Resources for Effective Service and Ministry in the Army, Air Force, and Navy Chaplaincies
Building trust among the people in the command is essential for a chaplain who wants to be effective and successful, but it can be tricky. It is a known fact that people in the military will be watching their chaplain, and they’ll determine whether they trust you by what they see and hear. If they …
Continue reading "Friendship, Availability, Character, and Trust: F.A.C.T."
America’s founders had experienced the abuses of political and religious powers in the European monarchies, so they attempted to create a new nation that prevented the duplication of those problems. That is why from the very beginning, the United States was not a monarchy, and there would be no official religion. Instead of kings who …
My dad was a Sailor during WWII. After the war, he went to college and seminary while pastoring a church. He became a Navy chaplain when I was three months old and retired when I was in college. What this means is I had a pretty good idea what being a military chaplain would be …
"Interestingly, although the chaplain has to be an ordained representative of an acknowledged faith group, the Chaplain Assistant does not have to be religious at all. We've worked with all kinds of Chaplain Assistants: religious and non-religious, Christian and non-Christian, ministry-minded and non-ministry-minded, personable and stand-offish, good and bad, male and female." ~ Military Ministry: …
“Ministry can take many shapes. Some chaplains work in a chapel environment. Some chaplains never preach from behind a pulpit. They might serve communion from the tailgate of a Hummer or a truck….” ~ Military Ministry: Chaplains in the Twenty-First Century (page 187) There hadn’t been a chaplain at the small FOB during the three years …
One of the ways to avoid getting into trouble is to establish accountability measures and allow key people in your life to hold you answerable for what is morally right, and what is helpful in your career. It is important to establish professional and spiritual mentoring relationships. We all need someone we can turn to …
I was a chaplain with an infantry battalion that was conducting field exercises in Yakima, Washington. While visiting our soldiers at remote locations, I asked my Chaplain Assistant if he would go up and over the mountain instead of taking the road around it. He agreed, but soon stopped and said he couldn’t go further …
After I completed the Army Chaplain Basic Course, my first assignment was with a medical unit. While participating in a field training exercise at Camp Parks in California, it was hot, with temperatures over 110 degrees. I met with the First Sergeant one day, and he told me that one of his Soldiers died. When …
I am excited to announce that our publisher just released the book Military Ministry: Chaplains in the Twenty-First Century, second edition. When we started writing this book in 2020, we understood the importance of social media in ministry, so the first edition contained a dozen or so statements about social media, but there wasn’t a …
Continue reading "Military Ministry: Chaplains in the 21st Century"
Military Chaplain Guide 