Content and Media
Items on this page come from our various communications and podcasts.
Families should develop a support system
Take time to examine your own support system, or if you do not have one, get started now. The health of a marriage can often hinge upon the strength of the support system that has been established.
Is God calling you to lead a small group?
We reached out to two OCF small group leaders, LTC Tom Matelski, USA, and Lt Col Jim Wamhoff, USAF, and asked them to share their insights on starting and effectively leading a small group.
Perspectives on servant leadership
The term “servant leadership” evokes a varied range of impressions as to what that really means, looks like, and how it plays out in real life. At first glance, the seemingly incongruous servant leadership concept appears especially contrary in business settings or military circles where typically bosses lead, employees serve.
Six ways to follow Jesus’ example and become a transformational leader
Transformational leaders help people understand the purpose, objectives and values of an organization by articulating a clear and appealing vision. From both a practical and biblical perspective, transformational leadership inspires, develops and empowers followers; it also hones our leadership skills so we become better leaders.
The world needs solid, biblical leadership
In my thirty years on active duty, I witnessed phenomenal leaders who inspired, encouraged, and built teams that accomplished great things. Sad to say, I’ve also seen those who used their positions to advance their own agendas, bully others, and feed their own egos—always at the cost of those around them.
Community as taught by minions
Just like the silly banana-eating Minions, each of us was created with an innate desire to belong to a community in fellowship. It’s not just a group of people with similar interests, but a body of believers united for a common purpose.
Fellowship in love, faith, encouragement
If you want the best example of fellowship, we have to look no further than God, who is the author and definer of fellowship.
Fellowship through ‘practical action’
OCF has provided transitory military Christians with two static places—Spring Canyon in Colorado and White Sulphur Springs in Pennsylvania—for abundant opportunities of Christ-centered fellowship, programs and fun. The ideal end result: being equipped to reach others for Christ throughout the military society—and form lifetime friendships.
Allow God to Orchestrate the Events of Your Life
In preparation for our move, I found myself wondering what our new neighbors would be like. OK, I was obsessing over it. We have grown to love the people we live next to, and trying to imagine unfriendly neighbors peering at us while grilling out on the deck was making my stomach hurt.
Allow God to heal the hidden wounds
We leaders often cope with stress by trying to survive our wounding rather than allow God to heal and refresh us to fully live. God doesn’t want us to simply survive. God’s mission field, after all, is your heart and mine.
Finding certainty in an uncertain world
We live in a hurting world of people desperate for answers. As a Christian, you already have the answer—Christ in your heart. If you have successfully guarded your face, heart and mind, when uncertainty strikes those you lead will look to you and find comfort and confidence. And they will also be curious about the source of your peace.
God is real and active in our lives
Army CWO2 Sheldon Duffy and his wife, Salena, share their story of Sheldon’s near-death experience with leukemia and how they endured the trials and uncertainties of not knowing if he would survive.
Nurturing Christian Families
If you want to be the Christian military leader God has called you to be, I believe a must-have is a strong support system that loves, supports, and sustains you.
Unique stressors of the military family
Like you, my husband, Steve, and I know what it’s like for our marriage to have to go into survival mode during extended periods of separation. We know the pressure of caring for children in the midst of huge transitions. We know the challenge of supporting each other when our own personal resources are depleted.
When PCSing, build a RAFT for teens
When PCSing, the most common strategies teens use with one another involve simple avoidance, picking a fight to create distance so it’s easier to leave, disconnecting through moodiness or hyperactivity, or adopting the “It’s all cool” act. This is why we need to build a RAFT.
How’s Your Light Shining?
It’s incredibly important, yet challenging, that as you run your race in uniform for Christ, to keep His light in your heart burning brightly for others to see.
Leadership Moments: Are You Leading?
by Colonel Larry and Bobbie Simpson, USAF (Ret.) “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place;
Mary Poppins and the chain of command
The chain of command—everybody has one. Everybody knows where they are in that chain, and it honestly clarifies and simplifies your life as a military member.
The Christ-centered alpha male
Men have a lot in common with wolves. We mark our territory, strut in front of females, and bristle in the presence of another alpha male.
Courageous Command: Beyond Battlefield Boldness
Only by trusting God and His plan for our lives can we lead courageously in our duty as both officers and Christians. It’s time to build a strategy that calculates the risks of leadership minefields and faces them with a moral courage that matches the bravery of those we lead on the battlefield.
Making the ‘no greater love’ sacrifice
The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains" or the "Dorchester Chaplains," were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel as the troop ship USAT Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943, during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out.
Practice out-loving and out-giving
Outwit, Outplay and Outlast? My wish for you this Christmas season is instead that you “Out Love and Out Give."
Ministry Snapshot
The adage of a church not being a building, but rather its people also applies to the ministry of Officers’ Christian Fellowship. Click a story below to get a snapshot of the vast entirety of ministry work that has gone on over the years through OCF, now entering its seventy-second year. The people and stories featured here represent all those who have sacrificially given of their time, talents and treasure—standing on the shoulders of giants while declaring God’s “power to the next generation” (Psalm 71:18).
Time, Talent, Treasure: Academies
Exceptionally demanding—that is the four-year journey through one of our nation’s military service academies, deliberately designed as such to forge finely tuned military leaders from out of the fires of continual challenge. Cadets and midshipmen juggle jam-packed schedules that stretch them beyond the max physically, emotionally, mentally. And spiritually.
Time, Talent, Treasure: OCF small group fellowships
The heartbeat of OCF is the small group fellowship, over 360 of them occurring throughout our nation and across the globe, including New Zealand, Korea and Norway.
