A Call To Leadership

EP287: On Heaven's Mission with Retired Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle

• Dr. Nate Salah

Share episode

What if your greatest battlefield wasn't combat, but obedience? Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle shares how 21 years in the Air Force shaped her through faith, mentorship, and mission-driven leadership. Her journey reveals powerful truths about resilience, purpose, and what it really means to serve. Listen now to discover the kind of leadership that transforms lives.


Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • How a divine nudge led her from civilian nursing to the Air Force
  • Choosing faith over politics in a rigid military system
  • Military training built on obedience, mission, and ancient truth
  • A spiritual wilderness that led to unexpected clarity
  • The surprising impact of one bold phrase in mentorship
  • How integrity or the lack of it can make or break a team


About Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who served over 21 years as a military nurse and leader. Known for her integrity, mentorship, and faith-driven leadership, she held command roles across multiple deployments, including in Afghanistan. Her career reflects a deep commitment to excellence, spiritual resilience, and empowering others to rise in purpose and character.

Connect with Karyn 

Connect With Us
Master your context with real results leadership training!
To learn more, visit our website at www.greatsummit.com.

For tax, bookkeeping, or accounting help, contact Dr. Nate’s team at www.theincometaxcenter.com or send an email to info@theincometaxcenter.com.


Follow Dr. Nate on His Social Media

[00:00:00] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Let it start with you. Be the magnet that attracts those who want to do more, who have the same character as you, show your character, and they're saying, well, if they can do it, I can do it. And maybe they'll start to shine because you are leading the way. 

[00:00:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Not very many people understand the mission, like our military professionals and those who have served in combat. I am always. Is fascinated with the ways the military handles leadership, and no better person to share leadership from a perspective of mission than retired Lieutenant Colonel Karen Revelle on the show. And we're going to unpack some aspects of the journey as leaders that will not only galvanize us, but will inspire us to lead more effectively. So that we can all accomplish the mission together. I'm Dr. Nate Sala. This is a call to leadership. Dr. Karen, how are you? 

[00:01:11] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Oh, good afternoon to you and everyone. 

[00:01:14] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Well, thanks for being on the show and just sharing some of your amazing experiences in life when it comes to your journey, your faith. I'm particularly fascinated, of course, your last name is Revelle so there's another famous rale on the show quite a bit, Mr. Travis Ravelle, and you two are related, so that's super cool. He's spoken so highly of you, and I'm just thankful to have you on the show, especially for our listener who's gonna just get massive value from our conversation today. You served in the military. Let's start there. 

[00:01:46] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Okay. Okay. 

[00:01:47] Dr. Nate Salah
What branch of the military were you in?

[00:01:49] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
So, I am part of the Air Force, so retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel served for about 21 and a half years before I exited, but it's such a fascinating time to be. A part of the military, right? You hear people say, thank you for your service. Service, and thank you for your service service members. Our true response is, you know, it's my pleasure to serve, right? It's a privilege to serve. It's a place where God also has people embedded within the service to do what he wants to do, and so we are trained up in that military service and we continue to be able to sow into people, which is awesome. 

[00:02:33] Dr. Nate Salah
What got you in the military? 21 years is a good clip. 

[00:02:37] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
It it's a good clip. And honestly, I will say that the Lord placed me there because I started out as a nurse in the civilian sector, right? But I got to the point where I'm like, I'm so burned out taking care of people that I've gotta make a change. And so I ended up seeing a Air Force recruiter. And going into the military, and I don't know that I planned to stay for 20 years. His one assignment led to another assignment and you know, one hardship I was going to get out, but I had a good mentor who says, Karen, you really ought to stay in. You need the stability. You can still do what you wanna do, but keep in the stability of what you know, at least for one more assignment. So God just put great people in my path that mentored me along the way to help me keep rising. Right? Mm. And keep excelling and doing what I needed to do, you know, and each PCs or permanent change of station that I did about every three years. 'cause we hop around every three years as, as an officer, it divine assignments. Mm. Right. Great people around me that I. Just was able to sow into, you know, they supported me, I supported them, and together we rose. Yeah. 

[00:03:54] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. Together we rose. So, so for those who aren't familiar with the, the military and rankings, where does Lieutenant Colonel rank? 

[00:04:02] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
That is a, we call it a oh five and it's right below. Most people know what a full bird kernel is and a general, so I'm in that upper range up there. So God bless me tremendously with promotions. 

[00:04:15] Dr. Nate Salah
So if you would've stayed in, how much longer would you have been? Possibly a general. Or does it, does it work like that? 

[00:04:22] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
It, well, it does. We call it on the line side. I am a military medical officer because I'm a nurse by trade. Mm-hmm. So through the Nurse Corps, I would say the Nurse Corps. Promotes the only people promoting slower. The nurse Corps is the chaplains, our poor chaplains. And it's really because of what we do. And if you start looking at the equivalency of pay on the outside part of that probably plays some of that in there. But, you know, I, I had a, we only have one general in the Nurse Corps. We're only allowed one. So you know of everybody in that core, there's only gonna be one. So there's not that many. You're gonna be, yeah. Somebody that's gonna play politics. I don't play politics well. I, I tend to speak what I think is the truth and, the short, it doesn't get you in trouble.

[00:05:09] Dr. Nate Salah
The short time we've gotten know each other, that's not a surprise. Yes. so is there politics in the military? 

[00:05:15] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Absolutely. There's politics in the military, not just like in the movies, right?

[00:05:18] Dr. Nate Salah
Yes. You can't handle the truth kind of stuff. 

[00:05:21] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
That's right. Yeah. You have to learn to play the game in the military and sometimes it's not a game you wanna play. Right, right. Because people are involved. 

[00:05:28] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. I've always been fascinated with the military in terms of the structure. Yes. The discipline, the mentorship, and how systems and training are essential to success in the military. That's something that we strive for in commerce and in the world, if you will and it's, it's quite fascinating to hear from someone, especially at your rank, to talk about their, the nuances. Of course, it's not a perfect system, I suppose, as well. Right? Right. 

[00:06:00] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
It, it is not perfect, but we do try. Very hard to incorporate training, especially in the beginning, like most people are familiar with boot camp. You know, if you're looking at the enlisted side of the house, then they're going through training to even prepare them to determine, do you have what it takes, right? Can we break you down enough that we can rebuild you and build character in you so that when it comes to the crisis and the point of command, are you gonna be obedient? To what the command is to accomplish the mission, right? And all of this is stolen from biblical principles. So don't think that, you know, we're doing anything that's, amazing because it's all gonna stem back to that. But we're training people as we go, and they're never just thrown out there, right?

[00:06:52] 
They're always going to have ongoing training, they're gonna have, mentors a along the way that's gonna help build them up and bring them along because we are not in a position where we can have failure. Failure's not an option. Failure means somebody's dying, right? We don't wanna lose anybody along the way if we can help it. And so we are going to have buddy systems and we are going to, you know, link people together. We call it, you know, no, there's no airmen, no soldier left behind. We're always gonna bring everybody along with us. So we are going to do it as a team. Teamwork is huge. So we've got a big focus on unity. We're gonna be uni a united front as we go forward against the, you know, the enemy and we're gonna succeed, right? We, we don't go in ever thinking we're gonna fail. We're always gonna have the victory in our mind. We're gonna achieve that together. 

[00:07:50] Dr. Nate Salah
It's exciting. I think about it like in a business environment and you, you get a, a new hire and you say. Listen, we're gonna break you down so we can see if you've got what it takes to face crisis doesn't flow nearly as effectively as in the military. No. In some ways though, it's what we need. We need to structure our agreement so that commitment to the mission is essential and non-negotiable. 

[00:08:24] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Yes. That is God's plan for us to do. Right? To build that godly character, take it out into the field, into the workplace, wherever we are, that is our mission field, right? That's where we're gonna execute and God intends for us to spend that training time with him, right? Not just training for your job, but training time to know him so that you can take that with you because. When you are deployed, like as a military member and you were deployed, you don't know if you're coming back, right? So many people are either going to embrace God, I mean, because it's in those crisis moments that you are looking to God going. I can't make it through this mass casualty unless you give me the strength. Right? We can only go so long before you know you're exhausted and you can't make it. So, you know, God has given me opportunities, right?

[00:09:16]
I know my last deployment into Afghanistan. That was one of a divine preparation, right? And the people you go out with, God puts people in your path, right? So that when you get there, there's people that you need to help bring you along, right? So there was one point where, I'll just say that I had come out of divorce 'cause I did a back-to-back deployment, but God sent me back on deployment, right? Because there would've been too much noise, right? I wouldn't have been able to focus and rise the way I think that I was able to rise. So he sent me out, right? It's like going into the wilderness. He sends you out so that he can get you reconnected to him. Right? So I grew up singing at church. My family sang. And so I went back to singing. I went back to connecting to the Lord so that when I came back six months later, I was able to PCs like I did, you know, two weeks after I got back out, process and go to the next place by myself, not knowing anybody, right? 

[00:10:38]
God is gonna support you, but he's also gonna put you in positions to stretch you so that you can further rely on him. 'cause that's what he wants, right? He wants you to be dependent on him and not dependent on yourself. But he puts us sometimes in those situations to be able to achieve that. And so it's like going through the refiner's fire. Mm-hmm. Right? What are you made of? Right? Do you really believe this? Will you really trust me, Karen? And what I'm telling you to do and where I tell you to go, are you gonna be compliant, obedient to do that? and, and be one of mine. Are you gonna give up? You know, he didn't want you to give up along the way. Yeah. But that's why he puts people in your path to raise you up. And sometimes you don't even realize they're doing it. Mm. Right. I had a nurse and a, it's not something we talked about earlier, but these things come to my mind. So I had a nurse when I was a flight commander. Right. And so I'm always mentoring my nurses because I want them to be better. I want them to excel. I want them to have excellence, right? One of the motto of the Air Force is excellence in all you do. So when I was mentoring her, and it was her first assignment and she was underneath my command and she got her first orders for a new assignment, and she's very upset, a little nervous. She's never really been away from home, and she had overseas orders.

[00:12:03] 
And years later, when I ran into her into a different assignment, she said, 'cause at that time I was a major, she goes, major Revel. Do you remember telling me when you were giving me advice about my assignment? She goes, do you remember to tell me to quit whining and go to my mission field? And I'm like, no. Really I don't. Right. So it, it had to have been just, you know, something that. Was in my heart that I said to her to get her moving forward. Right? Because if people are stagnating, we've gotta get them moving forward. We gotta motivate them. She was a Christian sister, right? So we had had some prayer times and a closed office. 'Cause you're not really allowed to do that. Right? So you're, you're in this little secret room trying to mentor and support people. but later she told me how much that meant to her to be able to do that, right? Yeah. Hear that word and she clung to it. Right. And I didn't even realize the impact that that word had on her till it got circled back around. And many times we don't know the impact we have on people as we are just trying to live the life that the Lord's called us to live and be obedient to that and encourage and support people along, along the way that, you know, it changes the trajectory of their lives sometimes. 

[00:13:28] Dr. Nate Salah
Agreed. Yes. You know, and you bringing that up. Well, I thank you for that story. It reminds me of, of how Jesus sent out the 12 disciples. Mm-hmm. Two by two. Yes. And Matthew chapter 10. I love that story because he goes through and explains all of the potential hardships they're gonna face. You may be. Beaten. You might be ostracized, you might go to prison, you might even die. Yeah. And you can only, IM, you can imagine it's, we read these stories, but we forget the looks on the faces of those individuals. It sound like, really? Is this what you want us to do? And Jesus says Three times. Three times. Do not be afraid. Right. 

[00:14:00] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Do not be afraid. 

[00:14:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Do not be afraid because he's pushing them to strengthen their struggle muscles and and rely on God in these moments of tension, in these moments of trial, in these moments of growth. Yeah. That are, as you said, refining them, transforming them. And that is a place of not only importance, but it's in place. It's a place for us to make sure we're around people. Who will challenge us to rise higher, to rise further, to rise above the mediocracy that we will live in unless we are truly embracing the possibilities in the future?

[00:14:46] MidTro Ad:
Hey, friend, it's your friend. Dr Nate Salah, if you've ever wondered how your leadership style reflects Jesus or how it could, I've got something just for you. It's called the incarnational instrument, and it's a powerful self-assessment we created to help you discover your biblical identity, your leadership profile through the lens of Christ. It's practical, it's insightful, and it's completely free for our podcast community. Just head to biblicalidentity.com to take yours today. That's Biblical identity.com. And find out how you lead and how you can lead holy.

[00:15:26] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Right, because you're always striving to be more, but you're right about that because it's the people that we have around us. And you have to look at that because those people, the environment that we're in, influence us, and we will never be a greater leader than the people around us. So if you want to achieve more, right? So as a major, I had to hang out with the lieutenant colonels and colonels, right? I, I, I needed to go learn from them, right? What did they know? What did they want to do? Right? From that, you know, when you're working in excellence, people will see that, right? And sometimes you do have to do things afraid. My last assignment, I was the chief nurse and there was a change, right? Because we PCs and so there's a change coming. And the deputy group commander, I guess in the civilian world, your CEO right, was changing out. And so the deputy came to me as a hub preparation, right? A warning, you know, Karen, you need to know that the boss is gonna come down the hallway and he is gonna talk to you.

[00:16:42]
I said, Okay, thanks for coming. Let me know. He goes, no, you don't get it. He's gonna come ask you to be his deputy. And I'm like, but I'm the chief nurse and I'm retiring in a year. Why would I take this position? Right? Why wouldn't you give it to somebody who's still trying to rise? Right. Because I'm not trying to make rank. I'm, I'm not trying to, you know, boss anybody around. I mean, as a female, I'm pretty bossy. I mean, I'm, I'm, I am by nature. But he says, Karen, think about it. He says, who else is there? And so I start going through. Who else is on staff, right? Who has the capability? Who can support the boss, right? Do we have any godly leaders around us that can step up? Right? And God's gonna ask you to step up whether you think you're qualified, whether you think you are ready to retire, and you're out the door. God says, Oh, no, no, no. I still have work for you, right? So. I was the deputy, right? For, for the last, and so you end up being stretched even more because you're, you know, the boss is out and you're having to go into these.

[00:17:58]
We call him sipper net. So you're, you're on the, the secret, you know, missions, you gotta go log in and you know, when he is outta town, you're like, Lord, please don't let there be a war, where I'm in the war room right when the boss is out. that I had to make those kind of decisions. But he'll stretch you to be able to do that.nBut he's gonna look at the people around you and say, but you are the one I choose, you know? Will you be obedient and step up and go do it, or are you gonna sit back and be comfortable and retire? 

[00:18:34] Dr. Nate Salah
Come on. 

[00:18:35] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
And so you have to say, yes, Lord. I mean, you have to say yes Lord, and you have to step up to go, okay, God, stop. Finish with me, yet I'm gonna step out. I don't know what this looks like. I'm kind of scared to go forward, but I understand that the Lord prepares. Who he lives, right? So he'll prepare me to go do it. And you've got more strength than you think you do, right? And you've got more knowledge than you think you do. And sometimes we have to recognize the potential in people and call them out and tell them, come, come follow me. You gotta come, right? But it's a choice you make. Yeah. He gives you a choice, and you have to choose. To follow and go, okay, Lord, in your strength, I'm gonna go do this. Right? But it's a great experience, right? It's a great experience, and you don't know what he's trying to do next, because sometimes it's that preparation for what you can't even see in the future that he wants to move you to, right? But you've gotta do this first. You've gotta get through this to be eligible to do that, right? Because he's such a strategic planner that.

[00:19:49]
He's so far out there, further in the future, seeing where you're going, and you're just struggling to make it through today sometimes, or through the week sometimes. But he'll encourage you. He'll let you go through the times where you're like, okay, just don't be afraid. Just come on, you've got this. And he'll put people around you, too that will support you and say, Hey, that was a good call today. And maybe it's not much. Maybe it's just that encouragement or, Hey, we really like when you know you get to run the meeting. Oh really? Like what am I doing with the meeting? You? You don't even know what you're doing. That they take significance to that you're doing it right and then they start adding those tools into their own toolbox to be able to use later. Because you know, we all assess people and say, okay, I like. That part of this person's leadership. I don't like that part of this leadership. So I'm gonna take a hold of this and I'm gonna put this aside and say, I am never gonna do that because that was just ineffective and it, it doesn't support or honor any of the people.

[00:20:54]
Right? You can see. Would the reaction of the people, when you do that. So, you know, it's those type things you wanna look out for as a leader and just realize the effects you have that you don't know you have. Mm. You know, what people see in you that you don't see in yourself. So if you'll ask feedback Yeah. From people around you. And sometimes they'll give it unsolicited, but other times they'll just tell you, you know, 'cause I, I had a boss that told me in one of the. Projects. You know, he says, well, Karen, you just have an uncanny way of being able to simplify and break it down and then tell people how to go execute. And I'm like, I do. Right? So they're seeing things you don't see, but it, it's good they speak up to tell you so that you can go, oh, okay, well let me pay more attention to that, if that's what you're seeing is a strength of mine. I've never paid any attention. Do I need to develop that? Is that a lane? I need to go farther in to help other people in doing what they're doing?

[00:21:56]
Right? Especially when you've got novice people, right? Mm-hmm. And they need so much mentoring that you need to spend time with them, but at the same time, you're like. I can't really afford to spend time with you. Let me just do it myself. Mm-hmm. Right? You. You can't do it yourself. All right. Let me just say, please don't do it yourself. Please train them because each person you train. Then they're training other people, and we get the multiplication and expansion effect. And you wanna be able to do that for people instead of keeping it and rising yourself, you know, and, and getting the credit for it. Don't do things for credit. Do it because you wanna lift people up and you wanna get them ready for what God has for them next. I mean, it's where we wanna go. 

[00:23:39] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. You've, you've touched on so many wonderful things and I love it. I love. The challenge of being around being in a room in a circle of those who have not only gone before you, but can help to unlock the vision for your potential. Yes, because we have blind spots. Yes. Naturally. And so that's where mentorship comes in, where folks who care about your future destination, how God can magnify his purpose in and through you. Mm-hmm. And shepherd you. Yes. In that way. And that's invaluable. And sometimes we don't, we don't seek that. Sometimes we shy away from that for a lot of reasons. And one of them, as you mentioned earlier, is, is this fear. Yeah. Right. Also a complacency, comfort. Right. Enemy of progress. We know that, and I've found that the most valuable advice I've gotten is likely. The most at the time. I would consider it even stinging advice, like, oh, oof. And sometimes it's a rebuke and hey, you know what? You've got more in you than what you thought. Sometimes it is a praise report that you weren't expecting, and you're like, nah. Are you sure about that? Right. At the same time, all of it is feedback. All of it is important to gaining a better understanding of the purpose and the plan, and the pleasure. Yes.


 [00:24:07]
Of God in and through us. And that's I think where I like to land on the, the, the last part of that is God is so pleased with our obedience. You know, we talk about it, we talked about it off, off air, we talk about it in here. There's a lot of plans you can make in life. It's only one plan. It's only one plan. That's flawless and that's obedience. And what does that mean? That means that I trust first and foremost, because those, those disciples going out two by two, they had to trust. They had to trust that, okay, he sees something in us. Strength, ability, the future of what is to take hold. Just think about it. Just think about the future for these individuals who were to take Jesus's message, as you said, through the training, through the the multiplication. Yes. And in our industries, in our families, in our communities, that model is continuing to bear good fruit. And it's the model that says, let's challenge the status quo.

[00:25:13]
Let's challenge what we think is okay, and let's surround ourselves with people. Who will help us to rise far beyond what we ever thought possible. And you in the military and having a center of faith, I'm curious, what are some of the qualities that you've found over these 21 years that you've seen people continue to rise both in their skills, abilities, and leadership in their character? Over these, over these wonderful years you've served in the military. What are some of the hallmarks that you've said, wow, that individual has what it takes to rise into being a worthy leader? 

[00:25:58] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Wow, that is an awesome question. You have so many examples and people are all individuals, right? Part of the biggest thing that I always look for. Is their integrity, right? But integrity for the Air force is a core value, integrity, excellence in all you do is a core value. And so you wanna see that in, in people. And, and I guess that's part of what drew me to that, right? Is because I'm expecting that of people, right? So if, if you're in the military, it's almost like, well, we, we have a higher standard. Right. Just like God holds us to a higher standard, the military also holds us to a higher standard. And when we sign in and we take the oath, we become government property. It's almost like you give up your will to the will of the military, right? And you learn to be of service, and you learn to serve right, and they're gonna train you up.

[00:27:00]
But many of the leaders you know, your greatest leaders. Always have a love for their people. And they're gonna look out for their people. So my best leaders I knew had my back. Mm-hmm. Right? So we would develop that trust and rapport, and then I knew that they would delegate authority to me, and they trusted me to do it right. They're gonna give me an order, they're gonna trust me to do it, and most of them are gonna get outta the way and, and give me like full autonomy over how you see fit. Just go execute it. But report to me what's going on? Give me, we call it, you know, a sit rep, right? So give me a situational report from time to time so I'm not blindsided, and so that I can elevate up to anybody that asks me what's happening. But, you know, keep me, keep me involved in the pulse of what's going on. But many places, you know, when you come in with that excellent character, and because of the people you hang around, right? Because you're not going to. Join yourself with people that didn't have good character. Right? They would quickly be weeded out.

[00:28:14]
Or if we found that they were somebody that was in it for themselves, taking credit for the group's project, right? They get the award. There is no group award when it's the team that came behind them. That actually did the work and lifted them up, right? So they fairly quickly will, you know, we will learn that that's the type of person they are. And you'll see little by little that they get cut out of things right. Are not given more opportunity. Right. Their opportunities will kind of become shut down because you are not a person of character who's going where we're going. Right? So if it came to in order that, we really had to execute, right? Are we following you? When we know you don't look out for us, right? And so it's those type leaders that are just, these people are willing to go the full distance, right? They're fully committed. They know what they gotta do. If I go and I never come back, it's okay. I'm here to serve, and I will lay down my life.

[00:29:25]
Right. For what I came to do. It's like your secret service. Yeah. They're, they're gonna take a bullet for the president. Right. We are going to do what we need to do for our fellow airman, sailors, soldiers, all these people that have come out. As a sacrifice, right? We, we sacrifice time with our families to be deployed, for periods of time. And, you know, so you just, we put on this helmet of honor, I guess, and say, it's my honor to serve, and I'm gonna go out here and do it. That's not everybody, right? You've got people that are gonna come through that, you know, you'll know fairly quickly whether they're here and they're gonna do the bare minimum. Are you gonna excel and be one of us and shoot for excellence? Right? And you start filtering out, you know, the cream of the crop is always gonna rise, and leaders will gravitate to other leaders, right? And, and we start helping each other, and we're gonna build one another up. Because if your department goes down, your department is interconnected to my department.

[00:30:33]
So, you know, many times you start overextending yourself if this department has a leader who isn't as strong, because you need to support those people and they need to rise. Because if you are falling, you know, if you are not beating your quotas, if you're not getting it done, then it directly affects my department because it's such an inner exchange. You know, we all rely on one another. So it's those excellent people that we're looking for. But, but I can't say that it's, you know, one individual person, but it, it's everybody just fully committed saying “We're in it together and we're gonna get it done no matter what.” No matter how many hours, whether I sleep, I don't sleep, you know, if the phone rings and I need to go in, we're going. Right. We're taking care of people. 

[00:31:27] Dr. Nate Salah
I love it. Integrity is a, that one core value, that when it's compromised, that the entire leadership can sink. And you think about, okay, we're on a leadership, right? Think about the hull of a ship, and I've talked about this on the show before. Well, what happens if the hull of the ship is breached? The it sinks, right? Very, very simple. Yeah. And so as leaders, as leaders, this has gotta be a non-negotiable. It's gotta be a non-negotiable for us to model and walk, and as you said, and then attract others around that same sense of not just duty and mission, but that virtue and principle. That says, no matter what, I will not deviate from my commitment to serve with the resolve that's necessary to protect and to honor the commitment I've made. And, and here's the heart of it, is you don't compromise the character of your community. Don't do it. Because what happens when you do it? I've been in communities with compromised character. It led me to have compromised character. Yep. I've been in communities that had such a unity. And strength of character that all it did was galvanized my own character. Right. Find that community. Find that community. That community exists. 

[00:32:47] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Yeah. Or build it. Let it start with you, and let the people gravitate to you. Be the magnet. Right. That attracts those. Who want to do more, right? Who have the same character. Maybe they just haven't realized their potential, right? Maybe they haven't had anybody to lead them because, you know, maybe they wanna be part of the choir, but they're not ready to sing solo, right? So how do we, you know, bring them in? But you can be the magnet for that as you show your character. And they're saying, well, if they can do it. I can do it. Right. And maybe they'll start to shine. Right, because you are leading the way. 

[00:33:26] Dr. Nate Salah
That's right. Amen. 

[00:33:28] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Yeah. 

[00:33:29] Dr. Nate Salah
There's so much more to talk about. We've gotta do this again. I tell you what, and we gotta talk about your research, you, your dissertation. So, so how, how do we even retired Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Karen Revelle? That's, that's a mouthful. And of course you laid at the feet of Jesus. I know that. 

[00:33:50] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
That's right. You just say God is good. Yeah. 

[00:33:53] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. He is good. 

[00:33:54] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
He's good.

[00:33:55] Dr. Nate Salah
Before we go, though, I do have a question for you. 

[00:33:57] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Sure. 

[00:33:58] Dr. Nate Salah
So one day you'll be at what we call the great summit, the end of the journey on this side of eternity, and you'll, you'll look and see all of the, the people who you've had an opportunity to serve alongside of and serve with. What's one thing that you would like? Them to have said about you. 

[00:34:19] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
I want them to think that, yeah, I was faithful to whatever I committed to, that I was faithful to them. That I was faithful to the Lord. I want them to say of me that I was faithful. 

[00:34:32] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, you my friend, are on your way.

[00:34:33] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Great. 

[00:34:35] Dr. Nate Salah
Thanks for being here. 

[00:34:37] Lt. Colonel Karyn Revelle
Yeah, thanks for the invite. It's a privilege.

[00:34:41] Dr. Nate Salah
Thank you so much for supporting this program. I'd like to pray for you for just a moment that God realigns the heart away from pressure, pride, performance, back to his presence. Let us grow in God's wisdom. Let us give from our overflow and let us go love radically in every place God sends us. Make us holy Lord, set us apart, not just successful, but surrendered in Jesus' name, Amen.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Dr. Nate Salah

Host