Beeson Podcast, Episode #597 Reverend Matt Madison April 12, 2022 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I am your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. Today we are wrapping up our three week series on chaplaincy ministry. We have recently inaugurated a chaplaincy emphasis here at Beeson Divinity School aimed at preparing men and women for chaplaincy ministry. This emphasis includes a recommended track of study within the Master of Divinity program, vocational guidance and enrichment, access to chaplain networks, and scholarship funding. Chaplains provide a much needed gospel witness and Christian care and counsel in many of life’s most critical times and places. So, if you or someone you know feels called to chaplaincy ministry we hope you’ll look us up. All right, Kristen. Who do we have on the show with us today? >>Kristen Padilla: We have Chaplain Matt Madison. Chaplain Madison is the Command Chaplain for the US Army Contracting Command headquartered at Red Stone Arsenal right here in the state of Alabama in Huntsville. He is a Master of Divinity graduate from Beeson in 2001. He is licensed and ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention. He serves as a minister. He has lots of awards and medals, but I’ll just mention one. He has received the Bronze Star medal. We hope to hear more about his work as a chaplain today. Finally, he’s married to Janet and they have two children. So, welcome, Matt, to the Beeson Podcast. >>Matt: Well, thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. >>Kristen Padilla: We always like to begin getting to know our guests a little bit better. So, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself? Where you are from? Anything about your family and what you are up to these days? >>Matt: Sure. As you said, my name is Matt Madison. Although I was born in New Jersey, where my dad was pastoring a church – so I’m a PK – I grew up primarily just right down the road in Huntsville in Decatur, Alabama. I graduated from Auburn University before going straight to Beeson from there. So, Janet and I met when I was in college and we’ve been married now for over 26 years. And one child in college and another who is a junior in high school here in Huntsville. So, last November I started my newest assignment as the Command Chaplain, as you said, at US Army Contracting Command at Red Stone Arsenal. This is the first time that we’ve lived in Alabama since I joined the Army in January of 2002. So, it’s great to be back. My parents live here in Huntsville. Both my sisters. So, getting a lot of ... it’s a very unique assignment, unique opportunity, most military members never get to live where their whole family lives. >>Doug Sweeney: One of the things we’ve been asking guests about during this chaplaincy series is how they figured out that the Lord was calling them into chaplaincy ministry? We’ve been seminary people for a long time, lots of students arrive knowing for sure they’re supposed to do some kind of ministry, but not many of them arrive with a clear sense that God’s moving them into chaplaincy ministry. Could you speak to that a little bit, just personally? How did you figure out that the Lord wanted you in chaplaincy ministry? How did he kind of lead you through that? >>Matt: Yeah, so growing up I was kind of that stereotypical boy who loved playing Army. I grew up across the street from a guy who is in the 20th Special Forces Group. He used to give me all his old Army equipment. And then my grandfather was a World War II Infantry veteran who fought across Europe and actually met up with the Russians on the Elbe at the end of World War II. So, even before going to seminary I was always interested in the Army, but never really thought that I would serve. I did actually look into the chaplain candidacy program, I think my first year at Beeson, even went and got a physical. But didn’t feel at peace about that. And so just the interest in the Army kind of continued. I used to read books about the military. And then in my final semester at Beeson 9/11 hit and so after some prayer and discussion with Janet and some friends I felt God leading me to enlist in the Infantry and serve during the time of war. Even though I could have gone in as an officer, I just felt that I wanted to serve. I didn’t want to be 50 and look back on my life and wish that I had raised my right hand after America was attacked. Initially I kind of thought I would just maybe serve a few years and then get back out and go into local church ministry. But early on during basic training I had a really positive interaction with a Southern Baptist Chaplain, Tommy Vaughn, who was from Alabama and just really opened my eyes to the possibilities of military chaplaincy. Then during my initial assignment at Fort Bragg I soon realized how important having a good chaplain was and kind of how detrimental not having a good chaplain was. So, Janet and I soon began considering applying for the chaplaincy and felt called to do so. And so my story was in January 2003, a year after I had enlisted, I was deployed to Afghanistan and I had finished all my paperwork for the chaplaincy before deploying and I needed one more interview with a Southern Baptist Chaplain. And so I was able to do that in Kandahar, Afghanistan. A month and a half, two months later, I came in from a mission and was able to get on email and found out that I had been not only endorsed by the SBC but also accepted on active duty by the Army. So, it was a really quick turnaround for me. One of the interesting things is that I spent four years on active duty as a chaplain before we felt that God was calling us back into local church ministry. So, I spent three years from 2007 to 2010 as a family minister at North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona. And God really used that for me to grow me and mature me in my calling and identity and eventually called us back into the chaplaincy in 2010 where we’ve been ever since. So, I had a little break in service there, but have been doing that. I guess for me I felt that my gifts, talents, and experiences lined up well with the Army chaplaincy. Army chaplains are responsible for the soul care of soldier. And I love being with soldier. Roughing it in the woods, jumping out of airplanes, visiting them in the motor pool. I’m sure I could have done some of those things in the Air Force or the Navy, but really the Army just suited my interests and personality the best. >>Doug Sweeney: Now, they don’t let seminary deans do those things. I feel gypped a little bit. (laughter) >>Kristen Padilla: Well, prior to coming back to Alabama you served in Italy and so we would love to know just about living in Italy, serving in Italy. But then secondly, I wonder if you can tell our listeners a little bit more about what a chaplain does? What does it look like to minister as a military chaplain from day to day? >>Matt: Sure. I was in Italy before coming back to Alabama. I was there for a little over three years. This was my first overseas assignment that wasn’t a combat deployment. So, my family came with me and they were with me for the first two years. Then we moved then back to Huntsville during the pandemic. So, my role there in Italy was I was called the Operations Chaplain. So, I focused on planning and executing events with African Military Chaplains. Where we would exchange some best practices, learn from each other ... So, it was a great time of interacting with chaplains from all over Africa; Zimbabwe, Zambia, Gambia, Ghana ... And so it was a different assignment than some of the other assignments I’ve had. So, it was unique because a chaplain begins their career usually in a battalion where the focus is direct ministry to soldiers and their families. This is really where most of the soul care of the Army takes place. So, if you just imagine your pastor coming to your place of work and visiting with you and doing some of the same work that you do and providing religious support when you need it instead of you going to your church to find your pastor. That’s a good way to picture what being a chaplain in those early years is like. But not only do you provide direct religious support, you also advise the Commander in areas like the morale of the unit, how religion might impact operations when you’re deployed, ethics, moral leadership, and so forth. As you move up in rank your role is more to lead and develop junior chaplains and then to work strategically to further the mission of the chaplain corps. You still have opportunities in every assignment to directly minister to soldier, to preach at chapel services, lead bible studies, provide counseling, all those different kinds of things that other ministers do. But for me personally I’d say the hallmark of my ministry in the Army chaplaincy has been ministering to warriors. That comes partly out of my experience first enlisting in the infantry and being a warrior, having deployed as an infantryman to Afghanistan and experienced combat I’m able to have kind of a unique link to those warriors. Many times they’ll listen to me simply because of some of my experiences. But I’ve been able to help many of them explore their faith, connect, or re-connect to God, and find healing from spiritual wounds. So, I’ve just absolutely loved going where my soldiers go, experiencing the same hardships that they experience, all while ensuring that they have the freedom to exercise their faith as guaranteed by the Constitution. I’ve jumped out of airplanes at night, marched 20 miles with a heavy rucksack, gone on countless convoys and patrols in Afghanistan, I’ve counseled soldiers and spouses through some of their darkest days, and helped Commanders make difficult decisions that would impact their unit. And I’ve prayed over fallen soldiers. I’ve performed over 400 funerals in 18 months as a cemetery chaplain at Arlington National Cemetery. As a basic training battalion chaplain I had the privilege of helping brand new soldiers find their faith. And then mentoring chaplains, brand new ones, on their very first assignment in the challenging 82nd Airborne Division. As I said, in my last assignment, getting to interact with chaplains from all over Africa, it’s just been a varied career with different assignments. And then COVID hit. So, that was a lot of fun. >>Doug Sweeney: (laughs) That’s a polite way of putting it. What a marvelous set of ministry opportunities you’ve had over the years. I hope listeners who are wondering about chaplaincy ministry hear that and understand kind of the rich variety of things that people involved in military chaplaincy are able to do with folks. Well, you mentioned COVID, that was on my list of things to ask you about. The last couple of years we’ve had lots of pastors on the podcast and have asked them how has COVID affected the ministry that you’re engaged in? And I think probably by now our listeners have a good feel for that. But it’s probably a little bit harder for many to imagine how COVID has affected your work as a military chaplain. Has it put a damper on things? Or how has it been? >>Matt: Yeah, so I would imagine the military experienced the impacts of COVID much the same way the rest of society did. We had to learn how to handle movement restrictions, the wearing of masks, shutting down of travel, all those things. And I happened to be in Italy at the time. So, my experience was probably very different from those soldiers that were stationed here in the US. I think most military members have followed whatever has been going on in their state and in their locality. They’ve kind of faced the same restrictions. In Italy we had to do what Italy was doing. And so you couldn’t go anywhere without a declaration on you. Movement was severely restricted. There were potential fines. And like a lot of places here our biggest impact was that we had to stop worshipping in person. And quickly transitioned to an online format. Which is something that we hadn’t done, just like a lot of local church pastors had never had an online presence. So, I was privileged to help lead that effort in Italy in the early days of the pandemic. We were I think the second chapel service that was online in the entire world within the Army. Our online Sunday morning worship service was reaching thousands of people. So, that was pretty impressive. So, it was an opportunity and it’s one that in my current assignment I’ve continued to utilize online delivery of religious support. So, I offer a weekly devotion, weekly bible study, and monthly spiritual fitness and resilience events. The event that we offered for Black History Month had over 300 participants online. So, I can say with pretty good certainty that I never would have gotten that level of participation in person prior to COVID. But people will tune into a team’s meeting as they continue to tele-work. So, I think chaplains, much like their civilian counterparts, have had to be innovative as we seek to revitalize and cultivate community. It’s been challenging. It’s also kind of been energizing to figure out how to crack that nut and minister to people in some challenging situations. >>Kristen Padilla: Back at my previous question you mentioned a lot of different ways in which you have been able to serve. So, what have been some of the greatest challenges that you faced or that military chaplains in general face? And then what are some of the greatest joys and blessings? >>Matt: One of the greatest challenges that military chaplains face are those that impact their families. The longest that we’ve lived in any one place since 2002 is three years. So, most of my assignments have been for two years or less. And the uprooting from friends and churches and schools is very difficult. I moved a lot as a preacher’s kid, too, but it was maybe every eight or nine years. So, I think the impacts on family are the ones that can be the most challenging. But I think it’s also challenging to be a religious leader in a secular setting. So, in a church everyone looks to the pastor for spiritual leadership and guidance and recognizes his or her spiritual authority. But in the military setting you have to be confident in your calling and in what you bring to the table. Because some people just don’t care for chaplains and don’t think that they belong. But I’d say the vast majority of soldiers I’ve encountered realize the value that chaplains bring to the table and are grateful for all they do to take care of people. There are some challenges, but there’s also a lot of great joys and blessings. Many times for me it’s just the random unplanned conversations where people let you in and give you the opportunity to speak into their spiritual lives. In those moments you realize just how great the responsibility is to speak life and hope and truth and love into that space. And so more than anything else it’s probably the relationships that I’ve made and the friendships that follow us wherever we go. >>Doug Sweeney: I wonder if we could get you to speak for a minute or two, Matt, to those students who might be wondering about whether chaplaincy is for them? How should they go about discerning this? How would you like to coach them as they try to figure out whether they should move into military chaplaincy in particular? >>Matt: Yeah, so, chaplaincy I think is a great setting in which to fulfill your call to ministry. I’ve actually chosen to do it twice. And I can tell you that when I first answered the call to full time ministry when I was 19 years old all I could conceive of back in 1995 was being a senior pastor, a music minister, or maybe a youth minister. And I had been, before coming to Beeson, an interim youth minister at a large church. And I knew God wasn’t calling me to do that. So, I came to Beeson kind of wondering and just kind of assuming that I would be a senior pastor like my dad somewhere. Although that never quite felt like the perfect fit. And of course today there are a lot of different options for ... I think it’s more widely known, more widely accepted, different avenues of ministry that you can do, both in a local church and in parachurch ministries and so forth. And chaplaincy continues to grow. Not just military chaplaincy but workplace, first responder, hospital, prison, so forth. So, I think it helps just like when I was first looking at the possibility of being a chaplain I had just tons of misunderstandings I think and I think a lot of people do ... people believe that chaplains are really restricted in being able to share their faith or represent their denomination and that has not been my experience. In many ways being a chaplain is like being a missionary. You’re sent by your endorsing agency or your denomination to the military culture to immerse yourself in that culture and then bring hope to those you minister to. Now as a chaplain you’re both a minister and a staff officer. And what that means is that you have to be adept at being a military officer in many of the same ways that other military officers are. So, you’ve got to know how to wear the uniform. You have to stay in good physical shape. You have to speak the lingo and be able to right the way the military wants you to write. All those different things. And you’ve got to do that while performing a unique role that no one else can do. So, fundamentally, chaplains serve to protect the right of service members to exercise their faith. Now, no matter what it might be. And in the Army we do that by providing religious support and advising the Command, provide advice. And there are so many varied ways to do that. So, I love the variety that comes with Army chaplaincy. I’m comfortable with and enjoy change. So, for me being able to move to a new location, have a new assignment with new challenges, I mean, that really appeals to me. And I think chaplains have to be comfortable with who they are and have a real solid faith identity. They have to be okay with toiling away sometimes in anonymity only to be thrust into the spotlight when there’s an emergency like the death of a soldier or a sudden deployment, or a marital crisis. So, I would encourage your listeners who are in seminary and are unsure just how to work out God’s calling in their life to consider military chaplaincy. And when I was praying about coming back in, in 2010 what I heard God say to me is I was trying to decide between going back into the chaplaincy or looking for a senior pastorate role somewhere else. And what I heard God say to me was, “Matt, you can fulfill your calling in the ministry in the local church or in the chaplaincy. Just realize there will be blessings and curses wherever you serve. And so don’t think that it’s just going to be rainbows and everything in one place and not in the other.” So, consider military chaplaincy. You might just be surprised and find that it’s the perfect for your ministry. >>Kristen Padilla: How did Beeson in particular help prepare you for chaplaincy ministry, Matt? And were there any particular classes or professors that had a profound impact on you and the work that you do today? >>Matt: So, chaplains must be committed to working in a pluralistic environment. And that doesn’t mean that you have to compromise your particular faith identity. I’ve never been asked or forced to do something that would conflict with my Southern Baptist Convention convictions, for example. But it does mean that you’re willing to interact respectfully with chaplains from a wide variety of backgrounds and offer assistance to soldiers from an equally wide variety of faiths and world views. I’ve given credit through the years many times to Beeson for helping prepare me for that. I could have gone to a Southern Baptist seminary. But instead of doing that and being surrounded only by fellow Southern Baptists I was studying alongside Methodists and Presbyterians, AME Zion ministers, and even a Messianic Jew. Right? So, I consistently heard theological viewpoints that were different than my own. Not only from fellow students but also from professors. And I learned to participate in rich discussions and be open to learning from traditions other than my own. And of course the top notch academic preparation at Beeson is just unparalleled. From preaching classes with Dr. Robert Smith and Dr. Calvin Miller, they taught me things that I still use today. Church History with Dr. Bray. New Testament and Greek, Dr. Thielman. Dr. Ken Matthews. I still remember him continuing to teach in class while putting eye drops in. I don’t know how he did that, but probably still does that. Fisher Humphries for Theology. Beeson was a perfect place to prepare me for whatever ministry God would lead me into. And it just happened to be the Army chaplaincy. So, I will be forever grateful to Dr. Timothy George and all those who were leading and serving while I was at Beeson. I’m grateful to you guys for continuing the legacy today and for having me on the podcast. >>Doug Sweeney: Well, we’re grateful to you for your ministry and your service, Chaplain Madison. Kristen and I like to end these podcast interviews by asking our guests what they’re learning these days from the Lord that you might be willing to share with our listeners by way of edifying them and their daily walk? So, we want to ask you. What’s God teaching you these days? >>Matt: You know, for me, I’d say that a lot of my early ministry in a lot of ways seemed easy. It really seemed like it was right in the center of God’s will and things were going well. And I’d say the last two years have been two of the hardest years for us in many ways. And yet God has faithfully led and guided us, even when we struggled to understand, even when we couldn’t see. And in truth there are still things going on that we don’t understand. And we can’t see how God will work it out. But Janet and I have discovered that it is precisely in those trials and times of difficulty and heartache that you must learn to lean on Jesus and trust in him. In the good times having faith is almost easy. It’s in the trials and the testing that your faith is purified and you grow closer to the Lord. So, the words of that old hymn, we are learning more each day to trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And that’s what I’d say to encourage our listeners today. Continue to trust and obey the Lord. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Who knows? Maybe that path will lead you into the Army chaplaincy. >>Doug Sweeney: Thank you, listeners. You have been listening to the Reverend Matt Madison. He is Command Chaplain, stationed at the Red Stone Arsenal for the United States Army. We are proud to say he is an alumnus of Beeson Divinity School. We are deeply grateful to him for giving us some time today to have this interview with him. And we say to you goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.