Former AG Chaplaincy Director Charles Marvin Dies

Marvin was ordained in 1962, served in official roles 40 years

Charles W. “Chuck” Marvin, who led U.S. Missions Assemblies of God Chaplaincy Ministries for eight years, died May 5 in Poway, California, at the age of 88 after a lengthy illness, according to the AG News.

Feeling called to ministry and ordained by the AG in 1962, Marvin was slow to consider the armed forces as a potential career. That same year he married Beverly Sliwinski.

An article in the Pentecostal Evangel about the need for “Prophets in Fatigues” sent him in a new direction as he felt a forceful “call to a mission field” he valued. Until then he didn’t realize he “could combine the Navy with pastoral ministry.”

He completed a required master’s in divinity degree and reported to the Navy’s Basic Course Chaplains School in 1971 at the age of 35. He had been pastoring for 13 years. He later earned a second degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

He served both the Marines and the Navy in locations such as Parris Island, South Carolina; Holy Loch, Scotland; Guam; Washington, D.C.; and San Diego, California, where he completed his military career as senior chaplain at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Marvin also served for two years as executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals Chaplains Commission.

It was after retiring from the military in 1998 that he became national director of Assemblies of God Chaplaincy Ministries. He left that role in 2002. He continued to support AG chaplains, visiting bases around the country and interviewing chaplain candidates.

“While Chuck appreciated the distinctives of the Assemblies of God, he saw Christianity outside the constraints of denominationalism,” said Alvin F. Worthley, who served as director of AGUSM Chaplaincy following Marvin.

Marvin was one of 12 children — seven boys and five girls. The family attended a small Assemblies of God church in St. Clair, Michigan, that his dad and older brothers helped build. Three of Marvin’s older brothers served in the U.S. Navy during World War II while his next oldest brother joined the submarine Navy during the Korean War. From his father’s time with the Merchant Marines to Marvin’s retirement from the Navy in 1998, a member of his immediate family served in the Navy during every military conflict from World War I through the Gulf War.

Marvin is survived by his wife Beverly and their four children: Julie Randolph, Mandy Marvin, Sara Daniel, and Matthew Marvin, as well as six grandchildren.

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Stephen R. Clark is a member of the Evangelical Press Association and managing editor of and contributor to the Christian Freelance Writers Network blog. He and his wife BethAnn, live in Lansdale, PA where they are members of Immanuel Church.