The Washington Post reported today that The Navigators, a Colorado-based missionary group, has assigned two full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy where they are training cadets to evangelize other cadets. This revelation comes in the wake of widespread objections about Christian proselytization at the Academy. A Pentagon investigation, congressional hearings, a civil lawsuit and Air Force guidelines adopted earlier this year have all focused on the problem. The Guidelines apply to officers, but do not limit "voluntary, peer to peer discussions."
A fund-raising letter from the Navigators' team of ministers, Darren and Gina Lindblom, said, "We have recently been given an unused classroom to meet with cadets at any time during the day." Referring to the Air Force Guidelines and the civil suit filed by a parent of a cadet, the letter said"we are vitally aware we are in the front lines of a spiritual battle." It continued, "Please pray for unprecedented wisdom for Gina and me as we coach these cadets to live among the lost, sharing the Gospel in the midst of this current climate. We must be so careful. Yet we do not wish to squelch the passion of men like Daniel," a cadet who has vowed to "impact the lives of 200 men with the Gospel" before he graduates.
An Academy spokesman said the Navigators are one of 19 outside religious groups -- including Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic and Mormon organizations -- that hold weekly voluntary meetings in a program known as SPIRE, for Special Program in Religious Education. After further inquiry, the spokesman said that the Academy's chaplains had also set aside a room that any SPIRE group could use for counseling cadets at other times.
