November 11, 2026
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Picture a fresh-faced 18-year-old who joins the military to serve his country, see the world, and learn a trade. He or she becomes part of a team that learns to move in tandem for maximum effectiveness while evading danger.
Battle-tested four years later, his/her obligation is complete, and the soldier, sailor, marine, airman, or Coast Guardsman is released. By himself. On his own for the first time in his life.
Many veterans accept the challenge, ready to put that military job training to civilian use. Some flounder.
Three Southern Baptist chaplains endorsed by the North American Mission Board minister in San Diego to those who flounder. They volunteer their services as “community service chaplains” to the non-profit Veterans Village holistic support shelter, which cares for about 3,000 veterans – male and female – a year.
“When I go to Veterans Village, I am serving my U.S. Navy family,” Chaplain France Alcantara told Baptist Press. “I cannot abandon my family. When I go to Veterans Village, my expectation is to listen, to encourage them, and to be the person to present Jesus Christ as the person they really need in their life.”
Chaplains Alcantara, Fermin Ancho, and Don Biadog Jr. lead weekly Bible studies and pray at various Veterans Village events. Most of their time, however, is spent listening to veterans and encouraging them to put their trust in the Almighty God who loves them and accepts them even as they flounder.
“You are thrown back into life and expected to know what to do, and civilian life is nothing like military life,” one Army veteran told a Veteran’s Village staff writer. She said the challenging transition led her to life on the streets.
The former soldier said she lost everything after becoming homeless: “My kids, my family, my home, my cars.”
Even though she grew up in San Diego with family around, she felt she had nowhere to turn until finally she grasped the Veterans Village lifeline. Her first stay led to a stumble, but the support given by the staff and chaplains in time led her to climb back out of the hole she had dug herself.
“She got the encouragement she needed,” Ancho said. “Now she feels stronger in herself and in her faith, and that she’s being used by the Lord by sharing what she’s learned with the others.”
In addition to leading her in Bible study, listening to her and responding to her questions, Ancho drove her to appointments to secure permanent housing, helped her reconcile with her daughter, and also helped the daughter with her housing needs.
“He was trying to find discipline and purpose,” Alcantara said. Upon his discharge four years later, life spiraled. Years passed. Eventually he found his way to Veterans Village.
“Through our two years together, he restored his relationship with his daughter, found a job, a place to live, and church,” the chaplain said. “It’s encouraging to hear him be inspired to be a stronger Christian, even though he will still have consequences from his past.
“When we can get to know them and build trust, they know we care. I think that goes a long way and gives them hope.”
Alcantara said he’s “just a shepherd at heart,” but he’s also firm, nudging the veterans he talks with to do what they say they want to do.
“I’ve had to have those tough conversations, saying, ‘I’m here to minister to you in love. You’ve got to do your part as well.’
“What’s at stake is their lives,” Alcantara said. “We’re not here to be cute. We want to help people with the gospel. I tell them, ‘We want you to apply this now. There’s a greater calling for your life. You have a higher calling than you did in the military.”
No veteran should have to face life’s struggles alone, said Biadog, a retired Navy chaplain.
“I understand both the sacrifices veterans make and the challenges many face after military service,” Biadog said. “Volunteering at Veterans Village gives me an opportunity to continue serving those who once served our nation.
“I want veterans to know that they are valued, respected and not forgotten,” Biadog continued. “Through spiritual support, compassionate listening, prayer and encouragement, I look for the right words to help them find hope, healing and renewed purpose.”
Biadog, well known for his ministry to the military in San Diego, was asked by Veterans Village leaders in 2023 to develop a voluntary chaplaincy program that would complete the holistic services provided since 1981 by the non-profit: overcoming homelessness, addiction, unemployment, barriers to health and mental health care, legal issues and related challenges.
He recruited Ancho and Alcantara, two area Southern Baptist pastors, to join the SBC chaplaincy program and serve with him.
“Our mission is simple,” Biadog said. “We remind every veteran that they are not forgotten, that their service matters, and that there is always hope for a better tomorrow.”
The chaplains’ ministry complements and perhaps completes the work of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous at Veterans Village, Ancho said.
“They will challenge us. They’ll say, ‘I love the Lord. What can you do for my comfort?’ We tell them, ‘We want you to have a better understanding of the hope you have in the future. Ask God to help you, but mind you, you’ve got to trust in Him.’ They find inspiration through the Word, and God is using us through that.
“I can sense it,” Ancho continued. “I am seeing their eyes, their reactions. They feel something is magical, though really it’s spiritual. There’s more hope in them. I feel that. There’s hope in the future coming up for them. We invigorate and inspire their hope.”
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This article appeared in Baptist Press.
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