{"id":10522,"date":"2007-11-21T11:41:25","date_gmt":"2007-11-21T16:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=10522"},"modified":"2011-08-09T11:43:01","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T16:43:01","slug":"5960","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/11\/21\/5960\/","title":{"rendered":"Covenant Chaplain Offers Invocation During Bush Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT JACKSON, SC (November 21, 2007) \u2013 Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain  (Capt.) Mark Nakazono offered the invocation earlier this month when  President Bush spoke here to several hundred basic training graduates  and their families.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Bush\u2019s visit to Fort Jackson on November 2  was the first by a Commander-in-Chief since Franklin D. Roosevelt  addressed troops in March 1941. \u201cI don&#8217;t think any of us realized how  historic this visit was,\u201d Nakazono says.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10523\" title=\"Bush\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/08\/Bush.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/08\/Bush.jpg 420w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/08\/Bush-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/>To  prepare for the moment, \u201cI just focused on doing my job and maintaining  the proper perspective on my role,\u201d Nakazono says. \u201cHaving previously  provided invocations at military ceremonies with generals in attendance,  I tried to not make this event and opportunity bigger than it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That  was easier said than done. \u201cWhat&#8217;s funny is that I don&#8217;t remember  anything from the time I walked onto the stage to the time the president  shook my hand after my prayer,\u201d Nakazono says. \u201cAs I approached the  president on my way to exit the stage, he took one step towards me and  extended his hand to shake my hand. The president has a very strong  handshake. One of things I will remember about this entire event is the  feel of the president&#8217;s hand as we shook hands together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nakazono  adds, \u201cI am most grateful for the opportunity I had to open this event  for the president and our basic combat training graduates. This is  definitely a highlight for me in my service as an Army chaplain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The military has previously recognized Nakazono for his service. In May 2007, Nakazono was presented <a href=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/cov\/news\/item4940.html\" target=\"_blank\">the Army Commendation Medal for Valor<\/a> after helping save the life of a platoon leader in the midst of gunfire while serving in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Nakazono  is a graduate of North Park Theological Seminary. He formerly served as  youth pastor at Trinity Covenant Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and  Turlock Covenant Church in California. He also is a former member of the  Board of Christian Formation (now Christian Formation Committee).<\/p>\n<p>In  his speech during the graduation ceremonies, the president elicited  laughter when he began by telling the graduates: \u201cOver the past three  weeks you&#8217;ve endured obstacle courses, grenade throwing, fireguard duty.  You even made it through Victory Forge. Now you have another tough  assignment: You got to make it through my speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While  cautioning that much work remains, Bush highlighted what he said have  been major achievements since the surge began four months ago. The  president told the crowd that the number of IED (improvised explosive  device) attacks per week has declined by half, U.S. military deaths have  fallen to their lowest level in 19 months, Iraqi forces have assumed  responsibility for security in eight of Iraq&#8217;s 18 provinces, and that al  Qaeda had been driven from Anbar Province, once considered a stronghold  of the terrorist group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=10522&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FORT JACKSON, SC (November 21, 2007) \u2013 Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Mark Nakazono offered the invocation earlier this month when President Bush spoke here to several hundred basic training graduates and their families. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Covenant Chaplain Offers Invocation During Bush Visit - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/11\/21\/5960\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covenant Chaplain Offers Invocation During Bush Visit - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FORT JACKSON, SC (November 21, 2007) \u2013 Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) 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