Alumni Award Winners 2005

Carry the Torch Award winners

2005 Carry the Torch Award recipients Doran Kelvington, Erik Lee and
Brian Weigelt honored at the homecoming banquet, October 22.

With a war raging hot in the middle East, a quiet university on the Kansas plains might seem far removed from the danger, the action and drama of life and death battles.

However in the midst of this conflict, three MNU graduates have entered Iraq and done amazing things.

MNU honors Erik Lee (’88), Doran Kelvington (’89), and Brian Weigelt (’93) with the Carry the Torch Award. These three men are all military chaplains.

Lee graduated from MNU with a degree in religion and later attended Nazarene Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Kelsey, 4 and Joshua, 1. He was selected as the 2004 Chaplain of the Year by the Church of the Nazarene.

Kelvington graduated with a degree in religion in 1989. He and his wife, Becki (Vogel, f.s. ’85), have two children, Brady, 20, and Bethany 17.

Kelvington also graduated from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1997 and is currently a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

During his career with the military, Kelvington has lived in Okinawa, Japan, serving as camp chaplain. He has also served several times in combat deployments including Kuwait and Iraq. Among the medals he has earned are the National Defense Medal with one bronze star, Navy Commendation Medal with one gold star, Global War on Terrorism (Expeditionary and Service) Medals – one for deployment, one for service stateside. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on August 1, 2005.

“My time at MidAmerica provided a foundation and launch pad for my life and for a life time of ministry to God’s kingdom,” said Kelvington. “MNU, the education received, and the people I met there have also been a touchstone I have returned to many times throughout my career.”
Lt Brian Weigelt left his mark on the MNU campus before he ever left. Graduating with degrees in business administration and psychology, Weigelt was also student body president and valedictorian.

He stayed at MNU after graduation working as a Resident Educator for Colony West and as assistant chaplain from 1993 to 1997. Next he attended Nazarene Theological Seminary receiving a Master of Divinity degree in 1999.

Today Weigelt is the Navy chaplain assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, California.

Recently he spent seven months in Iraq.

“While serving in Iraq, my primary responsibility was providing pastoral care to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines,” said Weigelt. “This unit was responsible for security and stabilization operations in Ramadi, which is the capital of the turbulent Al Anbar province. 

Intense insurgent activity led to heavy casualties in Weigelt’s unit, with over 250 men wounded and 34 men were killed. As chaplain Weigelt provided care and comfort for his unit, and led nine memorial services while in Iraq, including one for 16 men who were killed during Holy Week 2004. 

“Ultimately, it was my role to make sure the men knew that they were not alone, that God was with them and for them,” Weigelt said. “The enemy we face – both physical and spiritual – wants us to believe that God has abandoned us. So the very act of regularly worshipping and praising God strikes the enemy at the heart of its weapons of terror.”

After Weigelt returned from Iraq he was selected as the 2005 Marine Corps Chaplain of the Year by the Military Chaplains’ Association of America.

Weigelt is married to Rosslyn (Byrne, ’97), and they have a daughter, Eliza Rose, 2.
Until recently when the Kelvingtons moved, all three MNU alumni chaplains attended the Murrieta Gateway Church of the Nazarene in southern California and were actively involved in the life and ministry of the church.