Your Calling and Passion.

Blog #23.

Lawrence Rinehart

When you’re in a period where your calling and your passion are not clear to you, I believe it wise to listen to those who know you best. In fact, I’ve read many times that we should ask those closest to us what they think we should be doing with our lives, what we’re really meant to do.

Many people go to their grave without realizing their true passion or finding their true calling. It can be a life’s quest in praying and seeking. The Lord may speak clearly to us and He may not. We may be listening with an open heart, and we may not be.

When Phyllis came home recently and said a couple respected leaders at our church had become ordained Christian chaplains AND that she believed that would be a perfect fit for me, I took notice. A week later I was on application with “Christian Chaplains & Coaching” and had completed one of two courses required for ordination.

The first course, “The Basics of Chaplaincy,” consisted of eight lessons and was very substantive. It was not a walk in the park, but consisted of lectures, reading, and exams that forced me to be engaged. It took some hours every day to complete the eight week course in one week, but I had the time and the course drew me in.

Acceptance of my application, including a background check, and one oral interview later, I was into the second required course, “Christian Grief Counseling.” It also is an eight week course. I completed it in four days, not because I’m a gifted academic. I am not. I read every word of every chapter, watched every lecture and completed every exam. It drew me in. We don’t have kids in the house that need chased after and I had the time. I stuck with it all day. There were no short cuts, at least not that I could find.

I’ve really enjoyed the course study and it opened my eyes to the chaplaincy mission. Christian Chaplains are clergy, but they are not evangelists or pastors nor do chaplains have a position of authority in the church. Christian chaplains work in the secular world, but they do not proselytize; try to convert someone from their belief system to our belief system. In the many, many counseling, coaching and listening roles a Christian chaplain might be involved in, their role is to “Make a friend, be a friend, and when the appropriate opportunity arises, bring a friend to Christ”. There’s much more to it than that, but you get the picture.

“The Christian Chaplain operates outside the church in enemy occupied territory.”

The more I got into the material and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that our motorcycle ministry is a chaplaincy, at least to a degree. We don’t provide grief counseling, but we do get in amongst non believer bikers in the secular world. We go where they are. At least that’s what we should be doing. We build relationships around biking, never concealing who and what we are, but not trying to force our faith on others. The hardest we push is when we ask bikers if we can pray for them. If and when the time is right, we talk about Jesus. We don’t come in the door evangelizing and we’re not pastors, at least most of us aren’t. We are bikers in a chaplaincy role when it comes to displaying a Christ filled life in a secular crowd and waiting for an invitation to talk about Jesus. This was an exciting revelation to me.

It’s all too easy for a motorcycle ministry to fall into the more comfortable roll of becoming a gentleman’s riding club (in leather vests) primarily hanging around church events and riding to non biker establishments to eat. I’m part of the problem as I like a nice restaurant where someone brings me coffee. But, that’s not where bikers hang out.

Focusing on the chaplaincy mission can help steer us from that trap. True biker ministries go where the non Christian bikers are. That can be a lot more uncomfortable than hanging around church events, showing off our biker regalia, soliciting ooh’s and aah’s from God fearing congregants. We do love a good parade, but again, that’s not where we find bikers. Chaplains and biker ministries are called to witness their faith in the secular world. Chaplains and Biker ministry are the field soldiers of the church. Chaplains do it while helping people in their dark times.

Biker ministries should focus on secular rides and biker events. There is no shortage of opportunity, at least not during the Ohio riding months. Just looking like a tough guy biker while hanging around church events doesn’t make you a motorcycle ministry. Being out in the world witnessing for Christ does. The following quote is my new favorite. Read it a couple times:

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell.
I want to run a rescue shop within a mile of hell.” -C.T. Studd

I’m excited to be an ordained Christian Chaplain and anxious to see what the Lord leads me to do with that. I’m excited to help define the biker chaplaincy role with my biker group.

There is a financial cost to this course as with other accredited courses or certifications. There are also full or part time income opportunities that come with being an ordained Christian chaplain, but that is secondary to the mission. Early on, the course warns that if one is pursuing the chaplaincy primarily as a source of income that they should be in sincere prayer about that. It’s about making disciples for Christ through building relationships.

Two big points of the course resonated with me. First, every Christian should be ready, willing and armed to counsel others in some form or fashion. Scripture calls us to be prepared to model and speak of a Christ like life to others.

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes
and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16

Second, every Christian should be committed to lifelong learning and lifelong service to others. Believe me, even if you’re wealthy (I’m not) sitting around the house retired is probably not impressive to God. Retirement is a God-given opportunity to pursue the real calling the Lord has for you. To do otherwise is to waste away waiting to die. The Lord has a better plan for us if we’re interested.

I’ve worked around chaplains in the army and in law enforcement. Every uniformed police officer makes death notifications and I made my share. When two uniformed officers knock on a mothers door in the middle of the night, she knows why they’re at her door before she opens it. I made those notifications with and without a chaplain and believe me, it’s better with a trained police chaplain. Of course, it required that volunteer chaplain to be on call and able to wake up, suit up and respond quickly. Police departments should have paid chaplains on each shift.

In Gahanna we had Dr. Will Marling for a time. In Bexley we had Dr. Rush Witt, both excellent volunteer Christian pastors, but they couldn’t be there all the time. In the army I remember Captain and ultimately Colonel Ken Kirk. He was great and seemingly around all the time. He helped many soldiers through troubling times.

I remember as a deputy police chief heading into the office about 5 am when the call went out that a resident had woke to find his wife unresponsive. I was just a couple streets away so I took the run, thinking the EMS would be right behind me. I arrived to find the wife in bed, deceased, and the husband as distraught as you would expect and also extremely manic, running through the house. I don’t know how long it took the squad to arrive, but it seemed like a very long time as I tried to stay with the surviving spouse to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. He kept repeating that it should have been him. Not her. The wife hadn’t even been ill, totally unexpected. These are the times I wished we had a full time chaplain on duty. These are also the type calls police officers respond to frequently, only to get back in their patrol car and pretend they are unaffected while they finish their shift. This is just one of the reasons I hate to see people make sport of abusing police officers.

I also knew officers who responded to the worst kind of suicides and non-suicidal deaths. I won’t go into detail here, but I’ll never forget those calls and I only knew of them. Imagine the impact on the first responders who were the first in the door on those calls. Those officers will have those scenes in their head forever. Horrible, horrible business, but I digress. All in all I was very fortunate in the calls I missed. First responder PTSD is real and the appropriate care is under addressed.

My ordination interview is this coming Monday. God willing, by noon I’ll be ordained. I also just returned from my first Christian Counseling & Chaplains conference in Indianapolis, which was amazing. The timing was right so even though it was short notice, I went. I will be several days replaying parts if that conference in my mind. Many of the leaders and attendees were accomplished pastors who moved to the chaplaincy side of the business. Others had retired from their secular career and decided to dedicate their lives to helping others as a Christian chaplain, some part time and some full time. Some in paid positions and some as volunteers. One guy had recently returned from serving with Samaritans Purse in Ukraine. Another guy had just returned from helping people in Maui.

About 150 chaplains attended, from every type of chaplaincy, background, and place around the country. It was extremely enlightening and educational. My first thought was, “What an incredibly eclectic group of people,” but as the conference went on and I got to know many if those people I realized their spiritual depth was incredible. That was the common denominator: their great, experienced and mature faith in Jesus. I’m anxious to see what the Lord has planned for me. More to follow.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6