In January of 1977, Brother Samuel C. Watkins Sr. joined the United States Army. He was positioned as an enlisted specialist. There he learned discipline and self-control, while adjusting to an environment that posed great opposition. Shortly after his conversion in November of 1979, God called Brother Watkins into the ministry to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During the time of his enlistment, he became the pastor’s assistant, in one of the Foreign Missions located right outside the base in West Germany.