“I want to see lives changed” at the United States Senate and beyond, declared Dr. Barry C. Black, who was sworn in on July 7 as the 67th Chaplain of the Senate. “I’m in a non-partisan job. It is an incarnational ministry. ... I want the people I serve to see that I am not interested in presenting the pros and cons of issues, but in helping them find their spiritual center so they can decide issues.”

Black, an alumnus of Oakwood College and Andrews University, is the first Seventh-day Adventist, the first African-American and the first military chaplain to be appointed to the Senate post, which carries an indefinite term. Along with the 100 elected members of the Senate, Black is charged with ministering to the Senator’s families, staff and other employees, a constituency of 6,000 people. He recently retired as Chief of Chaplains for the United States Navy after 27 years of active duty.

Black’s comments came during a noontime ceremony at the church world headquarters attended by many world church leaders, including president Dr. Jan Paulsen and retired world church president Neal C. Wilson.

“We have come to honor one whom God has already honored,” Paulsen told the group of church leaders and friends. “I think this [appointment] fills us with a very great sense of pride.”

Presenting a “Certificate of Collegial Appreciation,” Martin Feldbush, associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries, said the recognition “was from your family” of fellow chaplains, who believe that “when one of us succeeds, we all succeed.”

Liberty magazine editor Lincoln Steed called Black’s Senate appointment “an opportunity without peer for a minister and a servant of the Lord.”

Along with other honors, Black received a “Lifetime Leadership Award” from the church’s North American region; an award of appreciation from Adventist HealthCare; a certificate from Loma Linda University; and an award from the Council on Service and Leadership, which “provides a forum for Christian sharing and intellectual enhancement.” Words of congratulations were sent from Don C. Schneider, president of the Adventist Church in North America, and several regional and educational leaders in the church.

In response, Black credited the evangelistic effort that put a handbill in the view of his mother, who joined the church as a result of the meetings that handbill advertised. He also said “the Seventh-day Adventist educational system is responsible for much of” the success he has had in life.

Black said he looked forward to the challenges of his new position, but added, “I solicit your prayers.”