On Aug. 1, 2025, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Lloyd Wicker, who most recently served with the U.S. Coast Guard, was honored with the Military Chaplains Association Distinguished Service Award during the association’s annual training event in Columbia, S.C., the very community where Wicker first attended Chaplain School in 2014. He calls it “a full-circle moment.”
The award is given annually in recognition of dedicated ministry and servant leadership, exemplifying the motto of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, Vocati Ad Servitium—Called to Serve.
Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in 2003, Wicker initially pastored CRC congregations in Washington and California. He loved being a pastor, but something drew him to look beyond the local church. Serving military troops in the field appealed to him, so he began to pray and investigate military chaplaincy.
In a 2022 online article about alumni of Calvin Seminary, while Wicker was U.S. Navy Command Chaplain of the USS Ashland, he described his ministry: “In my work as this ship’s chaplain, I experience life every day with my ‘congregation.’ We work, live, eat, and sleep in a community on the ship. They call me ‘Chaps,’ and this highly relational ministry has allowed me to be their trusted pastor and shepherd.”
Wicker expressed being humbled to receive the award. “I am filled with gratitude. Grateful to be recognized. Grateful for this calling. And especially grateful for the privilege of serving as a chaplain to the sea services—Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. When I see the incredible work my fellow chaplains are doing, I’m reminded how humbling it is for my name to be included among them. It’s not a thing I take lightly,” he was quoted in a Military Chaplains Association release.
About the Author
A former nurse and chaplain, Janet Greidanus is a freelance news correspondent and long-time writer of the In Memoriam column for The Banner.