Liberty President Dondi Costin shares powerful story of sacrifice, faith ahead of Veterans Day

In full military uniform, Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin spoke to students in Friday’s Convocation about the immense sacrifices veterans make and the appreciation we as American citizens must demonstrate.

November is Military Appreciation Month at Liberty, a longstanding tradition of honoring service members, veterans, and military families through multiple events on campus.

Costin is a retired Major General with 36 years of service that culminated as a senior leader in the Pentagon, where he served as the eighteenth Air Force Chief of Chaplains.

“As we enter Veterans Day Weekend,” he began, “I am slightly overdressed today for one purpose: to honor those who have come before me, to honor those veterans who served long before I had a chance to serve, to honor those veterans who served while I served, and perhaps most importantly, to honor those veterans who are serving right now, some of whom are your age.”

Costin recited part of the U.S. Constitution and explained how service members swear an oath to it — not to a political party or person. He also recited the military oath.

“Whether the veteran knows it or not when they are taking that pledge, what they are actually doing is begging God to help them be an implement in the hands of God to secure and protect and advance the blessings of liberty,” Costin said. “On this day, I commemorate the very notion that we should celebrate veterans, but on this day in particular, I think of individuals who have given their lives for the cause of freedom.”

Costin mentioned many different veterans he has served with, and as he sat at a desk on stage, he told the story of Chaplain Robert Preston Taylor, who once served as Air Force Chief of Chaplains. Costin said he sat at Chaplain Taylor’s desk himself when he was in the same role, and he always knew he was “entering sacred ground” when he went to work each day.

Costin explained that Chaplain Taylor felt called to preach, so he went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the same seminary Costin attended after receiving two master’s degrees from Liberty. Chaplain Taylor then joined the Reserves to serve those in uniform, and shortly after he was married, he was asked to volunteer for a year as a chaplain to troops in the Philippines. After discussing it with his wife, he said yes.

While the first five months in the Philippines proved fruitful, everything turned dark on Dec. 7, 1941.

“Just as aircraft from an enemy nation are attacking Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base, they also began to attack the Philippines,” Costin said. “One thing leads to another, the next thing that Chaplain Taylor knows is his very comfortable, cross-cultural, one-year experience had become overnight a time of combat.”

Chaplain Taylor did not succumb to fear, but instead used the terrifying time to share his faith with fellow soldiers.

“He went foxhole to foxhole, just telling people about Jesus, telling people that despite what was happening here, God was still on the throne and Jesus Christ could be their Savior.”

Chaplain Taylor would experience many horrifying hardships after that day, including being captured by enemy forces and becoming a prisoner of war, enduring the Bataan Death March, spending 14 weeks in solitary confinement in a 4-by-5 hot box because he smuggled food and medicine to patients, and surviving a voyage on a “hell ship.”

Costin said that throughout all these hardships, Chaplain Taylor continued preaching, and he pushed through each day by focusing his mind on God and his wife.

“He knew that when difficulty comes, everything that the Bible says about what’s true when you are in a time of peace, safety, and comfort is still true when you’re in a time that is everything opposite of that,” Costin said.

Eventually, the “hell ship” arrived at a Manchuria prison camp, and he remained in captivity for four more years. During that period, he continued to evangelize to the prison guards and other captives until The Freedom Forces liberated the prison camp and Chaplain Taylor returned home.

He greeted his wife upon arriving home and hugged her — but she didn’t return the hug. She told him that she had recently remarried after Chaplain Taylor’s commander had told her he had died during the hell ship bombing.

“In that moment, after all that tragedy, Chaplain Taylor had a decision to make,” Costin said. “Am I going to give up on God? Am I going to deconstruct my faith? Am I going to do something other than what I know to be true, or am I going to keep clinging onto the only person in my life whom I know will never fail me?”

Chaplain Taylor remained in service, and he eventually was nominated as U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains in 1962. Costin said that when he himself served as Air Force Chief of Chaplains, he was allowed the “high honor” of sitting at Chaplain Taylor’s desk.

“This desk represents faith, this desk represents hope, this desk represents someone who understands that everything the Lord Jesus Christ said in the Bible is true,” he said. “The same kind of soldiers, and sailors, and airmen, and marines, and civilians, and others who needed him then, they need me today. It’s as if every single day I was seated on holy ground.”

Costin told students that each of them will face various hardships throughout life, but that God is bigger than any foreboding obstacle.

“The thing that we want most for you Liberty University students is we want you to be different,” he said. “We want you to be mentally tough. We want you to have a passion and a heart for God. … We want you to know you were made in His image, and He has a purpose and plan for you.”

He challenged students to adopt the same faith as Chaplain Taylor, who never strayed from the truth or succumbed to the temptation of the world. Costin quoted Romans 8:29 and encouraged the students to conform to the image of Christ, just like Chaplain Taylor.

“What was true for him, is true for you,” he said. “Some of you will be pastors, some will be missionaries, (and) every one of you will be in churches. Look for those veterans. Look for the signs of difficulty, and tell them about the Jesus that you know. And then when you go to your desk, or aircraft, or operating room, or to your classroom, or to your locker, or to your courtroom, you remember you know something about sitting at a desk like this. Invite them over, and say to them, ‘You too can have a seat.’”

Costin ended Convocation by singing God Bless America with the students.