, the commander trusts you to be on the ground, to be in the trenches, trust you to be on the ground, to be in the trenches, to be out of your office with the airmen, really kind of getting a sense of what's going on, how they're doing, if there's any obstacles or anything that's preventing them from performing at 100% capabilities, and so the commanders really rely on their first sergeant to kind of be the heartbeat of the unit, to know what it is that's going on.
Dr. A.:And so, as a first, sergeant so you were sort of like an advisor to the commander.
Rev. Lee:Absolutely so. I was the principal advisor to the commander. So we call it in the military a triad. So the leadership team consists of the commander, the senior enlisted leader and the first sergeant, and so I was the principal advisor to the commander in regards to the mission, well-being, morale, welfare of the airman that was assigned to the unit, whereas the senior enlisted leader was the advisor for operations and the mission and that kind of thing.
Dr. A.:So how many airmen did you have under your mentorship?
Rev. Lee:Yeah, so in my last unit I had 350 plus airmen civilians under our chain of command.
Dr. A.:Under that triad. Yes, say that number again 350. Wow, under that triad. Yes, say that number again 350. Wow, this is the man right here 350, wow. So what was most rewarding for you being on this leadership team?
Rev. Lee:The most rewarding thing for me was it's one thing to say you have an open door policy, but if no one trusts you enough to come to that door, then you're really there for nothing. You're not serving a purpose, and so for me, the most rewarding aspect of that job was airmen trusting me to help them work through the challenges that they faced. As a first sergeant, you never knew what challenge was going to come through your door. We were responsible for handling any and everything anything that you can think of. In a civilian world, you expect everybody to be adults and take care of your own issues, your own problems. In the military, they go out of their way to really help airmen navigate issues, so it could be a financial issue one day it could be a mental health issue. Another day it could be my parents passed away and I need to get home and I'm helping them get on a flight 24 hours later. So for me, the most rewarding part of that was airmen entrusting me to be able to help them get through any obstacle that they were facing.
Rev. Lee:One of the things that I can recall I had an airman during a pandemic. His grandfather passed away and his grandfather raised him, and so he comes to my office three, four o'clock in the evening, I'm ready to get off of work, he's upset hey, my grandfather passed away, he's in the Philippines. I don't have a passport and I don't have the finances to get home. And, by the way, we're in a pandemic and so there's a lot of travel restrictions that's preventing us from really going anywhere. So he really just dropped a bomb on my lap First thing, as I'm getting ready to go home for the day. He presents this problem. And so, man, immediately I was able to calm him down and to just go to work.
Rev. Lee:Man, Getting on the phone with the Department of State finding out how I can get him a passport within the shortest amount of time. You all know that getting a passport isn't easy, but there's a way to get it done. And so how do I get him a passport, how do I get him the finances, and how do I work through all of the travel restrictions to get him home so that he can pay his respects to his grandfather that helped raise him? And so I was able to talk to the State Department, get him to Jersey to get a emergency passport. I was able to contact we have the Military Family and Readiness Center on base. I was able to get him a grant to take care of his travel expenses and I was able to work with the Department of State to navigate all of the exception of policy letters that needed to be signed in order to help him travel, and we got that done in 72 hours.
Rev. Lee:So it was. And being able to get him to the airport and off to the Philippines to pay his respect to his family, to come back and say, like Sergeant Lee, I thank you, Thank you for helping me work through that man, that was rewarding for me. It was a lot of long hours up all night trying to make certain phone calls, but that job, that was job satisfaction to me being able to solve challenging issues for members so that they can go and do what they needed to do and then come back and focus on the mission.
Dr. A.:Wow, that's impressive, I mean so I mean, talk about problem solving skills, right? So I could hear somebody listening to this right now and they might be thinking well, I mean you're in the military, I mean you probably had all the hookup you would need to pull all the right moves, so how hard could that have been? Speak to that person who might be saying that right now, having heard that story having heard that story.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, no, there's no such thing as hookups, man. The State Department is the State Department. Processes are processes for a reason, and so we, as military, we got to go through the same steps, same processes as everyone else man, and so we don't get to circumvent those things. But yeah, getting him that passport was no easy feat, and a lot of times, man, you're doing that. That's not my only issue of the day. I still got 349 other airmen that have issues and problems and things that I'm helping them kind of work through. And so, as a first sergeant, that was one of the challenges having to. You had to be very flexible. You had to be very self-motivated, self-driven, but there was nobody standing over me and making sure that I got everything done.
Dr. A.:I had to hold myself accountable to making sure that I'm where I'm supposed to be doing everything that I needed to do.
Rev. Lee:So it was a lot of balancing and juggling, mm-hmm.
Dr. A.:All right, so we're going to go back to kind of where we started earlier, talking about the transition from military to civilian life and some of the leadership skills that you've transferred to this new role, particularly as pastor. So, after such an impactful, impressive military career, you transitioned into this new role as pastor. You were ordained to the ministry as an elder in April of 2023, and your appointment as pastor was in July of this year. I'm interested to know how your military experiences all the experiences that we've talked about and some that I've not even had a chance to bring up how those experiences have shaped this new chapter. I think it's a unique type of transition.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, there's a lot of good things that I've learned as far as leading people. One of the things is you definitely have to lead from the front. You have to lead by example. You can't be a leader that is a hypocrite, do as I say and not as I do, or tell your people to do things that you yourself aren't willing to do or that they have not seen you do.
Rev. Lee:And so I've learned how to not be overwhelmed, how to make sure that I'm organized, planning out my day what's the most important thing for me to do for today? Actually working that out, charting that out and preparing for the following day. Being able to do conflict mediation and just mediation in general. Being able to kind of help two individuals, kind of work through their own issues, their own obstacles, and come up with a resolution that is beneficial to all involved. There's just so many things that I've learned that can now help me in my role as a pastor being fair, like I said, being transparent, being vulnerable. There's tips for praising praising in public, reprimanding in private Just those little things that you don't think makes a big difference, but it goes a long way in how people feel and their desire to want to follow you as a leader.
Dr. A.:Yeah, wow. Now your training I'm sure has shaped your approach to just life in general and work. I know you're on the job market right now the civilian job market and as you continue to grow and make this kind of transition, how do you continue to apply this mindset of lifelong learning and growth, self-development and discipline? How do you keep that going? Because I mean, you're not advising commanders anymore, you're not in that environment anymore. So how do you keep that part going?
Rev. Lee:Yeah, I look at it like it's competitive out there in the civilian sector, and so you have to be constantly willing to learn.
Rev. Lee:There's a lot of things that I'm navigating, a lot of new processes, a lot of new things that I'm navigating now that have changed since 20 years ago when I was applying for jobs and doing resumes and things of that nature. So right now I'm very much in a learning stage because I'm kind of reinventing myself. I'm reintegrating myself into the civilian sector and so, while I may be coming into the civilian sector with a lot of skills and knowledge and abilities, I'm still learning the lingo of the civilian sector, learning how to market myself, learning how to network, and so now I very much dedicate time to watching videos, reading books on the importance of networking. I'm constantly jumping on seminars, resume writing seminars and networking seminars and just educating myself on how I can make myself marketable and how I can take all of the skills and the things that I've learned wearing the military uniform and transforming into this new, this new road that I'll be walking into thanks for sharing.
Dr. A.:Thanks for sharing. So so, looking back on your, what do you say? 20 years? You had it down to like the days and the hours.
Rev. Lee:I think 20 years eight months and three days 20 years, eight months and three days.
Dr. A.:What would you say you're most proud of? I know that's a tough question.
Rev. Lee:Yeah, I am most proud that I was able to finish with my family still intact and my family standing behind me. I see so many people man over their 20-year career they didn't prioritize family like they should, and a lot of times it's about when you're chasing professional success. Sometimes you make sacrifices and those things come along with the territory. You're going to work long hours, you're going to work long days, you're going to have to go away sometimes, and those are sacrifices that come along with it. But I used to. I remember being a young airman and I would see older airmen, chiefs, senior NCOs. They would always say make sure you prioritize your family, because you don't want to be at your retirement ceremony and there's no family on that front row. And so fortunately, that's the sad reality for a lot of service members that get to the end of their career whether they were whatever happened, challenges that happened their families aren't intact. And so for me I made a lot of sacrifices over the years.
Rev. Lee:I moved my family from. I got married young South Carolina. I moved me and Monique to Germany. Family started there, moved to the UK. We had some losses in the family. My mother-in-law passed away while we were in the UK and that really kind of drove home. Prioritizing family and so as we moved to Virginia, that just kind of made me focus on that. Lesson man is prioritizing my family and I had to get to a point when I applied for retirement, the Air Force decided that they wanted me to take on another assignment. And, talking to my family, my family was ready and, although I still may have felt like I had a lot more to give, family is important and your family is standing behind you for 20 years and sacrificing with you and wearing a uniform with you and and kind of doing those things with you. When they say it's time you have to, you have to, kind of know Right right.
Dr. A.:So when you say your family is ready, you mean like ready for retirement.
Rev. Lee:Ready to settle down? Okay, ready to settle down? You talk to your children. It's hard for kids. Transition is hard for kids. You're talking about changing schools. After being around kids for three, four years, can they do it? Absolutely, kids are very adaptable. They're able to adapt very quickly. But when you think about the long-term effects of that and yeah, you have to. So I sat down with my family and I said, hey, we got this assignment. What do you all want to do? And they were ready to set up roots here in Virginia, not knowing that, months after making that decision, that I would end up being a pastor and things of that nature. But we prayed on it and God told us that it was time and he had another plan in place for me.
Dr. A.:Right, right, wow. Give a shout out to your family. Talk directly to your family. Whatever you want to say, the floor is yours.
Rev. Lee:Absolutely, man. Yeah, absolutely. Monique, that's my ride or die. She knows that I love her and I appreciate her. There's no doubt that I would have been able to. I would not have been able to have the success that I have had in my military career without her.
Rev. Lee:For the times that I deployed, there were no arguments. You don't know how many times I was downrange and people on the phone arguing with their spouses and it just does something with your head when you're being far away from your family and you're arguing. I never had to worry about she, never added any stress. It was always very much supportive. She put her career on hold. She put her nursing career on hold so that I could have success and focus on. She prioritized me and so I definitely love and appreciate her and now she's an RN. So she's an RN man. She's thriving and it's my turn to support her and push her Like she pushed me forward. Classic teamwork, yeah, yeah. Same thing with the kids, man. They motivated me, man. They made me strive to be the best that I could be and I'm a better version of myself because of them and being able to already see the fruits of the decision that I made, seeing them thriving in school and doing good and feeling good. I'm able to know that I made the right decision.
Dr. A.:Yeah, yeah, wow, to your knowledge, you're going to like this one. Are you aware of any, let's say, podcasts that focus on the transition from military to civilian life? I'm just curious. I haven't searched for any, but I don't know. You might know, I don't know.
Rev. Lee:There's some out there. Matter of fact, one person that I reached out to for resume assistance Okay, she has a podcast that she does on transition. There's a podcast called Lessons Learned for Vets, and it helps with military members that are transitioning out of service.
Dr. A.:Yeah. And then when we talk about from military to ministry, I mean that could be a podcast in itself. I mean, who knows, yeah, ministry, I mean that could be a podcast in itself. I mean who knows, yeah, I mean I, as I'm, as I'm saying that, as I thought of mentioning that, I googled that and that title and our episode one came up. So listen, that tells me that there might not. The fact that that came up at the top of the search, that tells me that that podcast might not exist. Yeah, yeah.
Rev. Lee:Might be some opportunities there. Hey, man, you're really planting that seed, man. I've been thinking about it. I definitely been thinking about it, man.
Dr. A.:Not being pushy, just think about it. I mean, actually, somebody who listened to episode one said maybe you should really think about starting. I mean, actually, somebody who listened to episode one said maybe, maybe you should really think about starting a podcast. So anyway, before I wrap this up, is there anything else that you want to share about your journey? Any final thoughts? I know we covered a lot of grounds, but any final thoughts as you look back and and and think about the path forward.
Rev. Lee:Man, I would say, man, these, this, this principle man, I kind of developed early on and it's kind of guided me throughout my career and it will guide me to the future. I always ask myself, whenever I'm faced with a difficult decision, whether that is having to have a tough conversation with one of my members and now with the congregant. I always ask myself liked or respected? Do I want to be liked or do I want to be respected? Whenever I used to have junior enlisted members come to talk to me about solving problems or having tough conversations, I would always ask them do you want to be liked or do you want to be respected? And there's really no wrong answer in that right. But what you go after, what you seek, will determine what the outcome is, because there's a possibility that you will end up being liked and respected. But what I found out is that if you aim to be liked, then more than likely you can potentially compromise yourself. You could potentially take the careful route, take the less disruptive route.
Rev. Lee:I'm not going to say anything that's going to ruffle the feathers. I'm not going to say anything to you because I want to keep our friendship intact. I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong, because I don't want you to be mad at me, but when you aim to be respected, most times you're going to be fair, you're going to be just, you're going to be thoughtful, considerate, and once you do those things nine times out of 10, you'll end up being liked and respected. But if you aim for being liked, then nine times out of 10, man, you're not going to be liked or respected. So that kind of helped me navigate different challenges. I want to be respected, not for my position, not for my rank, not for my title, but for the character of man that I am.
Dr. A.:Wow, I mean you just taught me a lesson right there. I mean I'm going to steal that from you. Liked or respected, right? That's a question that definitely promotes a lot of critical self-reflection. Well, listen, man, I know it's late. I can't thank you enough for being so generous with your time, stepping a little bit out of your comfort zone, sharing these thoughts with the world. I'm really grateful. I'm really grateful for that. I've learned a lot. There's a lot to. I mean. I'll be re-listening these two episodes for a while and I'm sure you'll be back on the show at some point. I want to give you a little break, but I'm sure you'll be back at some point.
Rev. Lee:Absolutely, man. I just want to say thank you for the opportunity for sharing your platform, for even offering to have me on. Like I said, these last two podcasts have really given me a chance to reflect. I haven't really taken the time, I haven't even looked at my retirement pictures since the retirement ceremony. It's just been like a whirlwind since the beginning of the year. And so these last two weeks, man, have really given me a chance to reflect and really kind of think through the last couple of months, and I definitely appreciate that.
Dr. A.:Anytime man, anytime, anytime Friends. This series could not have ended on a better note. Did you hear what Pastor Lee said? He said these two episodes episodes 28 and 29, provided him with the opportunity to reflect. Question for you how often do you build in reflection time in your schedule? You see, there can be no growth, no improvement without reflection, none whatsoever. So if you feel stuck, if you feel like you're experiencing a lack of progress or motivation in your life, a key question to ask yourself is am I reflecting enough? Fun fact I was able to launch this podcast through critical self-reflection. You can hear more about that in the first three episodes. First three episodes. Then, a few months later, I continued to reflect and I went all the way back to my high school days.
Dr. A.:That's episode 11. Oh, I think you would love that one. It's titled Beyond Grades. I was never a straight A student, but Now, if you want to know what comes after the, but listen to episode 11. So just hearing Reverend Lee state that our conversation provided him with an opportunity to reflect is truly motivating. I mean, this is what motivates me to record these episodes one week to the next. And so if these episodes are providing you with opportunities for self-reflection, personal growth, transformational learning. Then guess what? I'll keep recording. I'll keep showing up. Have a blessed week.