Chaplain John B. Murdoch
Director of Chaplaincy Ministries
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches

Chaplain Murdoch is one of three sons born to Pastor Henry and Emma Murdoch. After growing up in parsonages in Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York, he graduated from Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, PA in 1970 with Bachelor’s degrees in Religious Education and Sacred Music. He subsequently earned the Master of Arts degree from the California Graduate School of Theology. In 1997 the Great Plains Baptist Divinity School conferred the Doctor of Divinity degree on him.

From 1969 to 1975 he served as Minister of Youth and Music first at First Baptist Church of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and then at First Baptist Church of Hackensack, New Jersey. He then pastored Third Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA, from 1975 to 1983, and Bible Baptist Church in Peru, IN, from 1983 through 1996.

In 1971 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served briefly until he was honorably discharged due to his vision. God used this short tenure to place a particular burden on his heart for the chaplaincy ministry. In 1974 he was appointed as a chaplain for the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Chaplain Murdoch served in this volunteer capacity in conjunction with his pastoral responsibilities. His responsibilities in the Civil Air Patrol increased as he served with the New Jersey, the Pennsylvania, and then the Indiana Wings. After having served as command chaplain for the Great Lakes Region, in 1993 he was named Deputy Chief of Chaplains. In 1996 he was appointed Civil Air Patrol’s Chief of the Chaplain Service and promoted to the rank of colonel. He was Chief Emeritus from 1998 to 2001 and currently serves as an advisor to the National Executive and Administrative Councils of the CAP Chaplain Service.

Additionally, he has also served as a hospital chaplain in Philadelphia, and is a chaplain for the Indiana State Police.

Sensing that Chaplain Murdoch’s blend of ministry experiences had qualified him to move into the role of Director of Chaplaincy Ministries for the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, the Council of Eighteen invited him in 1997 to become the Director and to further develop and expand the Commission. In this capacity he is actively involved in the endorsing community in Washington, D.C., where he has served on the Executive Committees of both NCMAF (National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces) and ECVAC (Endorsers Conference on Veterans Affairs Chaplaincy). He was elected vice president of the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America in 2002, and in 2004 was elected president. In his role as Director of GARBC Chaplaincy Ministries he ministers to the needs of our chaplaincy families and communicates to the churches of our Fellowship the challenges of outreach through military, institutional, and community service chaplaincy.

Chaplain Murdoch and his wife, Hope, make their home in Kokomo, Indiana, and have four daughters: Jodi Lynn, Meredith (Mrs. Kent Booher), April, and Kelly (Mrs. Jeff Paden). Their commissioning church is Bible Baptist Church of Kokomo.

Current as of March 2005