CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A Navy veteran who used to be a church pastor now uses a Chesapeake diner to serve up his ministry.

Joe McGourn, who has owned the Sunrise Breakfast Shoppe for nearly 30 years, is known as “Pastor Joe,” and he provides food for the body and food for the soul. He gets plenty of regulars in his place — some just looking for eggs over easy, others looking to tackle hard times.

Check the menu at Sunrise and you’ll find plenty of variety from New England, New Orleans, and some — try the lumpia — from his wife Veronica’s native country, the Philippines.

Among the regulars is USMC veteran Thomas Sweeney, who says he comes “practically every day.” He just leaves the choice of what to eat up to the staff.

“Many times I’ll come in here and just say fix me a breakfast,” Sweeney said.

McGourn stepped down from the pulpit 10 years ago.

“I was in church one Sunday and I looked around and I’m like, ‘This is not my calling,'” said McGourn, who served for 24 years in the Navy. “My calling is outside the church. …

“[I’m thinking], you’re a veteran, there’s veterans hurting, there’s veterans suffering,” he said. “That’s where you need to focus when you’re here.”

Before he saved souls, he saved lives. McGourn earned the highest non-combat honor for quick action when a military vehicle caught fire.

“I got a fire extinguisher, broke the glass, got one guy out of the vehicle,” he said. “As I got the second guy and heaved him out of the vehicle, it exploded. Saved them.”

McGourn said he has a knack for recognizing vets who come in needing more than just a hot cup of coffee.

“A lot of them will wear a ball cap, Marine ball cap. There was a guy in here this morning with a Marine sweatshirt, so that kind of opens the door to go have a dialog and say, Hey, thank you, brother,” McGourn said, “and they’ll come in and they’ll ask for prayer, and the staff will stop and pray with them.”

McGourn’s outreach goes far beyond Hampton Roads. He makes regular trips to the Philippines, “usually two or three times a year.”

“I saw pictures of kids in the garbage dump naked and hungry, crying,” he said, so McGourn and his team have developed a comic book to help kids there identify and seek refuge from sexual abuse and human trafficking. They also provide hearing aids to Filipino children.

At home, you’ll see McGourn making visits to living centers for homeless vets, including the new one near Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.

Another Marine veteran and Sunrise regular, Gerard Myers, said he and McGourn hit it off once he learned of Pastor Joe’s good works.

“I think it’s important that people know that,” Myers said.

“Just to meet and go and talk with the vet, and get to know them and their story and see how you can help them,” McGourn said. “Most of the time I leave feeling more blessed than blessing that person.”