"Neither Is There Any Water" | Numbers 20:5

By CH Kevin Trimble

In the summer of 2021, my wife Darla and I moved from Savannah, Georgia, to the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. We started west in June, and with each passing mile, the trees grew shorter and the grass sparser. The shades of landscape changed from green to brown. In the army, you are told where to go, and our new duty destination was the high desert.

The National Training Center, the army’s premier land battle training center with over 642,000 acres of training area, is roughly the size of Rhode Island. We train up to ten 4,500-member Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT) each year, in addition to Special Operations, Rangers, Aviation, Sustainment and other enabling forces. The base is located 37 miles north of I-15 and just south of Death Valley. Fort Irwin has been described as the “largest cul-de-sac at the end of the longest driveway.” To put the vast size of the base into perspective, we are 37 miles from the nearest Walmart. Images of Moses and the Children of Israel in the wilderness readily come to mind.

Upon arrival at Fort Irwin, most spouses have a moment of reckoning with reality. Picture miles of desert ascending to the post’s gate at the crest of a mountain. Through the gate and down the other side, you gaze off into a valley with nothing but dry, brown, arid, inhospitable desolation. This would be our home for the next two years.

Our first Sunday’s chapel was less than inspiring. The day was hot, with the temperature hovering around 100 degrees. Winds were still, and it was dry and barren. The chaplain spoke from Matthew about Christ feeding His people. The text in the ESV describes the place as “desolate” (Matthew 14:13, 15; 15:33). Desolate was how Darla and I felt. Far from home, family, and the lifestyle we had come to know and love, we found ourselves in a place of isolation, desolation, and barrenness.
We soon learned nothing grows without water in the high desert of the Mojave. Nothing we had learned about gardening in the Midwest and East prepared us for temperatures above 115 degrees and frequent winds of 40-plus miles per hour. Grass grows only where sprinklers provide life-giving nourishment; where there is no water, you find only desert.

Fast forward a few months. God proved Himself in numerous ways in the middle of our desolation. As the senior chaplain trainer, my team and I had the privilege to observe, coach, and train chaplain sections to prepare for deployment oversees. Each day as we trained, we were reminded of the grave importance of chaplains and their assistants who live with, train with, and are embedded with troops as they go to battle.

Not long after our arrival at Fort Irwin, the commanding general appointed me senior pastor of the chapel. Fort Irwin only has one chapel, and all religious support, education, and training happens at one location. Since the post is so remote, our congregation consists of all Protestant believers. As Darla and I assumed our new role, we were reminded of Numbers 20:5: “neither is there any water to drink.” The congregation was scattered, desperate, and small, without children’s programs, adult ministry, women’s ministry, good music, and direction. Into this barren place stepped a Free Will Baptist chaplain with ideas to build a congregation.

At other posts, God placed us in situations where we could build a team of chaplains and committed volunteers to create a space and time for worship, biblical preaching, connection, and fellowship. We began a plan to do the same here, and God abundantly provided. We went from a floundering congregation to a vibrant, growing fellowship. We identified strong volunteers to begin children’s ministry, and as the congregation grew, so did the ministries. Only one of our members happens to be from a Free Will Baptist church. She comes from North Carolina. The rest are as the army describes them, “General Protestant.”

Our people are committed and generous, hungry for deep biblical teaching, and amazingly receptive to the gospel. We have seen people won to Christ and baptized, and families have offered their homes for Bible studies we call Life Groups in neighborhoods across the post.
How does this work? On Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m., a handful of chaplains are hard at work, praying, planning, and discussing Scripture in preparation for Sunday. This team currently represents men from several denominations. Each chaplain oversees a ministry and, by extension, shepherds a leadership team of soldiers and families in women’s ministry, fellowship teams, children’s ministry, nursery, Bible studies, and more.

• The chapel is a place of nourishment. On most installations, the chapel can be seen for miles. As one of the larger buildings and topped with a steeple, the chapel can (and should) be the hub of all religious activity. At Fort Irwin, our service is called the Oasis Worship Experience. In this place of arid desolation, our team provides life-sustaining nourishment from God’s Word. When you live in the desert, stories of refreshment remind you of God’s intervening power. We see this chapel—the Oasis—providing nourishment for the Body of Christ.
  

• The chapel is a place of connection. We regularly have guests who are disenchanted with the local church for various reasons. Perhaps they quit a fellowship due to a personal problem or were offended by a pharisaic leader. Perhaps their faith journey is just beginning, and the chapel offers a safe place. We welcome everyone, and as they learn, they are challenged by God’s Word. We are privileged to minister to their needs.
  

• The chapel is a place of worship. Over the years, people have asked about a chaplain’s ability to exercise faith according to denominational preference. I have been asked if the gospel is watered down, or if we can preach the truth. In all my years of chaplaincy, my freedom to exercise my faith as a Free Will Baptist has never been restricted, nor have I felt pressured not to preach the truth. The chapel offers the opportunity for like-minded people of faith to gather and to influence the military with the Kingdom agenda, with no apology for the power of the Sacred Text.
  

• The chapel is a place of service. Just like a civilian-led worship experience, we need teachers for children’s church and AWANA, greeters, ushers, singers, and musicians. In many cases, the army chapel operates just like your local church, where the gifts of the Spirit are exercised, and the entire family grows together in the faith.
  

At the Oasis Worship Experience at Fort Irwin, we long to see soldiers and families connect with God, hear biblical preaching, enjoy vibrant worship, and become more like Christ through salvation and service. Weekly, we watch God water this desert by nourishing His people through the work of the Holy Spirit. Here, they find spiritual water in a barren place.

About the Author: CH (MAJ) Kevin W. Trimble is senior chaplain and trainer at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. Learn more about the work of Free Will Baptist chaplains: fwbnam.com/chaplaincy.