Jeff Johnson: Chaplains help people find sacred space

The past few weeks have been particularly challenging from a church leadership standpoint for me. Nothing too traumatic, though.

I was up late on a recent Sunday evening after a full day of church, flipping the channels, and one of those commercials for long-haul truck-driving school came on. I thought to myself, “Now there’s a job!” The freedom of the open road, good pay, independence, no stewardship campaigns, no deacons’ meetings, no budget crisis. Jeff JohnsonNo hospital visits, no sermons to prepare and no “wheedlers”—combo-whiner/needler according to the late Calvin Miller. My conscience resurrected the song “Convoy” by C.W. McCall. Remember the “friends of Jesus in the chartreus micro-bus”? I’m in!

So, I asked Kenny, one of our church folks who is a truck driver, about it.

The sobering truth is truckers have a pretty rough life. They’re at the wheel of an 18-wheeler semi, not a “Beamer,” and they’ve got several tons of cargo right behind them going as fast as the cab. You do the physics. They have to wrestle an 18-wheeler over the highway while I’m hiding from their rearview mirrors. They also have to contend with weather, long hours and lots of lonely nights spent at truck stops around the country.

Eating truck-stop food every day can’t be good for the waistline. Kenny says it “could rot your gut,” too. Then there are the temptations that seem to crop up at many major stops around the country. Pornography, prostitution, gambling, smuggling and other vices seem to lurk just behind the fuel pumps. Kenny says: “Driving the truck isn’t the hard part. It’s living the life that’s hard.” Give me a “wheedling” deacons’ meeting any day!

Who reaches people who always are moving targets for Jesus Christ? A chaplain.

Bobby Smith leads our team of specialists in pastoral care, evangelism and outreach in places where clergy often do not have access. This team of Texas Baptists endorses and encourages chaplaincy that includes health care, military, restorative justice, pastoral counseling, marketplace, crisis resiliency, public safety, coaching and biker ministries. This includes full-time, part-time and volunteers who are deeply involved in kingdom work. One of our newest chaplaincy ministries serves oilfield workers and their families.

I spend an awful lot of time trying to figure out how to get more people to come to church. Maybe “success” in the kingdom of God is more about obedience and less about how many people are in the pews on Sunday morning. Maybe it is a lot more about how many people in the larger community find sacred space. Every day, chaplains at a truck stop, workplace, traffic accident, natural disaster, hospital emergency room or military installation provide hope for those seeking some real comfort and a word of grace.

Interested in chaplaincy? In training? Take time to contact one of our chaplaincy team.

E-mail them at [email protected]. They have 12 volunteer associate endorsers who are retired chaplains with different areas of expertise.

I’m thinking I no longer want to be a truck driver when I grow up, but a chaplain. “Jeff Johnson, chaplain.” But I still like a good “Convoy.”

Jeff Johnson is president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and pastor of First Baptist Church in Commerce.