When the Iraqi Christian pastor Aziz Makadsi speaks at the Walnut Grove Baptist Church on Wednesday, Jan. 25, a long-term friendship between the church and U.S. Army chaplain Lt. Col. Charlie Reynolds will take another meaningful step. 

Ever since Col. Reynolds was posted to Baghdad in January 2010, the congregation of Walnut Grove has been praying for and supporting him in his efforts. That relationship grew out of a 35-year friendship between Col. Reynolds and Walnut Grove’s pastor, Drexel Rayford, whom Col. Reynolds met in Austria in 1977 when both were serving with the Foreign Mission Board (as it was then called) of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Col. Reynolds has spoken in worship at Walnut Grove on multiple occasions.

The relationship between Col. Reynolds and Walnut Grove rose to a new level when Reynolds posted to Baghdad as the Strategic Religious Advisement Chaplain for United States Forces Iraq. 

Working out of the American Embassy in Baghdad, Reynolds monitored the treatment of the persecuted minorities in Iraq. 

The Christian community composes the largest minority population in Iraq and has suffered perhaps the gravest unintended consequence of the U.S. invasion: Muslim extremist groups have targeted them to the extent that the Christian population in Iraq has been dramatically reduced. 

Col. Reynolds, during his tour in Baghdad, orchestrated dozens of meetings between conflicting religious groups, visited with a number of Muslim, Christian and other religious leaders, and did much to help reduce the unfair treatment of all minority groups, including the Christians.

This is where Aziz Makadsi comes in. The Baptist General Association of Virginia, in partnership with North Carolina Baptists, has cooperated with Col. Reynolds in bringing two Iraqi pastors to the U.S. to speak in churches, to receive continuing education, and to raise awareness of the plight of Iraqi Christians at a very crucial time in the history of their country. 

Col. Reynolds and Rev. Makadsi will speak at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the Walnut Grove Baptist Church at 7046 Cold Harbor Road in Mechanicsville.

For more information, call the church at 746-5081.