An elder from Victor Glover’s church prays that God’s name will be glorified.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
Two friends and brothers in Christ — Brent Hankins and Tracy Lamm — flew to Florida this week to witness the launch of humanity’s first lunar voyage in 53 years.
Both had special reasons for doing so.
Hankins serves as an elder of the Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, Texas, the congregation about six miles from NASA’s Space Center Houston that Artemis II pilot Victor Glover and his wife, Dionna, call home.
“He’s just a top-shelf guy and down to earth, but with all the experiences and accolades,” Hankins said of Glover, who launched into space with three other astronauts at 6:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
As a shepherd, Hankins said he came to love and support the Glover family and cheer and pray for them.
“It was a rush,” the Texas elder said of witnessing the launch. “I mean, I think we all had tears in our eyes. When we got to about five seconds in the countdown, the magnitude of that was pretty overwhelming.”
Lamm, a member of the Twickenham Church of Christ in Huntsville, Ala., spent 38 years working for NASA and private companies in the space industry. He attended the Southeast church during a four-year stint as a chief operating officer at Space Center Houston in the 2010s.
“It’s pretty moving,” said Lamm, who — with Hankins — watched the beginning of the planned 10-day test flight around the moon from a seventh-floor hotel rooftop.
His voice choked with emotion as he spoke.
“We’ve been trying to find this new launch vehicle and a spacecraft to get us to the moon,” Lamm said. “I spent a lot of years trying to help do that. … It just meant a whole lot to be able to be there and see that.”
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo by Bill Ingalls, NASA
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