Veterans Funeral Care was blessed to have the opportunity to invite former Navy SEAL Chad Williams to be our keynote speaker for our 2015 Clergy Breakfast. The night before our clergy event we took Chad to dinner and he talked about his ministry, his time on active duty, and about the funeral for Navy SEAL Scott Helvenston, his SEAL mentor, who happens to be buried at Florida National Cemetery. At the clergy event everyone had a great time listening to his stories of his journey leading up to BUD/S training and then throughout his deployment in SEAL Team One and SEAL Team Seven. Even more impressive was his personal testimony about how his life was transformed through his faith in Jesus Christ. It is amazing to meet a man, a warrior, like Chad Williams who is also a man of such strong faith who now has dedicated his life to spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His testimony and his time as a Navy SEAL are depicted in his memoir SEAL of God. Chad is a very talented speaker, drawing from his experience as a SEAL, which makes him ready to talk to his audience about mental toughness, leadership, teamwork, and work ethic. His stories of midnight swims in shark infested waters, daunting obstacle courses, and more than intimidating BUD/S instructors was more than enough to keep us on the edge of our seats.
When Chad spoke at Veterans Funeral Care with our guests his message was based on the passage of scripture which reads,
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 NASB)”
Chad’s experience in Naval Special Warfare was certainly not without experiencing the loss of life of teammates who sacrificed their lives to save others. This act of sacrifice is the crux of John 15:13 which of course is referring to Christ offering himself as a living sacrifice on the cross so that we, who are in Christ, may be saved. At the conclusion of the event the pastors gathered together and prayed for Chad and his ministry.
