NASHVILLE, Tenn.––The Strength for Service Board of Directors elected the Rev. Angela Pleasants and the Rev. Richard Hartman to three-year terms on the governing board. 

The board is responsible for raising the funds for books of daily devotions for members of the U.S. Armed Services and first responders, such as police officers, fire fighters and EMS workers. 

The first book, Strength for Service to God and Country, was first published in 1942 shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The book was sent to more than one million troops in World War II and the Korean Conflict. It went out of print in the 1950s until it was republished as an 2002 Eagle Scout project by Evan Hunsberger, a Roman Catholic in California. An expanded edition of the historic book has been sent to some 500,000 military troops and veterans. 

On a few occasions the military book was given to first responders. While they were appreciative, they asked if a similar book could be published for them. In 2013, the ministry published Strength for Service to God and Community, a book of daily devotions for those community servants. 

Angela Pleasants

Angela serves as superintendent of the 165 churches of the Catawba Valley District.in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and a chaplain to the Charlotte Field Office of the U.S. Secret Service. 

A graduate of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Duke Divinity School, she has served various churches throughout the Western North Carolina Conference. She serves the conference as the assistant secretary and a member of the Conference Worship Committee, the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and the Board of Directors of the Conference Foundation. She has served as a delegate to General Conference. 

A member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains, Angela has received special training in managing stress and trauma and the psychological impact of terrorism. 

Richard Hartman 

Richard is pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Ind., and a chaplain at the Fort Wayne Police Department. 

A graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, Richard served Trinity Lutheran Church in Linton, Ind., and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Monroeville, Ind., prior to his 2000 appointment as pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne. 

He has served as chaplain of the Fort Wayne Police Department since 2010. He was named lead chaplain in 2015 and an instructor and assistant director of Region IV of the International Conference of Police Chaplains.