Congratulations to Our Own Brigadier General
For the first time in FBFI history, we have our first Brigadier General Chaplain! Chaplain Colonel Mike Sproul was confirmed by the Senate for promotion to Brigadier General in the Air National Guard with a promotion date of Sept. 1, 2023. Mike’s pin-on ceremony took place at Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, AZ at 1 pm on October 6, 2023. The presiding officer overseeing the promotion ceremony was Major General Kerry Muehlenbeck, the Adjutant General (TAG) for the Arizona National Guard. Several dignitaries from the city and state government were in attendance.
For the past two years Chaplain, Colonel Mike Sproul has worked as the State Chaplain for the Arizona National Guard. In this capacity, he advised the Arizona National Guard (AZNG) senior leadership on all religious, spiritual, moral, and ethical matters relating to the AZNG program and organization relating to the Arizona National Guard Chaplain Corps. In this capacity he led 20 Air National Guard and Army National Guard chaplains and 19 Religious Affairs Specialists/Airmen on overarching policies, practices, and programs.
His previous assignment was as the Director of the Air National Guard Chaplain Corps at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington DC. He oversaw the equipping, training, and deploying of 600 members of the Air National Guard Chaplain Corps as well as a staff of eight in Washington. In this role he was the direct advisor to the three-star, Director of the Air National Guard, on all things related the ANG Chaplaincy.
In his new assignment as the Air National Guard, Assistant to the Air Force Chief of Chaplains. Chaplain BG Sproul is the senior officer/chaplain of all the chaplains and religious affairs airmen throughout the Air National Guard. He is also the liaison from the Pentagon to the National Guard Bureau Headquarters. He will sit in during national defense meetings at the Pentagon and elsewhere when the Air Force Chief of Chaplains or his active duty one star counterpart cannot attend.
Chaplain Sproul entered active-duty service as a direct commission in 1991 and has thirty-two years of service. He served five years on active duty, six years in the Air Force Reserve, and twenty-one years in the Air Guard. He has deployed four times. He has a Doctor of Ministry degree specializing in church administration and counseling.
In his civilian ministry, Mike Sproul has served as a pastor for 29 years. He was the Senior Pastor of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, AZ, for 23 years. It is a multiethnic and multi-dimensional congregation, with a wide-ranging educational and international ministry. Currently, Mike is the Sr. Pastor of Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, CO.
He and his high school sweetheart and wife of 38 years, Elma Phillips Sproul, have two children, Dave and Sara. Dave is a combat pilot with over 3000 hours flying and now flies both for the Arizona Air National Guard and Southwest. He and his wife Ameana have two children, Eleanor (4) and Theo (2). Sara is a Nurse Practitioner and is married to Brandon. They have two children, Brayden (5) and Bentley (3). Both couples are active in their church, Tri-City Baptist.
We offer our sincere congratulations to Brigadier General Sproul and our prayers for many more years of effective ministry.
Joe Willis CH (COL) USAR RET, is the FBFI Endorser for our chaplain ministry.