“Empower in order to strengthen society”

Bishop Derek Jones, as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty (CALL), is actively involved with three distinct agencies that are related, yet different. In addition to the CALL, he serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs (aogia.org). The third agency is actually his primary responsibility – the job that pays the bills, he says. Bishop Derek serves as the Bishop of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy for the Anglican Church in North America. (AnglicanChaplains.org). As a bishop, he is responsible for the oversight of Anglican Chaplains®, parishes, and chapels around the world for the Anglican Church in North America. Perhaps a modern “Renaissance Man,” he also serves on various boards across a wide range of interests, runs a small farm in Alabama, and still makes time for a variety of hobbies from kayaking and hiking, to little theater and music. Frankly, it’s hard to keep pace with him.

Bishop Jones caught Industry Era’s attention, and made our list, primarily in recognition for his contributions in the fields of religious freedom and religious liberty (RF/RL), and his proven record of successfully leading large organizations. While many in business don’t necessarily look at the church for their examples of organizational leadership, we at Industry Era believe there is much to see in this particular and unique church leader.

Like many successful in business, Derek is a retired military officer, serving in the United States Air Force from 1981 to 2009. A highly regarded combat veteran fighter pilot, he has the unique distinction of having won Top Gun awards in every variant of aircraft flown in his 28-year career. A combat veteran in both the F-111 and the F-16 fighters, his awards and decorations are many. But flying is just part of his history in the military. He became an acknowledged expert on military doctrine and on organizational structures. (Organizational Structures is a term once used to, in a concise way, describe how to organize large numbers of people into an effective objective oriented work organization.) Whether it is a new organization, or an established organization, it is Derek’s experience in structures that has played a significant role in the incredible success of Anglican Chaplains®, CALL, and the AOGIA. For example, in his primary ministry work creating the Chaplains Ministry for the Anglican Church in North America, he began with one chaplain in late 2007. Today, there are over 300 chaplains, 7 distinct sub-ministry non-profit organizations, and over 60 parish and chapel gatherings meeting weekly - making Anglican Chaplains® among one of the largest endorsing agencies of sacramental chaplains to the Department of Defense. But established organizations have also benefited from Derek’s leadership. In 2022, Bishop Jones was declared the “Chairman Emeritus for Life” of the National Conference for Ministry to the Armed Forces (NCMAF) for his contributions in leading and refocusing that organization’s work and purpose, ensuring it has a relevant future.

Strategic thinkers conceptualize what they believe an organization should look like at points 5-years and10-years ahead. This is nothing new. But, often these strategic thinkers only see two or three iterations ahead, which requires re-evaluation yearly and sometimes quarterly. Derek is known for his ability to see 6 or even 7 iterations ahead which better predicts the 5 and 10 year outcomes. “Most organizations are in the money-making business, but not the church – we are in the “life more abundantly” and “eternal life” work. That makes strategic thinking very different,” said Bishop Jones to a recent gathering of Executive Leaders. In creating the Anglican Chaplains® ministry, he knew strategically that his chaplain’s successes would be most dependent upon an accurate prognostication of their rights and ability to exercise their faith 25 years from now. The First Amendment of the US Constitution declares Religious Freedom and Religious Liberty (RF/RL) for all Americans. But even the casual reader of the news knows that this has come under increasing attack at the hands of social engineering, particularly since 2012. Ensuring and protecting that first Constitutional right and freedom goes hand in hand with a Chaplain’s ability to execute their ministry calling.“As a fighter pilot, you could better execute your short or long-term tactical mission when you were aware and understood the overall strategic plan.” So, to have a most successful chaplain ministry, it required that Bishop Jones look far ahead and predict the “big picture” battles to protect RF/RL on a strategic level, so to ensure chaplains can operate in the tactical environment. This was crucially important in the early days because, unlike a church pastor or rector, chaplains are most often ministering at critical junctures of people’s critical “life”moments, and are doing so in isolation and at a moment’s notice. Bishop Jones sees a major responsibility being to ensure support and protection (“top cover”) of his chaplains. With solid foundations of support secured, he can “empower” chaplains to execute their ministry work. Let us also not forget that chaplains are quite often working in dangerous situations, particularly our military and first responder chaplains. This makes this particular work quite difficult. In a unique manner, chaplains do not prioritize being “competitive” – in fact, quite the opposite. Chaplains are called to operate in a “pluralistic” environment in the military and in all chaplaincies. This necessitates a methodology that focuses on developing Chaplains with a strong foundation in apologetics, emphasizing their beliefs and the reasons behind them, as well as fostering, strong, interpersonal, and relational, maturity to effectively engage with and support individuals who may have differing beliefs.

Stated in a business manner, in Derek’s leadership philosophy, he believes that it is important to empower decision-making authority to the lowest level. For large organizations formed to create revenue, this is often resisted - delegating instead in terms of low, middle, and senior management levels with “big” decisions left to the senior managers. While supervisory structures found in business are found similarly in the structure of the church, Derek believes there is a key difference that is often missed, even by some churches. He believes too many churches have become too focused on the money, and have lost sight of the purpose of their very existence. Instead of upward structuring decision making, Derek holds most decisions should be made at the lowest level necessary trusting the decision maker to be congruent with the ministry vision. Derek ensures all chaplains understand and remain within clear boundaries and guidance relating to ministry execution and personal accountability, the latter being the most important.

To help set those boundaries, the JAFC has an aggressive and extensive Education, Training, and Formation program (ETF). “The most successful leaders have surrounded themselves with smart, gifted, and experienced people. With who all surrounds me, I am confident we are set for the long haul,” commented Bishop Jones. His ETF program is his largest self-investment program both in terms of time allocated and expense. Bishop Michael Williams, a retired USAF Chaplain, leads his ETF program overseeing several distinct programs and a host of trained educators and trainers. All chaplains meet annually and have yearly continuing and renewing requirements. As to personal accountability, Bishop Jones’ Accessions program led by a three person team, Lauren Ullman, Kenneth Gillespie, and Ryan Davis ensures only the best qualified clergy and aspirants become chaplains. In 2023, only 1 in 2 new clergyapplicants, and 1 in 3 seminary applicants, were approved to represent the Anglican Church in North America as Chaplains. At the time this article was prepared, more than half of Bishop Jones’ chaplains have doctorate degrees beyond specialized professional chaplaincy education and training.

Chaplains all have their individual gifts and talents that are unique and become “force multipliers” to the overall purpose of the ministry. Knowing boundaries requires chaplains to remain connected to the larger strategic vision of the ministry while also allowing the chaplain to make decisions in a timely manner. Just like a combat operation, everyone knowing the objective and the plan allows each individual person the freedom to maneuver and work independently, yet in unison. But, it is equally important to note that his philosophy on leadership also focuses on relieving stress within his organization. Being a decision maker is stressful. Knowing there is someone walking beside you, figuratively and literally, who will “have your back” if needed, can be a huge stress relief. Chaplains often serve as spiritual guides to the churched and unchurched in the organizations in which they are employed to minister. Bishop Derek’s duty is to defend the faith, and for him, that means being a protector of those he is supervising and overseeing. Bishop Mark Nordstrom, a retired US Army Chaplain, leads a team of “Deans,” essentially chaplains for the chaplain, who keep constant contact with all individual chaplains regularly to ensure all is well and that ministry is moving forward. Chaplains routinely minister to people dealing with suicide, natural death, life transitions such as marriage and children, and the everyday work of pastoral and spiritual counseling.

Getting the right people (Accessions), ensuring they are prepared (ETF), and making sure they are enabled and cared for (Deans). It is a highly active and engaged ministry that Bishop Jones oversees.

Another way that Derek’s leadership is different than most can be summed up in the word “transparency.” He believes the way to be transparent is to have active, and interactive, communication. Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “death by meeting.” It is a phrase that suggests meetings can often be unproductive and time-consuming. However, Derek and his team have a different approach and attitude. Again, stating how fortunate he feels to have intelligent, skilled and experienced individuals under his supervision, he believes that the best way to benefit the organization is to promote open communication and collaboration, and that means lots of meetings. He even encourages disagreement within his staff, even if those disagreements become heated at times, because with the mature leadership he has, it leads to harmonization and integration organically. “Everyone in senior leadership is committed to keeping operational tasks at the lowest level while focusing on high-level strategy.” The organization's leadership is responsible for assisting Bishop Jones in vision casting, while the implementation of the mission is delegated to the appropriate individuals at the lowest level for optimal success.

Bishop Derek further emphasizes that the key to collaboration is the establishment of trust. Without trust, collaboration is impossible to achieve.

He cites his experience as a fighter pilot sharing that, despite not having a strong affinity for a couple of his fellow fighter pilots, and vice versa, the ability to work together towards a shared objective or goal is made possible through the development of 'trust.’ Only with trust can collaboration effectively occur in order to accomplish the ultimate objectives. As the Executive Director of CALL, “trust” is the first ingredient to success. CALL is actually an organization formed by the gathering of Chaplain Endorsers to the Department of Defense who represent of all the historically Christian faith traditions and groups providing chaplains to the Armed Forces. As the saying goes, if you want to get along with someone, don’t bring up politics or religion. In the case of CALL, it’s an overdose of both! Yet, “trust” has brought this group of faith tradition leaders all together. Putting differences aside, they focus on the one purpose that unites them –protecting Religious Liberty and Religious Freedom. As a founder of CALL in 2012, created to combat assaults against RF/RL in the military, Bishop Derek works to keep the crucial work of CALL moving forward. And for good reason. “The military is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ when it comes to RF/RL – as goes the military, society is not far behind.”

“Chaplains are the point of the spear in the church’s Gospel mission to the world. Fewer and fewer people are finding their way to the doors of Churches. Chaplains fill a critical void by being a spiritual connection to those they encounter or serve, day in and day out. I am thankful for this recognition, but in my mind, the most admired leader is the chaplain called to work one-on-one to bring rest, reason, and reconciliation to those in need, sorrow, sickness, or any other adversity. It’s my humble privilege that God has allowed a crusty old fighter pilot like me to lead chaplains, and serve alongside fellow endorsers.”

As the Executive Director of CALL, he is currently leading several RF/RL initiatives including efforts to establish a clear definition of a “chaplain” in Federal Law. A recognized Subject Matter Expert (SME) on Religious Liberty and Religious Liberty matters, he serves as a member to the House and Senate Value Actions Team (VAT), is an invited member to the Religion and Foreign Relations Community of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and most notably serves on the Advisory Board of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF). He has been involved through Amici Curiae in several high visibility courtcases. His argument of Conscientious Objection to the United States Supreme Court in defense of the “Little Sisters of the Poor” in 2016 helped “substantially move the court” to a unanimous decision. In the 2020 Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru, his amicus is cited on page 18 as being the compelling argument to the favorable decision. One of his current priorities is finalizing the updates to the Chaplain's Hill Memorials in Arlington National Cemetery. (ChaplainAlliance.org)