In the Field

Featuring the Rev. Martin Stahl, 
Regional Chaplain for Navy Region Southwest, 
San Diego, Calif.

by Pam Knepper
Managing Editor, For the Life of the World

Walking a Tightrope for Christ

Since he was a sophomore in high school, the Rev. Martin Stahl has known that he wanted to devote his life ministering to God’s people.

Growing up in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Rev. Stahl attended Faith Lutheran Church and St. Peter’s Lutheran School.

"In the first grade I knew I either wanted to be a teacher or a pastor," remembered Rev. Stahl. "But it wasn’t until my sophomore year in high school that I made the decision to become a pastor. My own pastor, the Rev. Edgar Behrens, was very encouraging and ultimately helped me realize that I should be a minister."

Graduating from Arlington High School in 1967, that fall Rev. Stahl began studies at Concordia Junior College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he earned a degree in pre-theology. In 1971, he graduated from Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with a bachelor’s degree in Theology and Sociology. After graduation, he attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, for one year. He then spent the next year studying in Oberursel, Germany. Upon returning to the United States, he continued his seminary studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois.

After completing his second year of seminary studies, he was placed as a vicar at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Sioux City, Iowa. It was here that Rev. Stahl met his future wife, Becky. In 1975, at the end of his vicarage year, the two were married. Rev. Stahl and his new bride returned to the Springfield campus for his final year. Graduating in 1976, Rev. Stahl’s first call was to serve St. Paul Lutheran Church in Stanwood, Iowa.

"While I was at St. Paul’s, I became deeply involved in evangelism," he remembered. "So two years later when Trinity Lutheran Church in Grand Island, Nebraska, extended a call to me to start an evangelism program for them, I jumped at the chance."

It was here, while serving at Trinity, that the direction of his ministry was changed forever.

"One Sunday the endorsing agent for LCMS chaplains attended services at my church," explained Rev. Stahl. "After the service he approached me and explained that after hearing my sermon he was convinced that I should become a chaplain in the Armed Services. At that moment I knew that God was calling me to serve in this capacity."

A year later in 1981, while serving a new congregation in Gretna, Nebraska, Rev. Stahl became an endorsed reserve chaplain in the United States Navy. The next year, he accepted the call to serve one year as an endorsing agent in Washington D.C. This was followed by three years of active duty with the United States Marines in Oahu, Hawaii.

"A portion of my time in Hawaii was somewhat difficult because a year of it was spent with a destroyer squadron," said Rev. Stahl. "I didn’t see my family for seven months and, unfortunately, the deployment started one week after my last child was born. That was not fun."

But while being away from his family was difficult, the bond that Rev. Stahl formed with the soldiers was amazing.

"As a chaplain you have access to people’s lives that you don’t experience as a parish pastor. You live with these people 24 hours a day, and you get to hear not only the good but the bad in their lives," explained Rev. Stahl. "They not only come to you for spiritual guidance but as an ear to tell their troubles to. Once you establish a relationship with them, a kind of trust forms that I had never experienced before as a parish pastor."

In 1986, Rev. Stahl and his family moved to Chicago. For two years he recruited new chaplains and served as head chaplain for 16 states. Then in 1988, he received three separate calls from the LCMS. After turning down the first two, he accepted the call to serve as head of field education and teach classes in Practical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

"I went back on reserve status as a chaplain and taught at the seminary," said Rev. Stahl. "For the time I was there, it was a good change for me."

But the change didn’t last. A year and a half later in December 1989, Rev. Stahl decided to go back on active duty to serve on the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Kittyhawk, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lasting two years, this call included a deployment that took him around South America.

In December 1991, Rev. Stahl went back to Washington D.C. to work in the Chief of Chaplains Office, where he was in charge of reserves and the chaplain candidate program for the entire United States Navy.

Three years later, Rev. Stahl and his family moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where he headed up basic course officer training for all new chaplains at the Navy Chaplain School.

"This was both a grueling and happy time," explained Rev. Stahl. "Grueling because I had to teach chaplains of some 124 different denominations how to minister and play together. Happy because it was wonderful to see the real excitement chaplains finally experience once they realize what their ministry is going to be like."

In 1998, after four years in Rhode Island, Rev. Stahl accepted his current call to serve as regional chaplain for Navy Region Southwest in San Diego, California.

"This position has been a lot of hard work, but very satisfying," explained Rev. Stahl. "I have been able to take 11 chapels and 65 personnel and make them into a well- running team. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened. Luckily this approach is now going Navy-wide."

As a chaplain for nearly 20 years, one issue that Rev. Stahl frequently addresses with new and old chaplains is the tightrope that exists for all that serve in this capacity.

"As a chaplain you are constantly walking a tightrope between the two institutions you are serving—the church and the military," explained Rev. Stahl. "Chaplains must believe that their first calling is to God and their church. Otherwise, they become more officer than pastor, and this is dangerous."

Rev. Stahl says the danger lies in the fact that many chaplains believe they will get more respect if they have rank. Thus rank becomes more important than serving God and His people.

"Soldiers can sense this loyalty and with it the respect is therefore gone," explained Rev. Stahl. "Chaplains must not neglect the people they have been chosen to serve—God’s people. Other-wise, what’s the point of being a chaplain?"

Another issue that chaplains must deal with is the fact that oftentimes they are separated from their families for long periods of time.

"The sacrifices that spouses of chaplains make are tremendous. While their spouse is gone, they alone are responsible for taking care of the family and for many that can be tough," said Rev. Stahl. "But the positive is that while a chaplain is home there are no church meetings to attend or late night phone calls, like a parish pastor experiences. When you are home, you are home. So you make up for the time you are gone during those periods."

As far as the future is concerned, Rev. Stahl is not sure what God has in store for him.

"Someone once said that a Peter is a minister who is happy to stay put serving one church. A Paul, on the other hand, is someone who is on the move all the time," explained Rev. Stahl. "I can honestly say that I am a Paul and only God knows where my next move will be."

The Rev. Martin Stahl is married to Becky, who is currently pursuing her Lutheran elementary teaching degree. She also works at a Lutheran preschool. They are the parents of four daughters: Katie, an elementary school teacher at Faith Lutheran School in Tucson, Arizona; Carolyn, a senior at Concordia College, River Forest, Illinois; Kristin, a freshman at Palamar College in San Diego, California; and Kellyn, a freshman at Temecula High School, Temecula, California.