Less talk, More Action

Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

This is an article that I wrote for the Y Christian Principles Group about chaplaincy, and I thought I would share it. 

At the time of this writing, it is 5:30 am, and I am sitting in my office at my YMCA. The “Y” is yet to open, and I am here talking with you.

In the words of the Joker, “Why so early, Batman?”

I have a lot to do, and today is exceptionally busy. My day will not end until I return from our resident camp around 8 pm.

I like to get in early, before the staff and members arrive; once they start coming into the “Y,” my office gets busy. Therefore, I like having the quiet time to take care of admin stuff.

As I sit here with you, I am beginning to think, and thinking leads to wonder, and wonder always ends for me in pondering. I am sitting here pondering chaplaincy and how different it is from pastoring a church. Back in time, long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was inside the walls of the church. I like to say I pastored my congregation, but in reality, I think it was more like pestering my congregation.  

I pestered them to be more like Jesus.

I pestered them to be the hands and feet of Christ.

I pestered them to love their neighbor.

Yes, looking back, I pestered them a lot.

And just as any good pastor will attest, we are good at talking.

I spent most of my time giving sermons, teaching bible study, and leading a men’s group…All of which required my jaw to move in an up-down motion with noise coming out of my face.

My congregation usually only saw me for a few hours on Sunday.

The bible study and men’s group for another couple of hours during a weekday evening, and if I am really lucky, someone would stop by my office for a few minutes and talk with me.

Why am I telling you this? Well, as I ponder and look back at my life inside the walls of the church pestering my congregation, I realize that I didn’t spend all that much time with people. It was easy for me to be “On” when after a bit of time, I could crawl back into my office and be alone, doing Pastor/Pester stuff.

Chaplaincy (at least for me) in the YMCA is vastly different.

First of all, I spend a lot more time listening, which requires the talent of not moving my jaw in an up, down motion and not letting noise come out of my face; secondly, as I mentioned earlier, I spend many hours with people; even when I am in my office, I am in front of people. You see, my office is all glass and in the welcome center area of my “Y.” I make many rounds throughout the day; I also go to many of the “Y” locations in our association, visiting with staff, members, and volunteers.

It is impossible to be “On” for 8 hours straight, let alone a 14-hour day. If I am not “walking the talk,” people would know it. Now I need to be clear that I am not some “Ultra-Spiritual” being with an emotion quotient so evolved that things never affect me. In the words of Eddie White, The VP of Operations North Region, “It is good to see that you are human, Roger.”

You see, when I was the senior teaching pastor, it really required me to talk a lot. Being the Association Chaplain requires an entirely different skill set, one of listening and doing.

When people ask about chaplaincy, I like to say it is about less talk and more action.

We Matthew:25 people in our “Y.” We feed people, we cloth people, we visit those that are shut-in and in the hospital (imprisoned somehow). Of all the things that we do in our “Y,” the thing we do best is love on people.

In some ways, I am still that teaching pastor. Except I teach by doing, not talking about it.

I know, I know, you are saying, “Why don’t you get more chaplains?”

My answer is that I have chaplains. Currently, I have nine trained up. I also have chaplain training. I have two tracks; track one is for those in the area who can attend in-person classes. Track 2 is a certificate program that I helped develop with a university; it is asynchronous and online; because of this format, we can offer it worldwide. It is a two-year program that is directed specifically for the YMCA. Others outside the “Y” can certainly take the courses, but we built them to fit our needs. A student can finish this program and receive a certificate in YMCA chaplaincy. One can go all the way through and get a master’s if they want to.

One of the reasons I come in early is to create curriculum for the program.

The days may be long, but it doesn’t feel like work; it feels more like helping.

I am here to help.

Blessings,