Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Chris Pitts is a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force Reserve serving as a chaplain. His family and our church say goodbye to him each summer for many weeks and eagerly await his return. He writes about what it means to be a military chaplain and the impact of the local church. Part one follows.

Over the last few months it dawned on me that we have an anomaly in our congregation. As with anything odd, peculiar or strange, we might not know what to make of it or how to interact with it. No, I am not suggesting we have a resident alien in our midst (subtle cultural reference to Men in Black). I am referring to my pursuit of military chaplaincy, currently as a chaplain candidate. What is military chaplaincy?

What is a military chaplain? As independent Baptists, we recognize only two offices: pastor and deacon (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3). If we take seriously the belief that pastors minister to a local church, which is the spiritual body of Christ, then chaplains are not strictly in the office of pastor. Chaplains provide spiritual care to both believers and unbelievers within an institution (including hospitals, prisons and elsewhere). I would admit I am still developing my position and I don’t want to press it too strongly; but currently I would prefer not to refer to chaplains as serving in the office of pastor.

Then what is a military chaplain? Well, what is a missionary? A missionary is someone sent out by the local church to fulfill the Great Commission in foreign contexts (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 13:1-3). I use the word foreign to simply suggest other than what is near or familiar. Missionaries are required to learn different cultures, customs and sometimes languages. If you have ever served in the military then you know that it has a foreign culture, customs and language! Simply, military chaplains are missionaries to military members in a specific branch.

Should we be involved in military chaplaincy? “What about separation of church and state?” This is a legitimate concern especially since separation of church and state is a Baptist distinctive. Actually, the legal basis is found in the same amendment which is often presented as the reason why chaplains should not be permitted. That is, the First Amendment provides the basis for the existence of the military chaplaincy. Specifically, it is the following: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

There are two clauses in this section: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. Military chaplaincy strikes an amazing balance between the two. It has been argued that forming an Army and sending the members away from their faith group prevents the free exercise of religion; therefore, the military is required to facilitate this exercise through chaplains. It is then required to provide chaplains of various faith groups both to effectively minister to the diverse members and to avoid creating a state-sponsored religion. There is solid constitutional and historical support for military chaplaincy.

Who can be a military chaplain? Qualifications for military chaplains can be separated into two categories: spiritual and professional. The spiritual qualifications for a pastor (elder or overseer) are likewise appropriate for a military chaplain. As a missionary, he is functioning as a pastor to a group temporarily within his care. Therefore, we turn to 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 to identify these qualifications. It is the local church that observes these qualities in the individual and affirms his qualifications.

As for professional, there are educational requirements that are set by the Department of Defense (DoD). The military chaplain must have a baccalaureate degree and a graduate degree in theological or religious studies, with at least 72 semester hours (almost always a Master of Divinity).

Finally, military chaplains need certain professional credentials to formally recognize the spiritual qualifications described above. Technically, this is known as an ecclesiastical endorsement that is provided by one’s faith group. As an independent Baptist, we partner with a group outside our church to provide this endorsement. It is essentially the way the government stays of out the business of assessing spiritual fitness without ignoring the need for fitness. The endorser provides the chaplain support throughout his ministry.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

For the Love of the Game

Most estimates put the number at 30 million team participants in the United States. Any way you look at it that’s a lot of people. The sport? Softball.

Of those 30 million thousands compete with their church name emblazed across their chests. Church softball is as American as softball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet.

Our church has a men’s team. Maybe yours does too. We used to have a women’s team back in the day, but after one season, the college players in the other dugout took the game a little more seriously than our ladies did. For the protection of families, we determined the safety of the playing moms in our dugout was a better decision for us.

Some of my pastor friends conclude church softball is way more trouble than it’s worth. There may be some truth in that. But when I look out on the diamond, I’m happy at what I see.

Among the former athletes and guys who never wore a high school uniform and near the men looking for something to do are fathers playing ball again with their sons, Christians from at least three generations, new believers, older believers, and a guy or two who has yet to profess faith. In the stands are wives and children, parents, girlfriends, and buddies. Most watch the game with some measure of interest. Nearly all are connecting with other people in our church. It’s a place to learn each other’s names, stories, hopes, dreams, gifts, temptations, failures, passions, and questions - conversations that rarely happen in the formal gathering of the church on Sundays but so necessary to growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I’ve never like the sound bite, It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game. The joke, of course, is the source for the quote is someone who lost the game. As long as I can remember, my thought has been If you’re going to play, you might as well win.

Still, if ever there was a venue for emphasizing the importance of how we play the game, church softball is near the top of the list.

Of course, I hope the guys win. We record outs and keep score for a reason. I love to hear their cheers after a clutch hit, a key defensive play, or a good base-running decision. I am happy for them when they experience the thrill of victory.

How we play is more important than the outcome because our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Church softball can help us do that.

There is as much to be learned from winning as there is from losing. Winning and losing reveal character alike. Questionable calls by umpires, missed plays by teammates, and conflict among players provide opportunities for Christlike responses or in moments of weakness sinful reactions.

On the wall of my Christian high school gym were the words, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” That’s God’s will for us when behind the wheel, at the kitchen sink, at a workstation, in front of a game system, standing in the pulpit, or getting a good tan on a softball field.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

A Pastor for 30 Years

Sunday, July 3, 1988…thirty years ago today – for the first time in my young life, people in a local church began to call me pastor. From that Sunday until today, church people call me “Pastor Mike.”

As I celebrate thirty years of pastoral ministry, I reminisce on thirty gifts from God to me because he put me in pastoral ministry, gifts I would not have received had he not made me a pastor.

God gave me…

1. Three local churches I’ve served in some pastoral capacity. These churches were not merely places I worked, but were and are my Christian community. To this day, I love Faith Baptist Church in Godfrey, Illinois; Calvary Baptist Church in Midland, Michigan; and First Calvary Baptist Church in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.
2. Two senior pastors who, though my bosses, were always first my pastor. Pastor Tom Olney and Pastor Dan Dickerson gave me opportunities to serve in the churches they led. Any hire in any setting is a risk. They chose to hire me to join their well-established ministries bringing a potential disruption to an otherwise harmonious environment. I love both of them like Timothy loved Paul and would not be where I am as a pastor or a man without both of them.
3. Two youth groups that, more often that you might think, draw me back and make me wish I could be a youth pastor again. Today, these once Christian kids are faithful spouses and parents, teachers and nurses, skilled laborers and entrepreneurs. Many serve the Lord as pastors, missionaries, or in some Christian vocation. A few are already with the Lord. W any one of them comes to mind, posts on social media, or drops me an email, text, or phone call, I smile and giggle and remember happily to an extent you would not believe possible. Man, I love them.
4. Fellow pastors who were my co-workers on multiple staffs. How many people get to go to work every day with a pastor? I have for nearly all of the last thirty years. They remain some of my closest friends. I love Chris, Dave, John, Mark, Matt, Mike, Sam, and Steve.
5. At least twenty guys whom I have had the privilege to mentor in pastoral ministry. I’d try to name them, but I am certain I would miss more than one or two. If you have been an intern with me or if I have been a pastoral mentor to you, know this: you were and are a gift from God to me.
6. One brother by a different mother. God didn’t give me a brother in my home growing up; instead, he gave me a brother when I was 23-years-old. Jeff was a kid in our first youth group needing a place to stay. Brenda and I were newly married and had two bedrooms we didn’t need. It was a match made in heaven. Jeff got a soft pillow and late night pizza rolls. I got a new sibling.
7. So many friends in and because of the churches I’ve served.I want to tell you their stories and sing their praises, but space won’t allow. Worse, my memory will not bring to mind everyone it should. Suffice it to say I have friends I would not have had had I not been a pastor.
8. The primo spot for weddings. Helping a bride and groom begin their new life together has been and is one of the best things I do as pastor. During the ceremony, I often get to hear the quiet exchanges and witness the heartfelt moments as her eyes meet his. If I officiated your marriage ceremony, please know that event in your life was one of the greatest events in my life.
9. Some suffering – not on the level of martyrs but the fellowship of Christ’s suffering as Paul described it.
10. Hours many days in the week to study the Bible, read Christian literature, and prepare Bible lessons.
11. A platform to preach and teach the Bible. There have been only handfuls of weeks over the last three decades where I have not preached God’s Word to some group. That’s a gift.
12. Ready hearers of God’s Word. On the whole those who listen to me preach the Bible are not hostile, but rather, are receptive and eager to receive. Ask Jeremiah if he would have welcomed that gift.
13. Funeral sermons to preach. At these somber events, I have had occasion to preach the gospel to more who do not know God through Christ than in any other venue. To God’s glory many have professed faith at a funeral.
14. Intimate contact with people to watch them change as they receive the Word of God and grow by it.
15. The joy of baptizing so many believers. From huge offensive linemen that nearly pulled me under to one nearly ninety-year-old woman eager to declare her allegiance to Jesus Christ.
16. Time to observe generational Christianity. Parents become grandparents and those children professed faith and are now the next generation of faithful Jesus followers.
17. A vantage point to watch worshippers at every progression through a worship service. Pastors see from their positions on a platform the tears of those who sing a hymn of the cross, the smiles of those who relish a promise of God, the distress of those carrying a heavy load, and the relief of those forgiven by God’s grace.
18. Many occasions to lead the assembled Christians as we remember Jesus’s death until he comes when we gather around the Lord’s Table.
19. Sweet conversations with senior saints. I have no scientific evidence, but pastors may talk to older people more than the average person. They offer their wisdom freely and are thankful for moments brief and long spent with them.
20. Children in the church who call me pastor. I love our church kids. I love hearing them sing. I love seeing their Sunday morning smiles and Sunday morning frowns. I love when they wave at me from their seat in the auditorium just before I stand to preach. I love when they say, “Hi, pastor.”
21. A place in the chain. There will be pastors after me if the Lord wills as there were before me. I get to be one of the many links who have handled the Word of God from the prophets and apostles until now.
22. Sensitivity to people’s pain. Pastors may see the variety of pain experienced by people as much as anyone else sees it. Their hurts become ours and tenderize us to the brokenness in people’s lives.
23. Many good meals in people’s homes. Some of God’s people can really cook.
24. Special trips to be with our missions partners across the globe. I’ve visited missionaries in Mexico, the Philippines, Cleveland, and India. I can attest the church of Jesus Christ is bigger and more diverse than I ever knew.
25. A reason to go to worship every Sunday. I’m not immune to the Sunday morning blues. There have been many times over the years I haven’t wanted to go to worship. Because I am a pastor, I can’t miss, and that’s a good thing for me.
26. Belief in the ministry of the local church. Our Lord uses many kinds of ministries, but the church is what endures as all those ministries come and go.
27. A place to check my pride. Because pride goes before destruction, I don’t want it. Still, I am easily deceived by it. A pastor’s pride cannot be hid for long before it’s uncovered. Uncovering provides occasion for its removal.
28. A ministry family consisting of the greatest kids. Sure, I didn’t have to become a pastor to become a dad, but I did have to become a pastor to become my kids’ pastor. All four of our children love the local church despite growing up PK’s. That is evidence of God’s grace.
29. A ministry partner suited perfectly for me. Brenda’s not a piano playing, special music singing pastor’s wife. Those are great gifts but not her gifts. What she brings to my life, our ministry family, and each of the three churches we’ve served is a sweetness and a level of character enviable in many. She wears well on people. These thirty years are not mine alone and would not have happened without the help, prompts, patience, faithfulness, and love Brenda has delivered to me each day of the last thirty years.
30. Grace to do what I cannot do in my own strength, mercy to do what I am not qualified to do apart from his working in me, and his faithfulness to stand by me unto the end of the age.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Happy Birthday, Mom

It’s been more than two years since my mom went to be with the Lord. Had she lived, today would be her 72nd birthday.

Life expectancy for American women is 81.5. My mom died at 69. On average men in America live 76.7 years.

My mom loved to celebrate birthdays. As the oldest child of two hard working, blue collar people, I don’t think her young birthdays were as monumental as so many are today. She made a big deal of my sister’s and my birthdays, her grandchildren’s, her parents’, her brothers’ and sister’s, her nieces’ and nephews’, and my dad’s. To her every family member’s birthday was a day to celebrate.

Today we would have laughed, remembered my dad, maybe headed to Red Lobster for her to get a huge meal she could never finish, and completed the day with birthday cake and presents. It would have been a great party.

My mom loved life. When on a lake fishing with my grandmother, their laughter could be heard on every nearby shoreline. She laughed at herself and the moments God brought her way. She found joy in life’s little pleasures and God’s simple gifts to her.

Her impromptu prayers for a needed parking space in downtown Chicago usually met with my skepticism. “Take one more turn around the block, son. Now, Lord, you know we need a parking spot. Would you give us one? Right there! Take that one.”

You’d think a pastor would have led that prayer meeting.

My mom loved my dad, and in turn, she taught and modeled to my sister and me a deep love for him too. In public and private my mom’s words to my dad and about my dad only added to my dad’s good name. As his body weakened the last decade of his life, she passionately cared for him even as her own heart was failing. The Lord provided sufficient strength for her and then he brought her home.

Solomon, whose wisdom far surpasses yours and mine, wrote, A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1). In other words, celebrate a birthday because it’s a great day, but it’s not the ultimate day in one’s life. There is a better day, the day of one’s death.

Do you agree with that? Was Solomon wise when he said that? Was the Holy Spirit correct when he inspired that?

When we enter this world on the day of our births, we enter a world created by a kind and wonderful God, but a world irreparably damaged by sin. As new born babes, we encounter sin within minutes of our first breaths and engage, battle, reel, and recover from sin every day of our lives. We are sinned against by strangers and loved ones, and we sin against God and humanity. The sin messes with our minds and ultimately kills every one of us (Romans 5:8).

For those of us who know the Lord, our deathday brings an end to sin. No one sins against you anymore, and better still, you don’t sin against God or others any more. I can only imagine the relief.

For most of my mom’s adult life, she battled anger. Sometimes, I’d overhear the phone conversation with a customer service agent who was not relenting as my mom wanted. She never cursed at the person on the other end of the line, but she routinely gave them “a piece of her mind.” It happened so often, I’m surprised there was any mind left to give. If the person she was talking to was from a call center outside of the United States, there was no chance the conversation was going to end well.

Asking a Christensen (my mom's maiden name) not to get angry with a customer service representative would be like asking the sun not to rise.

My mom loved teaching, but there were occasions where her students caught her wrath. In her defense, 38 years with fourth grade boys can take its toll on a lady.

A pet phrase of hers was “I’m so mad I could spit nails.” I remember two occasions where she actually did.

Like most of us who battle a sin that easily takes us down, my mom battled hers. She could control her anger, but it was a battle she faced until her death. Her deathday freed her from her hard temptation and from every temptation. My mom doesn’t sin anymore!

There are many reasons the deathday of a believer is better than the birthday of a believer, but those reasons are mostly on the believer’s side. For those of us who remain, Solomon’s words make little sense. I am happy on birthdays; I cry at dying bedsides. I laugh at parties; I cry at funerals. I give cards on birthdays; I receive sympathy cards following death. I must think beyond my own limited wisdom and embrace God’s. Yes, a deathday is better for someone I love who knows the Lord than the day of his birth.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!

Happy birthday, Mom! The party would have been a blast, but I am happier still that your deathday was better for you.

I love you, Mom!

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Not Too Old to Speak Nor Too Old to Listen

It’s a simple plan. Read the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds to the day. Today is June 19. Today, read Proverbs 19. Do the same with every corresponding day. On the first of the month, start over. Over 25 years ago, my pastor taught me to read the Proverb of the Day, and I am thankful for the simple instruction.

Reading wisdom day after day reveals repeated topics. Anger, money, and words weave their ways in and out of so many chapters. And then there is the repeated call to pay attention captured in the phrase, “My Son.”

More than 20 times in the Old Testament Proverbs, the dad offers sage advice to his kid beginning with the phrase, “My son.” It’s easy to imagine a scenario where a young father talks to his adolescent son, and that has some merit. For example, when the dad says, “My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded” (1:10). Every kid needs that counsel.

Yet, a careful reading does not limit the recurring calls to pay attention to a young boy. The subjects under discussion are adult issues. The advice comes from an older man to his older son.

• How old? I’m not sure, but old enough to talk embarrassingly frank about the bewitching words, alluring actions, and seductive appearance of a woman who wants him sexually (5:3-20).
• How old? I’m not sure, but old enough to talk legal contracts and the potential dangers of cosigning a document binding him to another man’s debt (6:1).
• How old? I’m not sure, but old enough to talk about the posture his son should take as a member of the public in relation to government officials (24:21).

Isn’t it obvious God intends for wise counsel to continue beyond the age of 21?

Isn’t it obvious God intends the receipt of wise counsel to continue beyond the age of 18?

The call then is for mature men to be brave and bold, loving and perceptive in what is going on in the lives of their sons well into middle age.

The call then is for maturing sons to be humble and receptive, thankful and interested in the godly words that come from old school minds.

My dad has been with the Lord for more than three years. My only grandfather has been with the Lord for twenty years. I no longer have in my immediate family a steady hand and a familiar voice speaking truth into my ears. Therefore, I look to the few men in our church who are older than I am for instruction, warning, encouragement, and wisdom.

I do have sons and a future son-in-law. I view my responsibility seriously as modeled by the wisdom in Proverbs.

Of course, the model of Proverbs is not confined to the male gender. The Apostle Paul takes up the pattern and applies it to females when he instructs older women to do for adult, albeit younger, women what the wise father in the book of Proverbs does for his adult son (Titus 2:3-4).

There is no end to the responsibility to speak wisdom into the lives of others, and there is no end to learn from the astute counsel of those who have walked with the Lord the road before us.  

As always I welcome your feedback and any ideas you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.