IPHC Archives & Research Mashburn

By Dr. Hugh H. Morgan
Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF Retired
Director of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC

Freeman Mashburn was commissioned as an Army chaplain in 1945. After eighteen months of active duty he served in the Army Reserves for five years. He and Colleen were married on September 13, 1949. It was during the Korean War that Freeman was recalled to active duty and remained in the Army Chaplaincy until his retirement on March 19, 1972, with the rank of Colonel.

After serving two years as Superintendent of the Mid-Atlantic Conference, Freeman was elected to the General Executive Board of our denomination. He and Colleen moved to Oklahoma City. There he was appointed the Director of the Church Extension Loan Fund and Ministers’ Retirement.

Wherever the Mashburns have gone, pastoring in Roanoke, Virginia, Bay Minette, Alabama, serving as a conference superintendent or as an assistant to Bishop Leon O. Stewart, they have witnessed God’s power in transforming the lives of men and women, boys and girls.

It 1993, the General Executive Board appointed Freeman the Director of Chaplains Ministries. He served for five years before retiring from this position on December 31, 1997. He has been involved in interviewing, screening, and endorsing young men in the military chaplaincy.

The National Association of Evangelicals first handled IPHC chaplains’ endorsements, an arrangement that seemed to distance our chaplains from our Chaplains Ministries’ oversight. So, our leadership decided to do the endorsing of our chaplains directly. Freeman Mashburn and Ervin L. Shirey, Sr. were a vital part of that process in making that paradigm shift, and now the responsibility for IPHC chaplains has been given to the Chaplains Ministries Board. Dr. Ronald W. Carpenter is the chairman and Dr. Hugh H. Morgan succeeds Freeman as the director and endorsing agent.

Freeman and Colleen have visited our chaplains and their spouses on military installations in the states and around the world. Their ministry has been primarily that of counsel and encouragement to our chaplains and their families, and representing our denomination to military commanders and chiefs of chaplains and their staffs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Veterans Affairs Chaplaincy.

The IPHC has been blessed beyond measure by the sacrificial ministries of Freeman and Colleen Mashburn for more than half a century – 1945 to 1997. We thank the Lord for them and pray for their continued health and happiness during their retirement years.