Rev. Thomas C. Waynick, M.Div., MS, MSS, LMFT

CEO, Executive Director of Pastoral Institute

Chaplain Tom Waynick was born in 1956 and grew up in a career Air Force family. In 1974, he graduated from Aiea High School in Hawaii. He attended Concordia College in Austin, Texas from 1974 to 1976. He graduated from Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1978) with a Bachelor’s degree in history. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Concordia Seminary – Ft. Wayne, Indiana (1982) and was ordained the same year. He also has earned a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology from Central Texas University (1999) and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the Army War College (2012).

Chaplain Waynick interned at Iglesia Luterana de San Juan in Austin. His first call as pastor was to Immanuel Lutheran Church and School in Mercedes, Texas. In 1986, he took a call to King of Kings Lutheran Church in Round Rock, Texas. He accepted a call from the Mission Board of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod in 1991 to serve as a U.S. Army chaplain.

In 2012, he became the Pentagon Chaplain. On September 8, 2014, he was assigned to Ft. Benning as the Garrison Chaplain. On December 31, 2015, Chaplain Waynick retired after 35 years of military service. He is currently the Director/CEO of the Pastoral Institute in Columbus, Georgia.


He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Louisiana and Georgia. He is a past Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (now ACPE psychotherapist), a Diplomate in the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy and a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.