Captain Lyman M. Smith will begin his duties Aug. 1
Presbyterian Council on Chaplains and Military Personnel News Release
The Rev. (Capt.) Lyman M. Smith, CHC, USN, Retired, has been named the new director of the Presbyterian Council on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP).
Rev. (Captain) Lyman M Smith, CHC, USN, Retired
An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Smith will begin his duties, half-time, on Aug. 1, and then go full time on Sept. 1, when current PCCMP director Larry Greenslit retires.
Prior to his appointment at PCCMP, Smith was the executive director of the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America from 2015–17. He also pastored Grace Presbyterian Church in Lanham, Maryland, from 2013–17.
Smith was a Navy chaplain for 23 years ministering to units of the Navy and Marine Corps domestically, abroad and at sea. He also served in the Navy Chief of Chaplains Office as the director of personnel and director of plans and policy, and retired after his time as the executive assistant to the chief of chaplains.
Smith has degrees in strategy and national security studies, divinity, religious education, public administration and civil engineering. He has also taken doctoral-level studies at the University of Florida in religion and politics with a focus on the influence of religious advocacy groups on Department of Defense policy.
Smith is the author and co-author of several academic papers and a chapter entitled “Exploring the Management of Religious Diversity within the U.S. Military” in the book “Managing Diversity in the Military: The Value of Inclusion in a Culture of Uniformity.”
He lives with his wife, Karen, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Smiths have four grown children and 10 grandchildren.
PCCMP Board Chair Rev. Dr. Bill Nisbet announced Smith’s hiring this week on the PCCMP Facebook page. You can view that here.
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