Henry:
Yeah. Well, Monty, this has been so far I have been so enthused and encouraged to I wish I had time to be a truck trust staff chaplain. I really do. So it's been great. Let's pivot now to really dealing with some of the theory of chaplaincy. I know that people have taken various Chaplain courses, but I think it'd be good to sort of apply the theory to the ministry of presence, so being Christ at the counter, and that word being means that we're the hand and feet of Jesus to someone, the Holy Spirit's in us. Ministry of presence means embodying Christ where life happens, truck stop diners, field counters become sacred spaces. Your nearness can reveal God's nearness. I'm curious. Do you lean into that more and more? I mean, a typical minister doesn't think of church being at a counter as you're walking into a truck stop near the shop, near the showers, for instance, right? But that to you understand it that way,

Monte:
Absolutely, just leaning on the counter, just being there. They're going to see you, you know. And we're marked, so, I mean, right? And the head I wear, I wear a ball cap that's got a big cross on it says Jesus, John, 316, and Jesus, right? And so, you know, but I want to be marked, right? I want to, I want people. And we got lanyards that we can wear, right? But they may not be wanting to talk, but hopefully we'll make them think just by us being there. Hopefully I'll make them think that, you know, maybe there's something to this, or whatever they might think. But you know, hopefully we'll, we'll turn their thinking back towards Christ a little bit.

Henry:
They call this in recent theological discussions, incarnational ministry. So this is a kind of a buzzword here amongst chaplains ministry presence is incarnational, not informational. And the difference there a sermon, a preacher often thinks to preach, yep, okay, but this is incarnational Christ came to your chaplains follow his pattern. We represent the hands and feet of Jesus in motion. So. So here's a term that could be on the quiz incarnational ministry. There you go. And that's what that is.
We like to tease pastors. You know, you open your doors and you wait. We actually go out and compel them to come in.
Powerful presence before words, people feel your spirit before they hear your message. Ministry starts with calm, compassion and attention. Your demeanor becomes your first sermon. So really your own lock you with the spirit a calm presence itself is a sermon. So powerful sacred spaces in secular places, a diner counter becomes a sanctuary. The presence of Christ transforms ordinary settings when two gather, Christ is there among you. So it really is that concept of church where two or three are gathered, as it says here in Matthew 18, verse 20, there I am. There I'm in the middle of them.

Monte:
Yes, when God called me to it, the words that I heard were to walk among them. So that's exactly what you're saying, and that's exactly what a chaplain does, is we walk among them.

Henry:
Reflect a moment on your own calling. I love to hear your calling story.

Monte:
Well, when I first started seminary, I didn't know much about it. I was able to go to seminary even though I had no previous college Okay, so I didn't know anything about the college scene. So I was in my 30s, and I went in there, and there was 21 credits offered. I was going to take all 21 and the President said, We need to talk about this. Wasn't a good thing to do. But I thought I was going to be the next Billy Graham. I suppose people think that. But anyway, as time went on, and I reflected on those words to walk among them. And then I got to teach in church from the Home Mission Board a course on chaplaincy. And that word Chaplain just went in and resonated and stayed in. And it's like, you know, okay, there's something to this. I'm really liking this, okay, and so, with the help of a pastor and all that, begin to feel that was my calling to chaplaincy. Well, law enforcement chaplaincy is what people think about, first, when they think of a chaplain. And then, of course, like I said, I found out the truck stop ministry was not far from. Where I lived, and was able to go there, and I just knew when I went in there that I was home.

Henry:
You found your—

Monte:
Found my home—

Henry:
Your home—so powerful, so theological. Listening as love. Listening is the first act of love in ministry, understanding draws out the people and the depth of a person's soul through attention. Hearts open to grace.

Monte:
You've heard listening before in our talk here today, and it's, it's it needs to be stressed over and over and over again, listening is so important, and that that's called listening as love. That's the way you show love to a person, is you listen to them, yeah, if you hear their heartbeat, you hear what's going on in them.

Henry:
So what are the three things of listening that you notice are essential in a chaplain relationship at a truck stop?

Monte:
Eye contact, eye contact, looking like you're interested, okay? Sometimes, engagement, engagement, and reflecting back on what they're saying, Let it. Let them know you're hearing what they're saying.

Henry:
Okay, so three things, eye contact, engagement, in the moment. You're not thinking of the next question, right? And the football score or whatever, and then reflecting back what they said, Okay, listening.
Listening takes work. You need to work on it a little bit your listening skills, but you'll never regret it on the listening take work. So an exercise of that would be to let maybe role play that with your spouse or someone to just basically say, Look, we're going to spend a couple hours here. I know a golfer. There's exercises to help you golf better, and you just have to do them. You can say, I want to do them, but unless you do them, you and so it'd be probably the same here. Is to actually, okay, we're gonna have a conversation. Do I feel comfortable with my eyes? Some in one of our classes, we call about sticky eyes. Are my eyes slow? Do they or do fast? Do this? The calm you like you have very sticky eyes. I've already noticed that the moment I met you, I was like, Oh, you have eye contact.

Monte:
Yes.

Henry:
And then. But I also noticed that immediately your body language does not look like you were antsy away, and that's that second point. And I also noticed that you reflected back right away, and you do this like is almost someone say, naturally, no, but you didn't always feel that comfortable. I would imagine,

Monte:
Okay, it's intimidating, even walking the lot. I took a long time before I would do it, because that's out with them, and I was kind of afraid. And then the regional director came one Sunday says, well, ready to walk the lot? Sure, right? But no, it's, it's listening to somebody. Sometimes I'm real conscious when I'm listening. Not so much anymore, but I used to be, you know, how is my expression? You know, how right? You know, I don't want to, I don't want this person to think I'm bored with what they're saying, even though it may take them a long time to say a little bit or, you know, whatever, because truck drivers like to talk, and they don't always get to talk. So, I mean, you can't, okay, you know, I listen to the first 20 minutes, but the second 10 minutes, I'm not in, right? You can't, you know, you can't project that well.

Henry:
And sometimes there are subjects that, as a minister, you don't necessarily want to hear and you want to, like, save them, change them, move them, divert them, give your input, you know, and I'll tell you, as a minister for four decades, plus, there are some subjects I'm not interested in, you know, like I'm not interested in talking all night about politics, but that might be a conversation somebody wants to have.

Monte:
A conversation starter, often, not often, but I mean, in the past had, I can think of one story where a driver came in and he wanted to talk about sports, and that's all he wanted to talk about. But the Holy Spirit, I believe, was telling me, no, there's issues there? Oh, marital issues and issues with a parent. And so I just asked him, you know, how's your marriage? And that changed.

Henry:
So you, you, you paid the price of listening on sports first.

Monte:
Yep.

Henry:
But at some point that listening prompted that next question.

Monte:
Yeah, I can talk sports. I can talk trucking. I haven't been a truck driver, but you can't let that override what Jesus brought that person for, right? You got to listen to you.

Henry:
So wait, you have not been a truck driver?

Monte:
Yeah, I've been a truck—

Henry:
Oh, okay, yeah.

Monte:
Oh, I see. Since 1984.

Henry:
Yeah? I thought so. But then you said, you just mentioned, I've not been a trucker. I bring that up because could, is it possible that someone could be called this ministry driver?

Monte:
We have a chaplain, another chaplain in Texas. He came from a medical field background. Oh, and he came down to the chapel to help his friend one time, and was out in the parking lot, he became addicted. So he's been a chaplain now for over 20 years, and does a phenomenal job. So you don't have to have a trucking background, just have that passion for people.

Henry:
This is so good. Nonverbal ministry, a smile, eye contact. You mentioned smile before—peaceful presence preached louder than words. Your body language communicates the peace of Christ. Compassion speaks through tone, posture and kindness. In a lot of ways this is like people-smart in ministry, stuff that connects here.

Monte:
People don't want to talk to somebody who doesn't look like they want to talk to them. And like you say, through body language, eye contact, any of it, you know, what are you projecting?

Henry:
I'm going to get back to that story with this man who you start with sports. So you're gaining rapport, you're having the eye contact and everything. And then you transitioned it to, how is your marriage? Or is there anything I pray for your marriage? I mean, tell us more about that, and then what happened? Then give us like a case study.

Monte:
We started talking a little bit about it, and I opened up to Romans, where it says, you know, confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that he died or that he was raised from the dead. And I focused on Lord being boss, right? And I asked him if he'd ever done that. You know, he's more than a savior. He becomes your boss because He changes your life, and your life lives for him. And his statement was, well, if I make him boss in my life means I have to go back to my wife. I'm not interested. And then it was a case of sharing scripture. It was loving on him. It wasn't judging him for that statement, but it was talking him through that statement. And again, the Holy Spirit came in, and you could begin to see the face change and the eyes change. He ran out to call his wife—

Henry:
Yeah—

Monte:
—and came back and told me, we're getting back together.

Henry:
See, that's ministry. That's where the Holy Spirit—but again, you start out with, you know, I care about you, what you're interested in, but then God has an interest in that person in a different way. Yeah. So powerful.
Presence in pain. Presence means standing with people in their pain. You don't have to fix it, just be faithful in it. God comforts often comes through quiet nearness. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Romans 12, verse 15. Have you seen this?

Monte:
True presence is important. A lot of times it's not what you say, it's just you being there. Being there shows you care. Because oftentimes when we try to talk, you're trying to fix it, right? And sometimes you can't fix something today. You can't fix grief today, right? Grief takes time, right? But you can be there for him, right? And they'll remember that, you know, he was there for me.

Henry:
You know, I often found it—I reflect upon ministry—that it's these pain areas that ministry can shine, like—

Monte:
Absolutely.

Henry:
—so incredible. And, you know, like somebody starts telling their story of like their wife who cheated. And I remember going back to a story told where, you know, I talk, then he brings up my girlfriend. She did okay. Then I was there. I didn't judge. I didn't, you know—two weeks later, this man receives Christ into his life on Whole Six and 3:23. Months later, he died of a brain aneurysm at 47. But he knew Christ. Now that's what we're talking about.
And that's where that patience and being okay with the pain but not having to fix it. You know, I didn't give the five principles that you messed up. That's why she cheated on you. All I did was listen.

Monte:
When they're going through life struggles, they don't always need to hear a sermon. You know, a sermon is not going to fix it. It's that being there. It's that caring about them. It's that patience, like you say. Loving them. Just simply loving them.

Henry:
Loving them.
Boundaries and burnout. Interesting. Presence does not mean absorption. Protect your own work through rest and retreat. Jesus is about a balance—serving and withdrawing to pray. Do you ever have it where, like, it becomes, where you are so burned out yourself, or the issues that someone's facing prompts you and gives you a trigger. I mean, in some ways, the related messy relationships can create all sorts of messes, but also in the chaplain's life, how do you deal with that?

Monte:
Well, first, you have to be aware of yourself. You have to know when you've had enough for a while. Sometimes you just need a break away. You need to take a sabbatical. You need to refresh with the Lord, you know, and hopefully you do that through your quiet time. You do it on a daily basis. But if, if something's going on in your own life to where you need to just get away from a while, get somebody to cover that chapel or that, you know, truck stop or whatever, and take that time. You got to take care of you in order to take care of others.

Henry:
Gotcha. So, and we're going to talk about that in upcoming teaching.
God's work through weakness—you don't need all the answers. Authenticity invites others to trust God's strength. Weakness becomes a witness when surrendered to Christ.
Some people would say that that is not necessarily true, because don't you want to put your best foot forward all the time?

Monte:
Yeah, you do. But at the same time, God uses us with the experiences we've had, and we haven't gone through every experience with flying colors. You know, we have our weaknesses, and sometimes our weakness is something that we can relate well with, whoever it is that might be talking to us, right? I can relate to you and what you're going through, because when I was going through this, this is, you know, how the Lord—this is what the Lord showed me.

Henry:
So, so to apply this in a case study.
So because you have walked or driven the road, or even if someone hasn't been a truck driver, because they have the empathy to drive the road with them, that creates, almost, in a sense, a ministry imagination.
So your imagination for ministry is informed by the truth of your own weakness, the power of the grace of God, the strength of the Word of God to help you in every situation. And then it almost like the Holy Spirit gives you a ministry imagination for how to relate to people.

Monte:
Yeah, you can put it that way. I don't think I ever have, but it's good. It's true. If you're ever ministering because you think you got it all together, and you know you've, you've come to the pedestal you need to be on—that's your first assignment, right? You need to reevaluate.

Henry:
We call it being the answer man or woman, right?

Monte:
And yeah, the answer is Jesus, yes. Not you, right?

Henry:
The Holy Spirit in time. It's fascinating how these slides all sort of come together.
The Spirit opens hearts when the time is right. Your role is to be available now.
Forceful presence prepares the soil for the gospel seed. What do you think about that—the presence prepares the soil?

Monte:
It does. Nobody's going to talk to you if you're not interested, right? Nobody's going to talk to you if you only show up for an hour.
On Sunday, I went to a chapel service years and years ago, and the chaplain was there. He did a good message and all. But then when Chapel was over, he made it clear he had to go, because he had to go to church.
Oh, he wasn't inviting anybody to go with him—if they had time, right?
If I was going to do that, I would have at least, you know, opened the door for someone to come. Someone to come.
Well, there was this one young man in there that was struggling, and you could see he was struggling. He said he was struggling. And he went up to talk to that chaplain, and the chaplain told him, "Look, do you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins?" "Well, yeah." "You're good. Don't worry about it. I gotta go."
Well, I wasn't a chaplain at that time with that ministry, but I ended up talking to him afterwards, because he needed somebody to talk to, right?

Henry:
You know, the Holy Spirit in timing is just not you.

Monte:
Your schedule, right?

Henry:
No, it's inconvenient a lot of times.
And I think that this is an important piece to know going in—if you're sensing the call to chaplaincy and truck driver, truck stop chaplaincy—that it may not fit a schedule, right?

Monte:
Yeah, it's not always going to fit your schedule. I put my number out there. I have business cards. I leave my business cards at the truck stop, okay? And I tell people my phone rings all the time, and if it rings at two o'clock in the morning, I need to answer that, and I need to answer that with some kind of welcoming tone to my voice, even—

Henry:
Even if it means you can't meet now, right?

Monte:
You there? I still care about you, yes. And you're still maintaining your healthy boundaries with your life, your wife, but you're still having this openness like, you know, minute—open for ministry here. Idea, yep.

Henry:
Well, as we close out this presentation:
Every conversation becomes communion.
In a lot of ways, you're—it's really, in a sense, you're creating that connection with Jesus Christ, by Christ's presence in every place of service.
Let your nearness point others to His glory.
“I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."


آخر تعديل: الأربعاء، 21 يناير 2026، 12:34 م