OCF STORY OF IMPACT
“All are enduring stories of the fellowship of OCF… I hope we always remember the importance of ‘fellowship’ in Officers’ Christian Fellowship.”
LTG Freddy McFarren, USA (Ret.)
For almost 50 years, Officers’ Christian Fellowship has been an important organization to my family and myself. OCF is very effective in keeping members in touch as they move from station to station, providing Bible study assistance and maintaining two significant conference centers.
In recent years the Fellowship part of OCF has been on my mind. One of every five of my West Point classmates were killed or wounded in the Vietnam War. In those years, we paid little attention to depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, etc. However, it was there, and we mainly dealt with it through “fellowship” with our buddies. I clearly understand how crucial fellowship can be in our daily walk with Christ.
My wife and I both accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior when stationed at West Point in the mid-70s. Bible studies and OCF support were numerous during that timeframe at the academy as so many were searching for life’s meaning. Our neighbors would later be the OCF representative couple at West Point when I was the Commandant of Cadets. Their son is now a retired Army officer on the OCF staff. These are positive bonds of the extended OCF family.
After West Point, we were at our next level of military education in a Bible study with an Air Force couple who after retirement would be the Executive Director of OCF. Later we would also be assigned to Fort Bragg with these dear friends.
Our next assignment was to Germany where we had a strong Protestant Military Chapel with a Sunday School teacher who would later be a senior Army Chaplain. With this chapel group we traveled to the Holy Land. This was just four years after the 1973 war in Israel. Assignment in Germany also included a year with an Infantry Division with a strong Christian as our Battalion Commander.
One Christmas we were blessed to be on a Christian Ski event in Flims, Switzerland, with one of the founders of OCF. Years later this great Christian man would drive 90 minutes out of his way just to encourage me for a few minutes when I was a battalion commander in the 82nd Airborne Division. I will always remember that act of fellowship and God’s blessing with these friendships.
Then I went back to the Pentagon as a major in a Bible study with four full colonels and their brides. After retiring, two of these beautiful couples would also work on the OCF staff. What a blessing as a young Christian to have such fellowship.
During this time our Bible study group went to White Sulphur Springs several times as it had just been obtained by OCF. We went to help with some basic maintenance issues. Our older son would later work during summer vacation at White Sulphur Springs while our younger son attended a summer session at the conference center at Spring Canyon in Colorado. Today one of my former assistants has a permanent position at Spring Canyon and a close West Point classmate’s son has a similar position at White Sulphur Springs. All are enduring stories of the fellowship of OCF.
Stories like these continued during our 37 years on active duty. Most likely many have similar stories, and I hope we always remember the importance of “fellowship” in Officers’ Christian Fellowship.
LTG Freddy McFarren, USA (Ret.)
For almost 50 years, Officers’ Christian Fellowship has been an important organization to my family and myself.
OCF is very effective in keeping members in touch as they move from station to station, providing Bible study assistance and maintaining two significant conference centers.
In recent years the Fellowship part of OCF has been on my mind. One of every five of my West Point classmates were killed or wounded in the Vietnam War. In those years, we paid little attention to depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, etc. However, it was there, and we mainly dealt with it through “fellowship” with our buddies. I clearly understand how crucial fellowship can be in our daily walk with Christ.
My wife and I both accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior when stationed at West Point in the mid-70s. Bible studies and OCF support were numerous during that timeframe at the academy as so many were searching for life’s meaning. Our neighbors would later be the OCF representative couple at West Point when I was the Commandant of Cadets. Their son is now a retired Army officer on the OCF staff. These are positive bonds of the extended OCF family.
After West Point, we were at our next level of military education in a Bible study with an Air Force couple who after retirement would be the Executive Director of OCF. Later we would also be assigned to Fort Bragg with these dear friends.
Our next assignment was to Germany where we had a strong Protestant Military Chapel with a Sunday School teacher who would later be a senior Army Chaplain. With this chapel group we traveled to the Holy Land. This was just four years after the 1973 war in Israel. Assignment in Germany also included a year with an Infantry Division with a strong Christian as our Battalion Commander.
One Christmas we were blessed to be on a Christian Ski event in Flims, Switzerland, with one of the founders of OCF. Years later this great Christian man would drive 90 minutes out of his way just to encourage me for a few minutes when I was a battalion commander in the 82nd Airborne Division. I will always remember that act of fellowship and God’s blessing with these friendships.
Then I went back to the Pentagon as a major in a Bible study with four full colonels and their brides. After retiring, two of these beautiful couples would also work on the OCF staff. What a blessing as a young Christian to have such fellowship.
During this time our Bible study group went to White Sulphur Springs several times as it had just been obtained by OCF. We went to help with some basic maintenance issues. Our older son would later work during summer vacation at White Sulphur Springs while our younger son attended a summer session at the conference center at Spring Canyon in Colorado. Today one of my former assistants has a permanent position at Spring Canyon and a close West Point classmate’s son has a similar position at White Sulphur Springs. All are enduring stories of the fellowship of OCF.
Stories like these continued during our 37 years on active duty. Most likely many have similar stories, and I hope we always remember the importance of “fellowship” in Officers’ Christian Fellowship.
