A Heartbeat Away
A Heartbeat Away
Sharing Hope with Service Personnel
by Rebecca K. Grosenbach
“Our heartbeat is to love on these young recruits and see that they are prepared for battle—not just physically or emotionally, but spiritually.” So says Michael Jacobs . . .
. . . who, along with his wife, Velma, are key members of the Navigator team at Camp Pendleton, California.
Michael and Velma could no doubt speak for all those on The Navigators’ military staff when they express their heart for young men and women in the armed forces. And, like many in military ministry, Michael’s passion comes in part from the years he spent as an enlisted man.
Michael entered the Marine Corps in 1972, and though he had always attended church, he felt his life lacked meaning and purpose.
“In May 1983, when I was 29 years old,” says Michael, “God began to reveal His purpose through a young Marine named Randy Weyeneth, who was involved with The Navigators. Through Randy’s love for me, for God, and for God’s people, I began to clearly see that God wanted me to give my life to knowing Him and ministering to people.”
Randy was the first in a long string of Navigators who poured their lives into Michael. “By watching them, I learned how to be a godly leader,” Michael says.
 God branded the hearts of Michael and Velma Jacobs for ministry to military personnel. |
Shortly after moving there, Michael met Velma, a guidance counselor at the college, and they began dating.
Velma had grown up in the church, but in December 1996 she experienced a spiritual awakening.
“God showed me that my spiritual growth was my responsibility, not the pastor’s or anyone else’s,” Velma says. “I began praying for a closer relationship with Him, and that if it was His will, He would give me a life mate. Those two prayers were answered together two years later when I met Michael.”
Velma had never heard of The Navigators before meeting Michael. As she and Michael started dating, she began attending weekly Bible studies and reaching out to the young men Michael was discipling, having groups of them over for dinner in her home.
As Velma and Michael sensed they were moving toward marriage, they
talked about the possibility of working together in ministry. After
their wedding in July 1999, they took a year off from ministry
commitments to concentrate on their relationship, and then again poured
their lives into ministry at Fort Campbell. “God had branded our hearts to go into full-time ministry with The Navigators,” Michael says. They joined The Navigators’ staff in September 2004 and relocated to Camp Pendleton. Michael had spent most of his military career at Camp Pendleton and never dreamed that God would call him back there in ministry.
Shortly after arriving at Camp Pendleton, Michael and Velma visited the extreme northern section of the base and discovered 2,000 men milling around on a Sunday night. Michael and one of the base chaplains set up a barbecue and a CD player next to a volleyball pit. The food and music attracted lots of attention. One young man, Joshua, said at the time, “It was just what I needed . . . to know there were other Christians in the area.”
As the Jacobses came alongside Joshua, they learned that his difficult childhood included his father’s death when Joshua was 14 years old. “We didn’t know how to go about bringing healing to his life,” Michael says, “but we did see he had a hunger for the Word. So I asked him to co-lead a Bible study with me.
“Today Joshua is in Iraq, deployed there for the second time. He knows this is where God can use him. He believes men are more attuned to the Gospel when they are under stress. He has reenlisted in the Marine Corps believing God wants him there as an insider. Joshua is just one of the individuals we want to give our lives to as we advance the Gospel and raise up laborers at Camp Pendleton.”
For more on The Navigators’ military ministry, go to www.Navigators.org/military.
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