Scott Fisher, executive director and CEO of Officers' Christian Fellowship, and his wife, Christie Fisher
After Scott Fisher graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1992, his 27-year military career took him to 16 duty locations around the world, including stints in Iraq and South Korea and years in D.C. as Pentagon assistant for legislative affairs and as the Air Force's representative to the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
But his career afforded few chances to build lasting relationships or care for his family as he wished.
"I loved my wife and kids, and I said they were my priority, but if you looked at my calendar, it did not necessarily reflect that," he said.
He's thankful that during his time at AFA he was introduced to an 81-year-old Christian ministry called Officers' Christian Fellowship (OCF) that would provide spiritual support and much needed connections during the coming decades.
Fisher now serves as executive director and CEO of OCF, whose mission is "Building Christian Military Leaders, Families, and Fellowships for a Lifetime."
Founded in 1943 and based in the Denver area for four decades, the $6 million ministry relocated to Colorado Springs a year ago to be nearer to "one of the greatest concentrations of OCF members."
Fisher says 500 of the ministry's 15,500 members live in the Springs area, and 140 cadets participate in OCF Bible studies at AFA, where the ministry has worked for 51 years. It also has three studies at Fort Carson and a presence at the Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases.
Military officers often provide leadership, but one needn't be an officer to participate in OCF activities.
One OCF staff member oversees the work at AFA, where 14 volunteers lead Bible studies. In addition, two volunteer married couples commit themselves to serving each new class of cadets and stick with them during their four years of studies.
Fisher says OCF seeks to minister through married couples, and he refers to himself and his wife, Christie, as the "executive director couple."
OCF has a staff of 71, with 12 working locally in offices housed at David C Cook's building. During summer, staffing swells with 50 additional workers at OCF's two retreat centers: White Sulphur Springs in Pennsylvania and Spring Canyon in Buena Vista.
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About 1,800 military members and spouses attend events at these retreat centers each year. Outside groups can rent the Spring Canyon facility when it's not being used for OCF events.
Fisher says participating in and leading OCF Bible studies deepened his faith, an OCF retreat at White Sulphur Springs helped him "rebalance my life" and put more emphasis on family, and a retreat at Spring Canyon helped him bond more closely with a teenaged son.
"OCF is a community that sticks with you wherever you go and provides lifetime fellowship, a kind of connective tissue for uniformed serving members," he says.
Fisher says Christian officers have a dual calling to their Lord and their nation.
The ministry emphasizes training Christlike leaders who serve as servant leaders, put others before self, and "care for every person, remembering that all are made in the image of God."
Harris says OCF members are taught to always be ready to share their faith with people who express interest but says, "there are ways and times they should do that, but as military officers, we submit to the authority over us," including laws that prohibit proselytizing.
Two decades ago, complaints and controversy over evangelical groups proselytizing at AFA led to the creation of an Air Force task force that investigated the religious climate at the academy and compiled a report that found "stridently evangelical themes" in the chaplains' programs.
Fisher also says that OCF steers clear of political advocacy, unlike some other evangelical groups. Last year, Focus on the Family applauded Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who halted hundreds of military promotions over military policies on abortion. Tuberville eventually gave in, but not before military officials claimed his hold was "putting our national security at risk."
"I come from a military background that has traditionally seen the military as apolitical," Fisher says.
"As Jesus said, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' "