A High Calling – Jack Hibbs

On this special episode, Pastor Jack discusses the high calling of our nation’s military chaplains with Captain Dennis Wheeler, U.S. Navy Chaplain. Captain Wheeler served 15 years as an enlisted Marine before answering the call to serve in ministry as a military chaplain. He’s been a Navy Chaplain for 23 years and is currently serving as the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Chaplain. Do you or someone you know have what it takes to become a military chaplain?

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Everybody with us today in this very special podcast is a United States Navy Chaplain Chaplain, 1 who represents the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military realm.
We’re gonna be learning a lot, and maybe you can play a role as well. So stay tuned.
I think you’re gonna get a lot out of this.
Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture.
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Now open your hearts to what God’s word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to this, uh, podcast. We’re glad that you guys are with us.
This is a special, uh, podcast. I say that every time that this is special.
But, um, I can preface it by saying this, it’s special because at the time of this recording today, right now, is June 6th.
And tragically, many young people in our nation today, they’re not aware of what June 6th really stands for and really what it means.
Let’s put it to you this way.
June 6th, uh, there were thousands of people dying by the hour on the shores of France, uh, as the Allied forces at that time, uh, the greatest armada, the greatest gathering of a military invasion in world history, where, uh, the US and the Allied forces were storming Europe to liberate Europe from the tyranny of Adolf Hitler.
I’m talking, of course, about d Day, June 6th. And so I just want you to know that.
Many of you do know, some of you don’t know, but this is a very, very special day.
And it just so happens that we have with us, um, the guest that makes this a special time together.
And do listen carefully because what he’s gonna be sharing is not only incredibly, um, excellent, but you just you just might be the person that can fit the bill on on this 1 and and play the role that God has called you to be.
I’m talking about into a brother that has been I I can’t remember when we first met, but it’s been a long time.
But captain Dennis Wheeler of the United States, uh, Navy, He didn’t start out in the Navy exactly he started out in the Marine Corps, but the Marine Corps is the department of the Navy.
But he has been in and protecting our freedoms for some 37, 38 years.
A few.
Yeah. A few years. He started when he was about 4 years old in the marine corps.
But, uh, listen, you guys.
It’s a real honor to have this man of god with us, and, um, he’s gonna be talking to us today about chaplaincy.
In the United States Armed Forces, where did it come from? How did that come about?
What does it take to be a chaplain in the United States military?
And specifically, um, as he mentions and and instructs us, if you’re not that person that, uh, can step into that role, maybe you know somebody.
I guess, you know what? Uh, we’re looking for just a few good
Men. Men. Men. Yes.
And so this is gonna be a great, great time. It’s it’s always great to be with you.
It’s great to
be with you. Jack. Thank you so much for having, uh, me here today. Appreciate that.
And, uh, just appreciate your support of the military, um, what you do, um, for the government even.
You know? I just wanna say thank you for your prayer, uh, in congress. I know you got a lot.
I heard about it, uh, saw a lot about it in the news.
But, uh, thank you for your strength and your courage to be able to go before congress and to pray the prayer that you prayed.
I know that you said this is just a normal pray that prayer that you pray. Yeah.
Um, but they needed to hear that.
I mean, this, you know, this is a prayer that we would say about ourselves, about repentance and and where we need to go ourselves.
And that’s where our country needs to go as well.
So thank you on behalf of, um, you know, Calvary Chapel Chaplains and the military in general for standing up for for truth and for God and to, um, uh, to bring it when it needs to be brought.
Yeah. So thank you. It was my honor and pleasure, and I I’m grateful for that.
I I’m grateful for the fact, and you can jump in on this, is the fact that, uh, I forget the exact, uh, year, but I was something like, um, in the 200 and 49th or 250th year, I think it dates back, of course, before 17/76, um, of of clergy opening the gathering of the Continental Congress, uh, in prayer.
And so this chaplaincy thing, this chaplaincy unpack unpack the difference, the function of a chaplain, and how those 2 are are different?
Sure. Kinda go back to what you said about the the history of the chaplaincy is that general George Washington before he’s president
Sure.
As he’s building the the continental army, um, you know, there was the establishment of the army and their birthday, I think, is in August.
Sorry. My army brothers. I think it’s August. Uh, the marine corps birthday is November 10th.
Yes.
Uh, everybody knows that 1. But during that time frame, general George Washington said, we have this army.
We have this navy. We need to have chaplains. We need to have pastors that are part of the military.
And so we were established as a chaplaincy back in 17/75, like you said, before the constitution was even ratified.
That’s right.
Uh, and, you know, and signed by the the signers that there was a chaplaincy from the very beginning of our country that was part of the military system.
And so there’s you know, the army chaplains were would go with the their battalions.
Uh, navy chaplains were assigned to those very early ships.
Yeah.
And, uh, the what they were told that, you know, you know, what they were to do was, uh, to preach sermons on Sunday
That’s right.
And then to teach as well. Yeah. So they were the teachers on the ships during those time frames.
Um, and so they were going out, uh, in the revolutionary war on the ships and with those battalions, on the land in the army to be able to provide a sense of military or a sense of God’s presence with them.
You know, in the book of Deuteronomy, it talks about how the priests were to carry the ark before the army going out to war, and that was God’s presence going with them.
Yes.
And there was such a, uh, a sense of, you know, God’s presence, not just to win the battle, but to act ethically as well.
And so chaplains, I believe, uh, I use that all the time, that we are to go out with the with our units Yes.
Before them even into war, into the battle to bring God’s presence to them. Yes.
We often, as chaplains, will be able to go into spaces that nobody else can get into.
And some of those spaces are very chaotic and hectic.
And when the chaplain walks in, um, there’s actually a very, um, visible change in the atmosphere that that people like, oh, the chaplain’s here.
It’s going to be okay.
Isn’t that something?
Uh, and it’s just, uh, an amazing experience, um, to to see people’s, uh, attitudes change.
Not just that they’re not cursing anymore, but that there’s a sense of peace, um, and, um, like, this is going to be okay for us.
Isn’t that great?
It’s awesome.
So we’ll we’ll get into the things that we need to get into.
But before we do, you you mentioned General George Washington.
A lot of people don’t realize that, um, he was once a colonel in the British forces. Yes.
Uh, the battle of Brandywine. I mean, he was 1 of the very few guys that survived that.
Uh, Braddock, he was he was shot, killed. Uh, the losses were tremendous.
But Washington saw the hand of God.
And early on, uh, uh, it was Washington who, uh, who was actually shot.
He was shot I say he was shot. I have to be careful how I say this.
His his undercoat had received I think it’s a 5 bullet marks, um, and yet none of them hit his skin.
And, uh, that later came out in history.
That that later came out, uh, where this was being talked about. Washington was president.
He began to recite where he was when that happened. And, um, it it’s it’s quite remarkable.
I can’t help but believe that that had something to do with his his dependence upon God, especially in battle, uh, uh, because again, you said it right.
It was his genesis of we need chaplains. And then John Adams went and fought with Congress about funding.
We need to have funding for those chaplains. They need to be paid.
But the remarkable thing, and it kinda gets to where we’re going today, the chaplains were not just some some soldiers that were, uh, reading their Bibles or they happen to have gone to Sunday school.
These were the most educated guys in the entire group because they had their doctorates or their, uh, ministry degrees from schools like William and Mary, Harvard, Yale, Princeton.
And they were military chaplains, and, uh, they were not some country bumpkin.
Uh, but I find it remarkable that in an overwhelming vote, congress said, yes. Absolutely.
Uh, we are gonna fund this. We’re gonna have these chaplains. A lot
of people don’t realize that Washington was a very deeply committed spiritual man, and, um, I I’ve read a lot, uh, I I say I’ve read his mail.
I’ve read a lot of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of
of I’ve read a lot uh, I I say I’ve read his mail.
I’ve read a lot of of his own writings.
It was important to him that they would rise at 5 AM. They would break camp.
They would often, uh, go 10 miles, and then they would stop for breakfast and then service.
They would have the reading of scripture and prayer, and, um, it was something that was, uh, and you know the terminology.
I don’t. But it was, uh, the the general order of the day. Mhmm.
And, um, what people don’t appreciate this today, I don’t think, but, uh, you had to go.
The general said, you go and you go.
And, uh, but so many times, he would be devoted to prayer, uh, stopping for for prayer.
There’s that famous I have it in my office. There’s that there’s that famous Freyberg painting Mhmm. Mhmm.
Where Washington there at Valley Forge is on his knee
Yes.
Praying. And not only do we know that that took place, but there’s a man spying on Washington who witnessed not only him praying, prayer.
But that was Washington praying in private for the welfare of his troops.
So the qualifications come from none other than our own general Washington and and first president.
So, um, listen. The difference between a civilian and a military
The the the difference between a civilian. I mean, we do a lot of the same things.
I mean, the the the emphasis of a of a chaplain is built on relationships.
And so just like AAA police chaplain or AAA fire chaplain, they are there in the station.
They’re they’re on ride alongs with them to build that relationship with those police officers and with those firefighters, uh, so that when something happens, there’s there’s not a stranger that they have to go to.
They’re gonna go to, you know, Mike or they’re gonna go to Jason or they’re gonna go to whoever they know and trust with this information.
Um, but those people are able to go home at night into a civilian world, and they may be volunteers or may be paid.
And so they have other jobs
Mhmm.
That they do. As a military chaplain, we are commissioned officers.
So we go through, uh, an officer candidate school or some type of officer commissioning program, and we are active duty service members or reserves as well.
And that’s our life now.
Yeah.
We we go where the army or the air force or the navy tells us to go, and that’s where we go.
And, uh, we could go for 2 to 3 to to to 4 years to a duty station.
And then we’re done, and we move to someplace else.
And then we’re done there, we move to someplace else.
And so that could be our career for the 20 to 38 plus years, and and that’s our life.
We’re not just in 1 place anymore.
And so we live and eat and breathe with, uh, those service members, um, either on a ship or battalion, uh, and we’re deployed around the world.
Mhmm. Um, you know, if we’re on a ship, it could be on an aircraft carrier or on a destroyer, uh, and we’re there for, you know, sometimes it’s 6, 7, 8 months Mhmm.
That we’re on deployments. And so we experience, um, when a, uh, a deployment and this goes for the army too, especially when Iraq and Afghanistan where they were being extended month by month by month.
And so they’re only supposed to be gone for 6 months.
And then all of a sudden, they’re they’re gone for 7 months 8 months and up to a year time frame that they’re that they’re gone.
And the chaplain is right there with them experiencing the same pain
Yes.
And hurt of not being able to go back to their family as as much as that private is. Wow.
And so we are, you know, we are picture. We are members of the military.
What a powerful example because Christ did that.
He he he left home, and he was here right with us on deployment.
Uh, CS Lewis put something in Mere Christianity that we, as believers, have been, uh, deployed into enemy occupied territory is how he puts it.
But so did Jesus. He came here for us, and he’s with us until the end for us.
Um, in this modern day military that we’re in, how is the chaplaincy program viewed?
Um, and I’m sorry. I asked the question just because I’ve been tainted by recent rhetoric and and just the the atmosphere of politics.
Does does much politics invade the military chaplaincy world, or are you somewhat We’re somewhat,
uh, insulated, somewhat isolated from that.
I mean, there’s the the the policies that you you hear about, the DEI Sure.
Uh, the pride stuff, um, that is put out there I think you’ve talked about that about how the media stirs up Yep.
Uh, the pot a lot. But, you know, down, you know, you know, even as a as a captain, uh, um, a a navy captain, it doesn’t really kinda get down to us.
Um, we don’t see the the DEI stuff Nice. A lot that that is talked about of of that.
Uh, and, yes, the the military celebrates pride month, um, but there’s other months that are celebrated too.
And as a chaplain, accordance with my faith tradition.
Praise god. And that’s that’s in effect right now. That’s in effect right now. That’s in effect right now.
That’s in effect right now. That’s in effect right now. That’s in effect right now. Faith tradition.
Praise god. And that’s that’s in effect right now?
That’s in effect right now. It’s been effect for a long time.
Nice.
That’s actually written into title 10 law. I love it.
So, um, when people say, you know, are there are there issues?
Like, yes, but not really.
Because you we see them, but it’s it’s still not really affected to us.
So we can pray in Jesus’ name and not a problem. Do I do that all the time? Um, no.
I I know my audience, and there are other names for God, um, that I like to use.
You know, I and my prayers and, you know, in the in the name of our almighty creator and loving God.
Yeah.
Amen. Yeah. Uh, sometimes I’ll use Jesus if if I know it’s a specifically Christian person, um, but I don’t, you know, I don’t feel like I have to end all my prayers Yeah.
In specifically those words in Jesus’ name.
Yeah. Agree. And in that I I don’t know.
I’m sure you’ve thought about this, but the audience needs to know that in your position, um, you’re in some ways, you’re very much like a Joseph or or a a Joshua, whereby you have been commissioned.
You are there. But like with Joseph, he’s in a foreign environment.
Daniel?
Daniel. Daniel. Uh, Jeremiah, where you need to, uh, proceed with wisdom.
And, you know, some people and I get it.
Some people get stuck in the in the the groove of, well, you’ve gotta you gotta have a crusade on the ship.
It doesn’t work that way. Friendship evangelism is something that is actually much more difficult to establish because you’ve got to allow those, uh, marines or those sailors, uh, are those soldiers to see your life.
When they see you going up and down, uh, you know, the hallways or wherever you’re at, they’ve gotta see your life.
They gotta see the consistency. Obviously, they see your rank, which warrants a a salute to you, but then they also see a set of crosses
Yes. Uh,
on you. And so that builds, uh, the moment or that opens the door for the moment for them to come and say, hey.
Listen. I just got a letter for my wife, and she’s got cancer
Yes.
Or whatever. You’re very much not only a pastor on board or deployed, but, um, when we say chaplain, it’s I I know what the word means, but for me when I hear it, it’s evangelist, pastor, caregiver Counselor.
Counselor, comforter, at so many things that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Because if if a young man comes to you and says, uh, captain, I’m I know that, you know, I’m gonna be heading into wherever, and I’m starting to think eternal thoughts.
Can can you help me? You immediately turn into a theologian. You’re immediately an evangelist.
Apologist as well. They come they come to us with questions of, uh, you know, evolution and and creation.
And so we’ve gotta we’ve gotta know all of those things and be ready, uh, as, you know, in season and out season to to be able to give an answer for the hope that lies within us at any moment for anything that comes, uh, uh, our way.
And a lot of that is a reliance on the holy spirit. I mean, totally reliance on the Holy Spirit.
Um, you know, it is it is an incarnational ministry that that, you know, Jesus came in the flesh to us, um, to to preach the word and and to save our souls, and we are kind of that incarnation to them as well Absolutely.
In in bringing Jesus to them and where they’re at.
Um, 1 of the scriptures that I use a lot is, uh, Jesus when he was with the woman at the well.
You know, we only have a little bit of a short story.
I think there’s a lot more to the interaction that happened with Jesus and the woman at the well.
That’s right.
And Jesus built upon a conversation with her, building up a relationship, bantering back and forth, um, before he kinda delivered the blow Yes.
Um, that really opened her eyes. And that’s what we do too is we we build that relationship with them.
We can banter back and forth with them So they’re like, oh, here’s the real person.
They’re not just, you know, blowing smoke
Yeah.
Uh, that that this is somebody that I can have fun with.
And if there’s a problem, like you just said, I can go to that person or a question or a struggle that I’m having in my life.
I’ve gotta ask you this. So curious about this.
Does it ever happen where someone who outranks you comes and consults you as a chaplain?
Absolutely. Seriously? Yes.
So that wall that wall for that moment goes down, and this guy or this gal can come and
We we minister to everybody from the
lowest confidential just like it is with my life as a pastor. It’s confidential.
And, actually, thanks for bringing that up. Our confidential level confidentiality level is 100%.
And, again, that’s in title 10 law that we cannot share anything with anybody without the express, and we’ll say written permission
That’s right.
From the person that we’re we’re going to. So even if they say that they’ve murdered somebody
That’s right.
Or that they’ve, you know, assaulted somebody Yep. Or that they wanna kill themselves Yeah. We cannot share that
Yep.
With anybody else except by them telling us.
Truly clergy, uh, congregant, uh, protection as it as it frankly always has been, but, yeah, that that’s that’s gotta be something when, uh, hypothetically, the admiral happens to be on board and says, hey.
I’m having I’m having problems in my marriage.
Yes.
I mean, that has gotta be an incredible opportunity that God brings.
But also this, um, regarding the requirements, I want you before we went on before we started rolling the camera, we were talking about the requirements for a military chaplain.
In the opening, uh, chaplains, uh, in the continental in the opening, uh, chaplains, uh, in the Continental, uh, Army, the these guys were Yale and Harvard graduates.
They were, uh, equivalent to, you know, the the officers, the senior officers that were, you know, with them.
Yeah. So So let our audience know, begin and add, and for this reason, everybody, what if you know somebody who qualifies or maybe you qualify?
We’re gonna make sure that at the end of this podcast that we have the links provided for you to find out more.
But, captain, tell us tell us where does somebody begin. What do they need to be?
So there there’s, uh, 4 basic things that, uh, that somebody needs.
And so that’s a a bachelor’s degree, and a bachelor’s can be degree can be in anything.
Um, you know, the the marine corps likes to say, I’ve got my bachelor’s degree in underwater basket weaving.
So it could be in anything.
That’s where it came from. Yeah.
So it could be a very a very simple bachelor’s degree, uh, but then you need to have a master’s and, uh, 72 hours of theological coursework.
But, uh, for, you know, Christians, they want you to have a masters of divinity, uh, and that can take a while.
So those are the 2 educational requirements that, uh, folks need to have.
And then, uh, for the church requirement is ordination. Mhmm. You have to be an ordained pastor Yes.
Within their local congregation and then the endorsement.
And that’s where we come into play, uh, to be able to give them that endorsement.
And the endorsement is the endorsing agency is the bridge between, uh, the local church or the church organization and the government.
The endorser is somebody who the government said, we trust you to be able to find us qualified religious ministry professionals that have, uh, their bachelor’s degree, that have their master’s degree, and they are ordained, and they have the, uh, requisite number of years as a pastor to be able to come and be, uh, commissioned as a naval or army or air force officer and become a chaplain.
And so that’s what the endorsers do.
So this is this is the request of the DOD?
This is the request of the DOD. This is this
to a ordinate or or AAA ministry that’s, uh, qualified to ordain. For example, Calvary Chapel.
But the beauty of it I love this kind of stuff.
The beauty is it’s the Department of Defense. I’m going somewhere with this, a little bit of apologetic.
It’s the Department of Defense, a division of the United States government that is looking to a church, you know where I’m going, to supply the Department of Defense qualified top shelf people, which is so consistent with our nation’s history and not the rhetoric of the day, whereas there’s a separation of church and state.
We don’t the 2 never mix. There’s I can’t find an area where they where where they’re separated.
For for example, you mentioned you mentioned, uh, my prayer in Congress. I was invited by a congressman to pray.
That’s the requirements. I had to check-in with the capital chaplain. Yes. Why?
Because there is no separation. Well, the separation, frankly, everybody, the separate the separation is that government will not get involved in the operation and the conduct of faith in America.
That’s an extremely important thing regarding our First Amendment.
But I I just I just love this because people can chatter all they want about their theory or their feelings, but when when life hits, uh, people reach deep.
They they look for foundations. And we’ve got such an illustrious history as a as a nation, uh, with chaplains and faith that it’s refreshing to hear that the DOD wants wants the
best. They they do. And, uh, again, you know, it it goes back to law, you know, the constitution.
I mean, the first amendment is, uh, talks about the the freedom of religion and which you just eloquently said.
It’s Not from Not from.
For that’s right.
For For. For the freedom of of religion.
And and chaplains are specifically requested by the by the government, by the military to go and be those providers of of that freedom of religion.
So, I mean, we do have, uh, pastors and priests and ministers. We have imams, um, uh, Muslim imams.
We have Jewish rabbis.
Yeah.
We have Buddhist priests
Yeah.
Uh, on on our duty.
And what are their requirements? Because I understand the Christian side.
If you get a a doctorate in divinity or you need so much of theology, for example, in in Iman, uh, I guess there’s a requirement sheet for those guys.
Right?
It’s it’s the same thing. Base basically, it’s the same thing.
For They
have to have a bachelor’s. They have to have, uh, 72 hours of theological coursework.
Yes.
And they have to be, uh, endorsed by their Muslim endorsing agency.
Uh, and they have to be you know, whatever their religious qualification is, uh, system of worship. Yeah.
So it’s it’s no
different
from uh, system of worship. Yeah.
So it’s it’s no different from those religious organizations to Christian organizations.
We all have to have the same requirements, uh, to come into the military to be able to provide.
And, you know, we provide for our own. We provide for Christians, but we facilitate for everybody else. Yeah.
And a lot of times people ask us, how can you facilitate for a Muslim?
Or how can you facilitate for a Buddhist, uh, or even Catholic? You know, how can you facilitate?
That’s that’s not us doing it. That is us getting them in contact.
Giving them opportunity.
Giving them opportunity.
This is the allow me to interrupt.
This is the this is the first of all, we don’t live in a perfect world.
That’s what heaven’s for.
But I love the security of the security of our founding fathers.
When they drew up the Declaration of Independence They could have.
They could have. Each of them from their own, by the way. They were congregationalists. They were Anabaptists.
They were Lutherans. They were they could have each fought from their corner and said, everyone’s got to convert to be in a Lutheran before they can be nope.
They were so secure in coming to the foundations of their belief of the Bible that they left alone the peripherals.
Now don’t think I’m not equating Christianity and and Islam as a peripheral issue. I’m not saying that.
What I am saying is this, that our founders were so secure that they gave us a government where everyone has the same rights.
This is remarkable because you don’t have this in India.
You don’t have this in any other parts of the world or any other governments where our nation, our founders were so secure in the fact that God, uh, Thomas Jefferson said, the God of of natural law, where there’s certain things written down within man that you cannot you can’t legislate those things out.
Man will speak first amendment, and man will defend himself. It’s it’s natural law, Second Amendment.
But I love how secure they were in the founding of this nation and its laws that even the atheist has the exact same rights as the Christian or the Muslim or the Jew.
Isn’t that radical?
It’s awesome.
That is awesome. You say, well, are you endorsed in Islam? Of course not.
But in America, the Muslim has the freedom to preach his Islam.
You say, I don’t like like that. Well, then preach Christianity, but he gets to preach his Islam.
Do I believe in Islam? Not at all. But I do believe in his freedom to preach it.
Only Jews ability to to preach Judaism and the Muslim or the atheist.
That’s it’s just such an amazing experiment that God has given us in this country, but I want you to I want you to III think I interrupted you somewhere about the requirements.
Uh, or did you get them all out?
I think we got them all out, but I what I didn’t get out was the in Canada program Yes.
As well. So so that’s to become a a chaplain.
So maybe you’re not there yet, but this is interesting to you. This is interesting to you.
And you’re like, I’m interested in becoming a chaplain, but I don’t have any of those things.
Where do I start?
Nice.
And so the the place where you start is, you know, reaching out to us, and we will help you, um, on your path to become a chaplain.
It can be a long process.
Um, when I left active duty in 1996, um, uh, the the marine corps, I thought it was gonna take me because I didn’t have anything.
I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree. I didn’t have a master’s degree. I wasn’t ordained.
And what is this endorsement thing? Not a clue.
Yeah.
Um, so I thought it was gonna take me, you know, 4 years for a bachelor’s, 3 years for a master’s degree.
It’s 90 hours.
Yeah.
Uh, and then 2 years of pastoral experience. That’s up to 9 years.
God God is so good.
I completed in about 5 and a half that 9 year process Wow.
Because of everything every door that he opened to me was just incredible.
So, you know, people who know me are like, you did what in how long? Like, it’s God. Yes. Absolutely.
Totally God. So it’s there is a process to it.
But if God is calling you to do it, he will get you through it. Amen.
Uh, and as pastor Chuck used to say, if it’s God’s will, it’s God’s will. Yeah. That’s right. That’s good.
Uh, that was, you know, my motto of going through through school.
So the chaplain candidate program, you can start anywhere.
You know, you know, you just reach out to us, get started in your bachelor’s degree, uh, work with your local church on
Mhmm.
Becoming, uh, a part of the leadership and going through their training program, um, that would lead up to ordination.
And then once you’ve completed your bachelor’s and you get into your master’s degree, that’s when you can submit for the actual chaplain candidate program.
And at that time, all 3 services, the Army, Navy, uh, and the Air Force have chaplain candidate programs and you can become commissioned as a reserve officer in the military and go through your master’s program.
And they’ll send you through the Chaplain School of that service. And you get paid, uh, military pay
Yeah.
For going after the that chaplain school.
Excellent.
And you begin to accumulate points for retirement, and you’re, uh, an inactive, uh, reserve officer at that point.
And then once you complete, um, your master’s divinity and you complete your, um, your ordination, uh, that’s when you would come to us again.
Of course, we’re gonna keep in contact with folks all the time, see where you’re at, how things going.
Do you need any help? Um, and then you can submit for endorsement to onto active duty for your initial 3 years.
Yeah. So give us a day in the life of a Navy chaplain.
That that would be kinda hard.
Um, I’ll give you the general sense because we’ve got chaplains with the Navy SEALs. We’ve got chaplains on ships.
We got chaplains
So wait. Wait. Wait. So when we deploy some seals, there’s a chaplain with them or there’s a chaplain that says goodbye to them as they go off somewhere?
There’s a chaplain that’s with them. They’d now they now they don’t kick down the doors. That’s not our job.
And we are noncombatants.
Yeah. That’s something we need to talk about off camera.
I’ve always wanted I’ve always that’s the part that stumbles me.
I hope I don’t I’m just gonna be honest.
Everything you’re telling me just sounds fantastic, but from what I remember is chaplains don’t they’re not armed.
Correct. We are not combatants.
That’s that’s that’s the problem I have. I mean, if I’m gonna go I mean, David had a sword, man.
It’s kinda like kinda like Jonathan What’s the armor bearer?
And his and his and
his servant. His armor bearer. And so we have armor bearers that, you know, even though Jonathan you know, he’s the 1 that kicked butt.
Yeah. We can’t do that, and we’re not gonna be like, for the most part, we’re not gonna be put in those situations.
Um, uh, religious affairs specialist Wow.
Or religious program specialist that is our, you know, you take the church staff and you roll it up in 1 person.
That’s our 1 person.
Yeah.
And so they set up for services. They, you know, will do the bulletins. They do set up for services.
I think I said that already. Um, they’re the administrative support, but they’re also our bodyguards.
And so they’re the ones that carry the the the weapons.
But but does the chaplain still go through all the rigors, though, of of of being a a sailor or a marine?
Um, you gotta do the same physical stuff?
Absolutely. Yes. We we don’t go through their boot camp.
We go through officer, uh, commissioning school, but it’s still we’ve got, you know, uh, for the for the navy, we still have marine corps enlisted folks
Yes.
That will take us through our paces.
Yeah. Okay.
Um, you know, so it’s not just, you know, knife and fork school as they say.
Yeah.
You’re gonna get the physical training. And then once you get out what we call out to the fleet Yeah.
Then you better be training with your unit. Yeah. You are you know, like we said, we’re it’s incarnational.
If they’re going through the mud, you’re going through the mud.
If they’re, you know, jumping out out out of planes, it’s it would behoove you to to get your qualifications to jump out of planes too.
Wow. That’s amazing.
So, yes, all the training, we we should be doing all those things that they are doing.
There must be I’m guessing, there must be an incredible level of respect by these other marines or sailors who look at this guy, and he’s committed a 100% like you are, and he’s going with you into battle, but he’s there for your spiritual well fare, and at least you have, uh, equipment to protect yourself with.
This guy’s leaning on God. Right?
Amen. Yes. Yes.
I mean, it’s gotta be an incredibly moving Yeah.
Uh, fixture to have that individual near you or with you. IIII would be so
Absolutely. And and it’s it’s credibility. You know, we we call it building building cred.
You you build cred, uh, credibility by doing those things that everybody else is doing.
If they’re in pain, you should be in pain.
If they’re rejoicing, you you know, as Paul says, you know, rejoice with those who rejoice and and and, um, weep with those who weep.
Um, we should be right there with them. Them seeing us, like, chaps, you you’re doing this? I’m like, yeah.
I’m doing this. Absolutely. You know?
Are there any other nations that have a military, uh, process like this the same as the US?
Do the Brits or the Israelis
do not? The Brits have, um, a lot of, uh, countries do have chaplaincy
Okay.
And, uh, different, you know, variations of of the same thing. Uh, the Philippines has chaplains.
Australia, New Zealand, uh, Israel has has chaplains. You know, it’s rabbis. Yeah.
But, uh, but they do have call them religious ministry professionals Okay.
That, uh, that are brought into the military to support their military members.
So, yes, the the United States is not alone.
And matter of fact, I’ve heard that, um, Ukraine is now asking for our support.
Um, and, actually, that’s through, um, how, um, to to create a chaplaincy themselves. Really?
So West Bentley’s, uh, organization Of course. Okay.
Uh, is, uh, has been asked to to go over there and provide Wow. Help. Yeah.
Uh, I think Uganda, he does Uganda as well.
So there’s a lot of countries that are out there that have chaplaincies that provide, you know, that that spiritual, if I can use that term, fitness, uh, for their, uh, for their soldiers and service members.
I was, uh, just kind of interesting.
Now I’m trying to put some pieces together.
So I was in, uh, I was in DC and, um, it was just table talk.
No microphones. No cameras. There’s a there’s a handful of guys. Army. There’s some army guys around.
There’s some marines around, and, um, they got going.
Now I’m just listening, and uh, the what you’re telling me and what the the word that popped in my head was this camaraderie, this this life unit, where this 1, uh, Delta Force guy began to talk about what had happened to them.
They were in the jungles of, uh, Central America, actually, at the time.
And there was 1 of the 1 of the rangers or 1 of the Delta, uh, was wounded, needed blood.
Mhmm.
And I was impressed because for them to keep that guy alive until help could come Mhmm.
And maybe you know what this is called. He said it. I don’t remember.
But they had they they, uh, they zipped open this, uh, sterilized packet.
They stuck a needle in his arm. Right?
Of course, they they’ve got the bleeding under control as much as they could.
And his his fellow soldiers stood around him as he’s laying on the Mhmm.
The up.
Mhmm.
The elevation, the height, they’re pumping their blood into him.
And they went around, and they did that to him until help could arrive. Yes.
And I was so impressed because they were talking about, oh, remember this?
Oh, remember when when we did that?
And I just thought, how much should the church hear that kind of talk?
When you talk about laying down your life for your brother, each of these delta, they were doing that by giving giving their own blood.
And I just thought, my goodness. That’s just absolutely powerful. And who’s to say?
It wasn’t mentioned, but who’s to say if there wasn’t a chaplain in that circle, uh, uh, giving blood on the spot to keep somebody alive.
Absolutely amazing. So, um, I’m curious in modern day new news right now with what’s going on.
Supposedly, right, Israel, there’s a very famous British general who has a I think he’s on a PragerU 5 minute video about Israel’s morality as a military, that it’s the most moral military on on the planet.
Now look, I’m all for Israel, but I’m thinking I mean, you you mean second to America. Right?
Sec second to America. But
Of course.
Uh, can you speak a little bit and I have to tell you, captain. I’m going somewhere with this.
Um, can you speak into the morality of the US Armed Forces?
Who are we as a airman or a sailor or a soldier?
Who who what who is that individual military context, the morality that they’ve been taught before they’re deployed?
Kind of a tough question. How can I answer this?
So we are working with, um, society.
Society is where we get, uh, our men and women that then go through boot camp and are then, um, I hate to even use this word, but transitioned from a civilian mindset to a a military mindset.
And so that’s where they get to know the service and the values of the service.
And, uh, you know, in the service, you know, it’s it is about honor, courage, and commitment.
Mhmm.
But those can be also vague words in themselves. What does that mean?
And so to be able to take them and to get them to understand what that means from a military context.
And then how do you take that and live that out in your life both before deployment and while during deployment.
And so that’s where, you know, chaplains, you know, are a great place because we are, you know, not just religious, but we are moral and ethical.
Mhmm. And we try to instill or or build upon that ethics and that moral, um, that was established with them in boot camp.
Mhmm. Now that that that morality, unless they went to church in boot camp, is just a military moral sense.
It’s kinda like ethics. Yes. Ethics has been taken over by the legal system.
Yeah.
And this is what is legally ethical to do.
And so you can do all of this, but really is it, you know, morally
Yep.
Ethical to do as well. So
Isn’t that something?
Um, we are we are there’s still a struggle going on to be able to get them to understand that it’s more than just the legal you can do this.
Yeah. There’s a higher law that we are to live by.
Not just the the legal stuff, but there’s a higher moral, um, Yeah.
Um, ethics that we should be living by.
Well, it’s fascinating because I bring it up because, uh, Israel and the US, Great Britain, um, you can be battling it out with your enemy, and, uh, you got him.
But rather than, you know, he’s he’s laying there wounded, uh, rather than walk up and and put a 4045 in his head, uh, we call we call for a medic
Yes.
For the enemy.
For the the moment that you shot him and he’s not dead, you turn from combatant to friend
isn’t that amazing
it I mean think about we are really the only ones that do that
now if we’re going down the path this gets me we all look for the day that peace comes, and uh, we all look for the day that peace comes and there’s no more wars.
That’s when Jesus Christ returns. In the mean time, we are to be equipping our military to be the very best at what they do.
And I want to make this really clear.
This is something that’s very, very passionate in my heart, and I don’t think it gets said enough.
Um, and that is we train our soldiers, our our military to be the best at what they do, to be effective, to be efficient at it, and to get the job done absolutely of whatever is necessary to stop the war.
And we’re talking about morality, where we train we train our military to
be Legal.
Listen. We train them to be killers. We’re supposed to because in war, people are killed.
Because we don’t often think about that, we’ve got people who, for example, ignorantly remember this happened during the Vietnam era.
We trained these kids to go kill. They’re supposed to. Then they came home and they were labeled murders.
And that now I was young, but that caused my blood to boil, and it still causes it to boil in this day and age still.
When if today somebody were to say, uh, I I’m an Iraqi veteran. Oh, you mean you’re a murderer?
That just that’s look. That really tests my my Christian witness because there’s nothing wrong.
In fact, I think there’s everything righteous, righteous, in training a soldier to prosecute warfare ethically to the fullest.
And if that’s killing the opponent, this is the theater of war which God has sanctioned.
Don’t ever confuse I know he doesn’t. People, don’t ever confuse the 10 commandments and thou shalt not murder.
Listen. With thou shalt not kill.
There are versions of, in English, the 10 Commandments out there that says thou shalt not kill.
The Bible never says thou shalt not kill. The Bible says you shall not murder.
It’s actually the 10 Commandments that sanctions, by using the word murder, sanctions war.
The God of the Bible sanctions war. You say, how terrible is that?
And so if And so if you’re being invaded, it is a godly thing to defend your borders.
It’s a godly thing to defend your family. God expects you to do that.
So some people who have AII don’t know what you call it, a theoretical view of what peace looks like or what war shouldn’t be like, Um, they miss they miss the the the whole thing that God says in the Bible, if you do not provide for your family, you’re worse than a nonbeliever.
And because we live in the affluent west at west, we’re so stupid in thinking, well, I provide for my family.
I bring them a check every week. That’s not what he’s talking about. That’s that’s that’s a given.
If somebody comes to your front door with a machete or a shotgun to take your family, the Bible says there from that verse, if you do not provide for your family, you’re worse than a nonbeliever.
That guy’s to be taken out. Oh, I don’t believe in that, brother. I believe in being passive.
And you’re gonna let this person destroy your children and rape your wife.
That’s there’s nothing godly about that.
So as a culture, how do oh, you know, how do you justify this? Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Jesus Christ himself is the king of kings and lord of lords.
The bible says that when he returns, Israel’s gonna say, where did you get these robes that are splattered in blood?
And he says, these robes that are splattered in blood, I received alone by myself.
There was none to help me as I tread out the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God.
Uh, Exodus 15 verse 3, I believe it is, says, the lord is his name.
The lord is a warrior. That shocks people who have this passive Newport Beach version of Jesus that he just goes surfing and then feeds people.
There’s there’s this thing to righteousness that, until Christ returns, is found, until Christ returns is found tragically in this thing called war.
It’s hard for us.
It is. Uh, and, you know, it it it’s a struggle that we have to go to war at times because there is evil in the world.
And you can’t just let evil, um, do its thing and and, uh, you know, rampage across the the world and not do anything.
Right. Uh, he like you said, he has established government for righteousness.
And, you know, when there is unrighteousness, then the government has to take action.
Talk about morality within, you know, uh, the US, British, and and Israel.
You know, we we go, and definitely Israel in this current war, goes above and beyond, um, trying to make sure that the accuracy of, you know, the information that they’re receiving and the accuracy of their targeting
Yep.
Um, and and then, you know, the actual implementation of the the weapons is spot on. Yes.
Uh, and that’s why it’s important to have, you know, the precision guided weapons that that can do that when they are hiding within, uh, the civilian population.
That’s right.
Um, so the morality is there, uh, in a sense of that, you know, again, legalistic and even morality that try to, um, only focus on combatants and not on the innocence that, um, is in there.
And so the the the chaplain plays a a integral role in those planning sessions and in those meetings.
There are chaplains in those in those planning sessions. We are we are there Excellent.
Uh, to be able to say, um, can I, you know, just mention that there is, uh, these civilians here or there’s this mosque here or there’s this church here?
And if you do that, there’s gonna be, you know, some consequences.
And I just wanted you to be able to think about that. Yeah.
So chaplains are in those high level meetings and planning sessions of for the implementation of war so that there’s not an excess Yes.
That that of for the implementation of war so that there’s not an excess Yes.
That that happens.
Yep. And so we take care of folks before they go out, as they go out, and then when they come back back as well.
Yeah. That we are there to help them to put those pieces, um, back together and to give an understanding and meaning to what they just did.
Yeah. Yeah. Because I’d never I would never want to have them confused with, uh, killing versus murdering.
And those are big conversations that we have.
Huge deal. That’s a huge deal.
An officer a police officer, uh, in the city, uh, takes out a guy who’s got a a dagger.
This I’m actually talking about something that has really happened with someone here at this church, um, where he was called onto a scene.
Mhmm.
And there was a guy whose background, uh, his religion and history, it’s he’s got a scimitar to the throat of a young lady.
Hair pulled back. Blade there. Wow. And he he he was in the authority to say, listen.
Anyone has a clear shot, take them. But don’t take them until you have a clear shot.
And somebody had a clear shot, and they took them out. Saved that woman’s life.
That that officer was given the medal of honor for that city.
That’s exactly what what our soldiers and airmen and our sailors are doing.
And so I just don’t appreciate a culture that mixes that up.
I we must never allow that to happen. That’s something that, uh, we cannot.
And so, um, military, I sleep at night.
I can I can do what I’m doing right now because there’s men and women that have signed up to lay down their life to be uncomfortable, to be in a foreign place, uh, to be in a situation that allows me to do what I’m doing here right now?
To me, that is that is like being a follower of Christ.
It’s a life that’s that’s that’s worthy of of my life to give. It’s and and I listen.
If if you’re if you’re a young person today, I I hope I think 1 of the greatest things that you’re lacking in your youth is that you don’t have something larger than your life.
Did you know that’s an honorable thing to be living for a cause that’s larger than your life?
And, um, America’s walking around these days with a black eye because we’ve punched ourself in the face.
I mean, who punches themself in the face? But we’ve done that in our history.
We’ve done that in our culture.
And everybody that is yelling about how bad of a place America is, it’s funny.
They’re still living here. And you know what’s interesting? I travel a lot.
I get tremendous amount of respect, uh, first off, because if people don’t know if I happen to be in some other part of the world and they don’t know I’m a pastor, the first the first experience of respect that I get is that I’m an American.
Well, doesn’t everybody hate Americans? No. Actually, they don’t. No. That’s just that’s media spend, man.
Again, today’s June 6th.
And a lot of you who are watching this in Europe right now, uh, if it wasn’t for this day in history, we would all be speaking German.
Well, the world would have been reduced to 2 languages, Japanese and German, if today didn’t happen in history.
And, um, can I tell you something? Maybe it’s kinda a little off color.
Go for it.
I was in, um, I was in London. We had about 45 people with us.
We were doing street evangelism, and we’re helping out a brand new church plant, uh, just outside the city.
And there are some hooligans. There were some 6 or 7 guys walking by.
And this is after the after the event, and so there was a handful of us walking.
And, uh, there was the 6 or 7 of them walking, and we passed each each other.
They could hear our accent. Mhmm.
And so, uh, they they said something about um, our, um, American you should get your American out of here.
And I was twice the guys twice their age.
Uh, but I I turned around and I said, excuse me. Excuse me. You guys got hey.
Excuse me. They came back, and they got ready for a fight. I couldn’t fight.
I had my bible. There were Christians around. God was watching.
I walked right up to them though and I said, my family, my dad, came from the America that you just cursed, to see to it that you had the freedom to mouth off to me like you just did.
My my my family laid their life down for you to to not be speaking German right now.
And all of them said, I’m sorry, sir. You’re please please forget. Wow.
They immediately got their history lesson. And somewhere, though, they remember. Somewhere, they were told.
And I had the honor of of listening to now he’s in he’s in heaven now, but congressman Zell Miller.
And he was talking about how this is so cool.
How after 1944, 45, we had the power.
The United States had the power to literally take over the entire world.
No 1 could stop us. Us. Nobody.
If America’s so bad, how come the globe still has nations?
It’s because we’re not an occupier. We’re a liberator. And I just thought, oh my gosh.
That’s so true. We had the atomic power. We had the willpower.
We had the the the wherewithal
The industrial might. The industrial might
to literally conquer the world. America could have achieved that which despots dream about. We didn’t do it. No.
We gave Japan back to Japan, and we gave Germany back to the Germans.
The the yeah. You know, France isn’t the 52nd state.
It could have been, but it’s not. Closing remarks. How do people connect with you guys?
It’s fascinating. It’s awesome. I wish I was younger. Uh, do a pitch.
Get get the word out.
Yeah. So yes, uh, if I may, 2 things.
1, we are making a pitch for chaplains and all those requirements that I talked about.
But as you were talking about the the younger generation, we do need Christians, uh, in the military.
So I know there’s a lot of people out there that are telling their their sons and their daughters, don’t go into the military because of what’s going on.
But I’m gonna say just the opposite.
Because of what’s going on, we need young men and young women who are strong in their faith to be able to come in and live that faith out.
Certain things you can and cannot do, but you can you can live your faith out strongly in the military and be an influence.
Um, you can be a Joshua that that is just a leader within the community.
And people are gonna see it, and people notice it, and people are gonna, um, come to you for that.
So we do need, uh, mill uh, young men and women of strong Christian faith to come into the military.
So where you can find us is we have a Facebook page, uh, Calvary Chapel Chaplains.
Very simple, Calvary Chapel Chaplains. And, um, you know, we respond to to Facebook messages all the time, um, and can help you out there.
But we also have an email address, um, and that email address is, uh, calvary chaplains.
You’ll put it up on your your site for us. Appreciate that.
I wanna make sure I spell it out right. Atgmail.com. Yep.
Um, and those are right now the only 2 places that that we have.
We’re working with the Calvary Chapel Association to get a web page, uh, specific tab up there that is military chaplains, and and so we’re very hopeful for that.
Um, and that would be the 3rd place to be able to come to.
But, uh, and Chino Hills, um, has been very, very supportive and very helpful for us as well and get you in contact with us.
Yeah. Captain Dennis Wheeler, it’s an honor, brother. Thank
you, Pastor Jack.
Years of service. I thank you for my freedom and, uh, for all that you do for the kingdom of God.
Thank you for all that you’re doing for us in the military and and for our government leadership as well.
Thank you. We’ll stand together. Yes. God bless you. Thank you
too.
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