-Submitted photo
The Rev. Robert Bell, left, and his wife, Audrey, of Des Moines, pose together at Second Baptist Church. Bell will be installed as the new pastor of the church on Sunday.

A U.S. Army veteran and postal worker will soon become a familiar face at Second Baptist Church.

The Rev. Robert Bell, of Des Moines, will be installed as the new pastor of the church, 1827 Fourth Ave. S., at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Jonathan Whitfield, pastor of Corinthian Baptist Church of Des Moines, is the guest speaker.

“I am looking forward to working with the community and getting to know the area,” said Bell, a Chicago native. “I’ve been getting to know the people there over the past few months.”

Bell, a mail handler for the United States Postal Service, was relocated from Illinois to Des Moines about 12 years ago. He’s been with the Post Office for 21 years.

He served in the U.S. Army from May of 1975 to May of 1978. He joined the Reserves after that and served until 1996. Bell retired as a sergeant first class.

Bell’s service took him to many parts of the world. His job was a construction inspector.

“My unit was 416 Engineer Command out of Chicago,” Bell said. “We did all of the engineering for the U.S. Army. That took me all over the world, lots of different places. I served in Kuwait in Desert Storm. I have been to Korea, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen — all over in the Middle East and Europe.

“I traveled a lot, helping the military out. Thank God I had a good understanding wife (Audrey) that supported me through the ordeal and a job that supported me in it, too. Thank God for my wife.”

The two have been married for 38 years. They met while working at A.B. Dick in Niles, Illinois. A.B. Dick was a major manufacturer of copy machines and office supplies.

Bell attended Chicago Baptist Institute. He attended Malcolm X Junior College in Chicago.

Later, he was a deacon from 1978 to 2004 at Christian Greater Rock Baptist Church in Chicago.

For over a decade he has served as an associate minister at Corinthian Baptist Church in Des Moines.

“I also ministred at a nursing home until I accepted the call for associate minister in Fort Dodge because they needed a pastor,” Bell said.

Bell said he enjoys being a pastor because he can interact with all different types of people.

“I love people,” he said. “I am a people person. Just interacting with them and being around them. Just enjoying life and the mandate that God charged us to do — love one another and preach the gospel of Christ. I get a joy out of doing that.”