Retired captain leads congregation at Imagine School
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
LAND O’ LAKES — To say the Rev. Morson Livingston is out of the ordinary would be an understatement.
Livingston is a retired Army captain who served for three years as a chaplain. He was deployed for most of his time in the military, traveling to such places as Bosnia, Kosovo, Hungary and the Bahamas.
“I joined the Army because I liked adventure and wanted to travel,” Livingston said. “I got both those things and got experiences that most church leaders don’t have.”
Livingston was born in southern India in a city called Kerala and moved to the United States in 1989. After serving, he worked with the Federal Bureau of Prisons Systems. Five years ago, he started St. Jude’s Church, which met at Livingston’s house in Land O’ Lakes.
Then St. Nicholas brought Livingston an early Christmas present. Imagine School, 17901 Hunting Bow Circle, in Land O’ Lakes agreed to let the church meet in the school cafeteria each Saturday in late 2009.
“It was Santa Claus for me,” Livingston said of getting the news. “We were asked to give a presentation to the school kids before Veterans Day. The school also donated letters and food for the troops and then let us use their cafeteria.”
Livingston also founded the St. Jude’s Homeless Veterans Resource Center, which offers help to homeless veterans in Pasco and north Hillsborough counties. Last year, the center had two flag ceremonies and provided food, clean water, haircuts and clean clothes to homeless veterans and their families.
“Many of the veterans don’t react well to what they see and have to do while serving,” Livingston said. “It’s no joke. You have to kill people or you’ll be killed. It’s tough to deal with, and I’m just lucky I’ve been able to adjust back to civilian life.”
The church has had traditional services each Saturday at 5 p.m. and Bible study classes at 6 p.m. for the last four weeks. It added a contemporary service at 7 p.m. each week on Jan. 2.
Livingston leads the traditional service, while retired Coast Guard Capt. John Carland leads the Bible study.
“I’ve studied the Bible for years, and just like Morson I’ve been around the block more than once,” said Carland, who is also the center’s treasurer and program director.
Carland served for 33 years in the Coast Guard before retiring in 1992. He lives in Holiday.
Livingston said he is still deciding who will be the permanent leader of the contemporary service.
St. Jude’s has members from Land O’ Lakes, Lutz, Trinity, Holiday and Carrollwood. Only about 20 people attend the church each week, but Livingston said he hopes the new service will help increase those numbers.
“We are a nondenominational church, and I want us to be both a place where visitors can attend and a place to bring the community together,” Livingston said. “I believe there is just one God, so dividing Christianity up into different groups makes no sense to me. All Christians believe in God, so why argue over little things that don’t really matter?”
Livingston was raised Catholic in India but discovered his new views on religion as a chaplain.
“In the chapels in the military, all the different religions and Christians share the same place at different times,” Livingston said. “I try and bring that viewpoint and all my experience to the congregation. There aren’t many church leaders who have been in the military and worked in the prison system.”
Livingston has a master’s degree in psychology and sociology, which helps him see people in different ways, he said.
“You learn to look at people as an individual with psychology, you see them in a group with sociology and you see them spiritually with religion,” Livingston said.
For more information on the church or how to help the resource center, e-mail Livingston at or call him at (813) 951-2288.
