Vogelweh Gospel Service welcomed a new chaplain during the Worship Services on Sunday, 18 September 2011. Chaplain, Captain Regina O. Samuel, a native of Harlem, New York but raised in Florence, South Carolina, delivered the message titled, “Don’t Fake Your Faith.” Her Scripture was from Mark 9:14-29. Chaplain Samuel is currently assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein, Germany, where she is also a Squadron Chaplain.
Prior to her assignment at Ramstein, Chaplain Samuel completed an Air Force Institute of Technology-Civilian Institute program at Texas A&M University where she received a Master of Science degree, with honors, in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy. She is currently pursuing the Doctor of Education degree in Organizational Leadership, with a focus on diversity, at Argosy University.
Chaplain Samuel is an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of the Northeast South Carolina Annual Conference. She graduated from Allen University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (Magna Cum Laude). She is also an honor graduate of Turner Theological Seminary, a constituent seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia where she received a Masters of Divinity degree in Homiletics and Worship.
Early in her career, Chaplain Samuel served as an enlisted Airman in the United States Air Force from 1983-1989. In 2005 and 2009, she deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Before her current assignment, she was the 2nd Group Chaplain at the Cadet Chapel at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado, pastor of the Liturgical Worship Service, Advisor for the Gospel Ensemble, and Director of the Student Ministry Center. She has served as co-pastor and Director of Special Programs for the Basic Military Training Protestant Contemporary Worship Service, and the Director of Student Ministries at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. She has also served at Kunsan Air Base in the Republic of Korea and at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.
Chaplain Samuel has been a legislative aide in both the South Carolina House of Representatives and South Carolina State Senate. Additionally, she has served on the faculty of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, and as the Youth Minister at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Florence, South Carolina. She is an active member of the Colorado Springs Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and Military Chaplains Association. She has been inducted into Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society and Theta Phi International Honor Society.
When asked about her call to serve as the Chaplain of VGS, she said she was delighted with the congregation's friendliness, openness, and joy, as well as the dedication of members to service in the Kaiserslautern Military Community and in the world.