For the first time, PCA chaplains are based at the three U.S. military academies: U.S. Military Academy, West Point; U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis; and U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs. Retired Army Chaplain Colonel Jim Carter, Mission to North America (MNA) Chaplain Ministries coordinator, welcomes this unusual opportunity for ministry: “Our presence at the academies, with a biblical, Reformed, and Christ-centered principled approach to work and life views, produces leaders not only of character, commitment, and courage, but also godly leaders who will contribute to the well-being of our nation.”
Over the years, alumni of the three academies have led in many fields, including as three U.S. presidents, 28 U.S. Congress members, five state governors, two Nobel Prize winners, 97 astronauts, 60 Rhodes Scholars, and more than 18 CEOs of major U.S. corporations.
Chaplain Major Jason Hill, a PCA chaplain at West Point, describes the uniqueness he’s found in the corps of cadets, saying, “There is something different about the kids here. They’re eager to learn a lot, and their minds are soaking up knowledge like a sponge. The opportunity to talk to cadets about faith and the Lord is all over the place.”
“Our presence at the academies, with a biblical, Reformed, and Christ-centered principled approach to work and life views, produces leaders of character, commitment, and courage.”
Jim Carter
Hill notes that the cadets welcome the solid Christ-centered biblical teaching that they’re getting from the Reformed tradition. “I think they are [hungrier] for Scripture than anything else. What is the Bible saying and how do I live it out in my life? How do I live it out with others in a community?” he said.
At all three academies, incoming freshmen begin their first year with an intense and demanding seven-week boot camp before fall semester starts. Plebe Summer, as it is called, begins the four-year process of developing men and women into military officers. For Assistant Naval Command Chaplain/Lieutenant Commander Jason Gregory at the Naval Academy, those weeks in the summer are the first contact with the new naval cadets. Gregory explains the significance of this first meeting: “Every morning at 0600 they assemble for physical education, and we have chaplains there greeting them. … We do pushups with them, we run with them, we do obstacle courses. … If someone falls back in the pack, we fall back too. … It starts there at our first interaction with them — they see we are with them. … Chaplains are part of their lives.”
Ministry of Presence
Military chaplains in all branches immerse themselves in the daily lives of the men and women with whom they serve. The Navy calls it a “ministry of presence,” being there to offer guidance and insight in the moment it is needed. The chaplains provide service for people of their own faith; they also assist people of other faiths, and they provide care for everyone. In addition, they advise the Navy on issues of religion, ethics, and morale.
Major Jeff Kreisel is a Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) director and Army Reserve chaplain. He’s been serving for three years as the RUF campus minister at the Air Force Academy. RUF falls under a program at the academy called SPRE — Special Programs and Religious Education. The ministry is one of several approved campus organizations that fall under the chaplain umbrella. RUF works side by side with academy chaplains and provides a more tailored discipleship to the students. “We currently have about 80 cadets in our ministry,” Kreisel said. “We’ve grown a lot in the last handful of years, and we have a lot of momentum going.” In addition to weekly worship service, social events, service projects, outreach ministries, and retreats are also offered.
Central, Not Peripheral
When cadets graduate from one of the service academies, they face life-and-death decisions from their first week on the job.
Kreisel observes, “One of our goals is to equip them to view their faith as something that is central and not peripheral. I’m not here to make them be better leaders in the military; I want their entire worldview and every aspect of their life to be impacted by the gospel.”
2 Samuel 23 features King David’s final words. Here is part of the message he left us: “The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth’” (2 Samuel 23:3-4).