The noon Lions Club meeting on April 3 will feature Hilton R. Wells, M.A. CEPC, Community Engagement & Partnership Coordinator at Overton Brooks VA Medical Center. The meeting will take place at the American Legion Memorial Home, located at 119 W. Pine St. in downtown Minden.
Wells is an eleven-year veteran of the United States Air Force, where he served as a weather forecaster and a two-time silver badge recruiter. After graduating from high school at the age of seventeen, he joined the Air Force and participated in various cadre weather teams. He is also a graduate of the Sabalauski Army Air Assault School in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Arctic Survival School at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
In March 1997, while stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Wells received a calling from God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He honorably separated from the military in January 2006 to pursue his ministerial calling, enrolling in seminary and beginning to pastor Rivers of Living Water Church in DeRidder, Louisiana, in June 2006. He served in that role for 17 years.
Wells joined the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in March 2021 as a receptionist and advanced through the ranks in mental health services, now serving as one of two community engagement & partnership coordinators focused on suicide prevention in the ARKLATEX region.
His educational background includes an associate degree in weather technology and another in human resource management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services from Wayland Baptist University and a Master of Arts degree in missiology from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. With over five years of experience in the mental health field, Wells has authored three books and published two.
Hilton is married to Aurora Wells, and they have two children, Ariel, 22, and Isaiah, 17. His passion lies in helping people receive Christ and fulfill their God-given potential in this life and beyond.