Chaplain Thomas H. Mills has just recently been awarded the prestigious Veteran’s Affairs Secretary’s “Award for Excellence in Chaplaincy.” This is the highest award given to Veterans Affairs chaplains. He was chosen for the award in the “full-time staff chaplain” category. Altogether, more than 265 chaplains were eligible for the award.
Chaplain Mills is a graduate of Lee University and completed a Master Divinity from the Church of God Theological Seminary, Cleveland, Tennessee. He also holds the honor of being one of the few chaplains to ever complete 16 units of Clinical Pastoral Education which is about 6,500 hours of supervised clinical ministry in a hospital setting. Chaplain Mills is an Ordained Bishop with the Church of God, a Board Certified VA Chaplain with the Illiana Health Care System, Danville, IL, a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Veterans Affairs Chaplains and co-chairs the Certification Committee for that organization. His primary work is as a Mental Health Chaplain providing spiritual care for approximately 70 in-patients and dozens of outpatients.
Prior to retiring from the United States Air Force, he served as pastor to numerous Churches (Church of God) and was also an Associate Servicemen’s Center Director in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Chaplain Mills and his wife, Sandy, reside in Danville, IL and have been married for thirty years.
To learn more about the Church of God Chaplains Commission chaplaincy programs, visit the Chaplains Commission website at: www.cogchaplains.com.
By Dr. Jerry McNabb, Director, Full-Time Chaplains