Better Chaplain Series - Imposter Syndrome

It has been said that joining a new unit is like trying to watch a television show starting on season five. The characters have complex backstories, the history is cloudy and difficult to understand, and there is a flow and cadence that doesn't come naturally to those just getting involved.

If there is a good news, it's that this is not unique to you: the vast majority of your unit feels this same way. Recognizing that you're the new guy--feeling like an imposter--is the first step to diving in and being a valuable character for the seasons you're on the show.

Jesus came to his own, but they did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ~ John 1:11-13

The chaplain is an apostle in the sense that they have been ordered to be where they are. An important step in getting over the imposter syndrome is realizing that you aren't operating on your own authority: the Bill of Rights, a United States Code (Title X), a commander, and a supervisor have told you to minister to these people. It is not optional, so failure and shrinking is not an option. Your God has commissioned you to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins (Hebrews 5:1).

It will not always be easy, you may work at an intelligence center where doors are literally locked to you, or in a geographically separated unit where you have members all over the world, or you may be following a chaplain who made shipwreck of the squadron. But easy is not your calling. You have the words of eternal life, where else can they go?

Key Verse: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ~ John 20:21

More:

1. Paul was a prisoner on a foundering ship bound for Rome, he saw the need and offered a solution, but he was not listened to until long into the strife. Once he was trusted he led many safely ashore, and many safely to eternal life. What would have been the result if Paul had "stayed in his lane"? Read Acts 27:8-44, and focus on verses 11, 21, and 33.

2. If your base has a historian, ask to attend his briefings and understand the mission and history of your unit. Would it be accurate that the person who was most viewed as an imposter in history was Jesus Christ? Yet he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Paul likewise studied himself approved, and often quoted the history and great thinkers of the cultures he visited. Before long the chaplain should be the recognized expert on the history, the present, and the future of the unit.

3. Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector during World War II; he was ridiculed, persecuted, and seen as a liability. But on the day he won the Medal of Honor he repeatedly showed his courage, dedication, and value by saving 75 soldiers who had been left to die on the top of Okinawa. Chaplain, you likely won't be put in a situation where you can win the Medal of Honor, but how can you show your dedication to your people as a minister of the gospel of God so that you can win their hearts and minds for Christ?

4. An Army chaplain friend, Marcus Marroquin, wrote an article (cited below) which encouraged me to give my contact information to every senior leader on my first day at a new base. A few days later we had a tragic situation and everyone knew how to reach me. No-one cared that it was my first week, and we got to work and provided care and hope in an almost hopeless situation. Chaplain, as you do nothing else in your first days, make sure everyone knows how to contact you; in their hour of need it won't matter if you've been their chaplain for five minutes or five years.

5. Resources:

Robinson, Peter and Marcus Marroquin. "Leading in Gaps: Intentional Leadership During Times of Military Assignment Transitions." The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Journal, May 2024, 35-39. Accessed 8 Feb 2025 from https://tjaglcs.army.mil/Portals/1003/Journals/U.S.%20Army%20Chaplain%20Corps%20Journal%20May%202024.pdf

Booton, Herndon. The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge: Desmond Doss. Coldwater, MI: Remnant Publications, 2016. (Read the book before you watch the movie)

Leiter, Charles. "The Loneliness of the Lord Jesus." I'll Be Honest. Sermon preached 1 April 2014. Accessed 8 Feb 2025 from https://soundcloud.com/illbehonest/loneliness-of-the-lord-jesus.

Better Chaplain Series - Preach In Season and Out

Who is the loudest voice in your life? For many this is their constantly shifting desires, appetites, and pride. For others the authority is a celebrity or strong personality. Others may appeal to history or tradition.

The faithful chaplain knows that true authority comes from God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead. The Word of God reigns supreme and forever, even though a time is coming and is now here when people will not endure sound teaching, but will accumulate authorities who will tell them what they want to hear.

The authority is not the ambassador, or the chaplain, or your opinion (no matter how good you think it is), it belongs to the king. It is his Word that has power and the teaching that must be shared. It should be at the forefront of your mind, bound on your hands, stored up in your heart and in your soul. And more importantly, it should come out at every opportunity.

Chaplain, share the Word in sermons, in conversations, in invocations, in counseling, and everywhere. Share it openly when people ask, and share it always even when they don't want it.

Key Verse: Preach the word: be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ~ 2 Timothy 4:4

More:

1. The chapter and verse breakups were added officially in 1558 by Robert Estienne (aka Stephanus); in light of these additions consider if it is necessary to say, "John 3:16 says..." or if the authority of the verse is enough. Consider the book of Haggai which says, "Thus says/declares the LORD..." almost as many times as there are verses. Conversely, Paul says, "It has been testified somewhere..." Does the power of God's Word come from knowing it's the Word of God, or the Spirit who testifies?

2. Amos was as far from a preacher as he could be, in his own words, "I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I was a herdsman and a [farmer]" (Amos 7:14), but God turned him into a powerful preacher who awoke many who had heaped lying messengers to themselves. If God could turn even Amos into a powerful preacher, what can he do with you?

3. Paul asks, "If a trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will get ready for the battle?" How can you communicate the clear commands of God to obey the gospel, so that many can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. If faith comes by hearing, who have you told? (Confer Romans 10:8-17)

4. Resources:

Parker, T.H.L. The Oracles of God: An Introduction to the Preaching of John Calvin. London: Lutterworth Press, 1947.

Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. Preaching and Preachers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971.

Ash, Christopher. The Priority of Preaching. Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2009.

Better Chaplain Series - Get to Jesus

One of the joys of discipleship is scheduling someone for their first sermon or Sunday School lesson. A few days later it's not uncommon for them to ask the question, "What should I preach on?" I give the same answer every time:

Jesus.

It's not just the Sunday School answer, it's the topic of every faithful Bible exposition. Whether they preach on Genesis 1:1 or Revelation 22:21, or 31,100 verses in between, the answer of what is the main topic of the passage is Jesus.

 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ~ 1 Corinthians 2:2

The faithful chaplain must always know how he is getting to Jesus. Whether it's a sermon, a counseling, or a unit engagement, we are not, as Adrian Rogers said, "Just making the world a nicer place to go to Hell from."

If you leave Jesus out but get everything else right, you've denied the faith saying that the Bible can be rightly understood without the main character in the spotlight. And worse, you've necessarily elevated your hearers and/or one of their idols into that vacancy.

From every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London. . .Your business in when you get to a text, is to say, "Now what is the road to Christ?" and then preaching a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis–Christ. I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

More:

1.  Not all of your hearers will be pleased to hear about the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved. The goal is not to bring unnecessary offense, but to be faithful to the one who sent you. How do you think Jesus wants you to act in light of his statement to his disciples, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)?

2. As my wife and I walk out of a church service, its tragically common for us to say to each other, "That sermon needed more Jesus." Have you ever preached a sermon without mentioning the name of Jesus? Would you change anything about that sermon if you were going to preach it again?

3. Jesus goes by many names and titles: "Immanuel", "the Logos", "Son of Man", "Prince of Peace",  "Messiah", etc. If the name "Jesus" is going to bring unnecessary offense, is it possible to use a different name and still be faithful? Years ago I had a conversation with a homeless Jewish man whose hope was in a rebuilt temple where he could finally find peace, I took him to Haggai 2:9 and showed him that peace was found in a greater temple but that the rebuilding of the second temple did not bring the promised peace or hope; I left him contemplating a better Temple (John 2:21), not made with stones, but a body prepared beforehand for the Messiah to wear (Hebrews 10:5).

4. Resources:

Papa, Matt and Matt Boswell. Christ the True and Better. Nashville: Getty Music, 2020.

Prince, David. Jesus the Hero: Family Devotional. Lexington, KY: Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, 2016.

Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

Shearer, Canyon. Honing the Congregation to Be Attentive to Expository Preaching at First Baptist Church New Lebanon, Ohio. Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020. https://repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/6133 (Read specifically on the Road to Emmaus starting on page 26)