Welcome!

I am a veteran Marine, serving for 10 years on active duty from 2003-2013, including time in Iraq, Afghanistan, and a few other countries. For virtually my entire time in the Corps, I was married to my bride, Kelli (Houser) O’Day, who has remained by my side for the rest of life’s journeys since leaving active service.

God saved me just a few months before I joined the Marines and got married. I found it immensely challenging to live for Christ and build a healthy marriage in the Corps. My goal in this blog is to provide biblical wisdom and practical resources for Christian Families serving in the Military. I also host a podcast, which shares the same goal as this blog, with my wife and our good friends: Military Wellness Collective.

These efforts are really an overflow of my primary roles serving as a pastor at Pillar Church of Jacksonville, NC (across the street from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune), and as the Executive Director of The Praetorian Project– a family of multiplying churches in military communities worldwide.

Practical Articles for Your Military Journey

Read the Bible for Yourself

During my time in the military, it took me a while to realize the value of reading the Bible for myself. Having grown up in church with parents who read their Bibles, I knew the importance in my head, but it took far too long for it to become a regular practice. Once I found the discipline of regular Bible reading, the Lord sustained me and grew me in powerful ways. I pray that this short journey of articles will help you start this practice today!

PCS Well: Moving in a God-Honoring, You-Flourishing Way

During my ten years of active-duty service, I moved six times. Moving provides a host of challenges for the military family. However, if you will intentionally engage with the Lord and His purposes throughout your move, your upcoming PCS offers an amazing opportunity to accelerate your spiritual maturity. This series of articles aims to help you do that!

Deploying Well

During my time in the military, my wife and I experienced three military deployments and multiple other times of prolonged separation. Since leaving the military to pastor, we have walked with more than 50 married couples as they walk through their deployment seasons. This writing journey is my attempt to capture the lessons learned from these experiences to help you glean from all of these experiences. I am convinced that God intends for you thrive in this season- not merely survive.

Other Recent Articles

  • Church Leader, Start a Deploying Well Group

    “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15 [ESV]) There is a lot of weeping associated with military deployments. And, perhaps surprisingly, there is a lot of rejoicing as well. We do well to experience this weeping and rejoicing in community with one another. This is why I encourage you to…

  • Deploy Well: A Guide for the Long Days of Deployment

    “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” (Ephesians 5:15 [ESV]) I trust that you have put some time in preparing for the spiritual journey that lies ahead of you on this military deployment. I encourage you to continue the work as you walk through this deployment. Continue to prioritize your…

  • Find your rhythms

    “He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.” (Proverbs 5:23 [ESV]) I was shocked the first time I read that passage. A lack of discipline leads to death? Really? On second reading, I knew it to be true. The one who knows the truth and yet dies…

  • Weekly Check In

    “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day…” (Exodus 20:9-10, 11 [ESV]) There is something beautiful about…

  • Finding Strength in Suffering: A Journey of Hope

    “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5 [ESV]) People have been going off to war for at least 5,000…

  • Quiet Strength: Honoring Uncle Jack’s Example

    In our day, there are a lot of voices- few examples. There are a lot of critics- few “in the arena.” My Uncle Jack (1942-2025) was a quiet, humble example of a godly man that I had the privilege of knowing my entire life. Uncle Jack was a U.S. Marine Officer- the first Marine I…