Text a Message to the Show Following the law should be straightforward and black and white. Following department policy should be the same way. But navigating the murky waters of how to lead and inspire people to do their best work in a competitive and demoralizing environment… well, that's going to take some courage. Our guest today is Travis Yates, who rose up through the police ranks, saw a lot of good and bad leadership, had to practice it himself, and now is ringing the...

Text a Message to the Show A special guest host interviews Chaplain Altic to recap the year! Police Major Joe Grasela joins Jared to give us a recap of their favorite moments from the 2025 Hey Chaplain episodes. Listen in to find out what were the most noteworthy episodes of the year; also included are the top ten listener countries and cities. And don't miss a sneak peek of what's coming in 2026 and beyond! Episodes directly referenced in the show: Dana Gouge was on episodes 11...

Text a Message to the Show This is our Christmas Bonus Episode for 2025! Today's guest is police chaplain Mark Femmel from St Louis. We're talking about the goodness of police officers, ride alongs, Christmas services at church, and Mark has a special Christmas message for you. Music is by Audionautix and by Kevin MacLeod Hey Chaplain Bonus Episode 47 Tags: Christmas, Chaplains, Church, Holidays, Ministers, Morale, Police, Kansas City, St Louis, Kansas, Missouri Support the show T...

Text a Message to the Show When we talk about traumatic experiences, we usually go straight to the shootings and the car accidents, the grisly murders and crimes against children. What often gets left out of that list is getting the threatening lawyer letter that says you're getting sued and whole life is about to be destroyed. Today's guest is police chaplain Mark Clements who has received these letters over and over and over again. Why does someone want to sue him? F...

Text a Message to the Show It's mailbag time! Use the link above to leave a comment or a question and we might use it on a future show! Music is by Chris Haugen Hey Chaplain Update Episode 4Q 2025 Tags: Chaplaincy, Chaplains, Email, Law Enforcement, Mail, Podcasting, Radio, Chicago, Kansas City, Illinois, Kansas Support the show Thanks for Listening! And, as always, pray for peace in our city. Subscribe/Follow here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hey-chaplain/i...

Text a Message to the Show Today we are talking about Critical Incident Debriefs. I had an officer walk into a debrief one time, take one look at the chairs, and say, "this is a circle meeting?! I hate circle meetings!" Well, typically a modern, well-run debrief will prove its value by the end of the meeting, even reaching most of the skeptics… as long as they go to the meeting in the first place. So our guest today is Major Jamison White from Maryland Heights, Missouri.&nbs...

Text a Message to the Show Today we return to our conversation with Sheriff Sonny Byerley and his wife Mikaela. This is part two, so you if you haven't heard part one, you definitely need to go back and catch Episode 127 and hear some of the wild stories of Sonny's career: getting shot and stabbed, going through a dramatic officer involved shooting and witnessing the hatred and violence of a big city riot. But in this part of the conversation we see the vulnerable side of the Sher...

Text a Message to the Show Today we're talking to Sheriff Sonny Byerley and his wife Mikaela. I met Sonny and Mikaela because they have begun traveling to police wellness conferences to share their experiences about PTSD. Sonny is a cop's cop: strong, independent, and self-reliant, but he's also a cop who has survived being shot and stabbed on multiple occasions and has endured all kinds of other traumas that a lot of officers can relate to. In today's interview we're going...

Text a Message to the Show In the summer of 2025, one of my patrol officers, Hunter Simoncic, was struck by a car and killed in the line of duty. As part of the grieving process, we are sharing our experiences with you that you might be better prepared for the impossible tasks that immediately follow a line of duty death. One of the most difficult is that of family liaison officer. A family liaison is assigned to the family of a fallen officer, to advocate for the family's needs, to com...

Text a Message to the Show In the summer of 2025 my hometown of Kansas City, Kansas, lost two officers murdered in the line of duty: Deputy Elijah Ming and Officer Hunter Simoncic. Because they were killed just 30 days apart, we had two large, complex, line of duty death funerals at the local major league soccer stadium, one funeral just a few weeks after the other. We are still grieving and trying to process these losses, and as part of that process I wanted to offer our experien...

Text a Message to the Show It's that time of year again to talk about those spooky stories and things that go bump in the night. This time we're looking at San Francisco and talking to friend of the show, JIm Dudley. Jim has been on the show multiple times and just to remind you he's a retired deputy chief from the San Francisco PD with over 30 years experience, he teaches at San Francisco State University, and hosts the Policing Matters podcast. Even though Jim and I both s...

Text a Message to the Show So a few years back I was at a police department promotion ceremony and began chatting with a guest who was an ATF civilian analyst. Every gun story he told was fascinating. Every insight he had on firearms was spot on. He was good humored and friendly, so I asked him right there, would you ever consider coming on the Hey Chaplain podcast? We can talk guns, we can talk the ATF, I just want to get you on the show. He was very agreeable, ...

Text a Message to the Show Medina Baumgart, Psy.D., ABPP is back to answer more questions from cops. She and I put our heads together to make a list of common issues that cops have and I've compiled those concerns and questions (and a few surprise questions the doc hasn't seen yet) and we're going to have her give us her answers and she and I will banter back and forth about them. She's a psychologist, I've been a church pastor for 30 years. She's married to a retired cop, I...

Text a Message to the Show On today's episode we're talking doing something a bit different, something new to Hey Chaplain. I found a cop psychologist who is married to a retired police officer and her name is Medina Baumgart, Psy.D., ABPP. We put our heads together to make a list of common issues that cops have and I've compiled those concerns and questions (and a few surprise questions the doc hasn't seen yet) and we're going to have her give us her answers and she and I will ba...

Text a Message to the Show On today's episode we're talking to Kevin Hardy about artificial intelligence, specifically in how and where it will fit in between the police officer and the chaplain… and can it replace a chaplain, or other helpers, entirely? And I promise that both Kevin and I are actual flesh and blood humans. Really. Music is by the Whole Other and by LesFM Hey Chaplain Podcast Episode 123 Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Chaplaincy, Chatbots, Computers, Empat...

Text a Message to the Show In the early days of this podcast, I began by bringing in patrol officers and asking them a series of about 25 questions, covering all aspects of their patrol experience. From that initial batch of interviews I would pick a topic, stitch together the responses of several officers, and create compilation bonus episodes I called "Firsthand Accounts." It's been three years since I've produced any of those firsthand account episodes and I've been promising t...

Text a Message to the Show On today's episode we're talking to Gregg Lanzen, he's a police and fire chaplain from Indiana who was a firefighter, a medic, church pastor, and a counselor with a doctorate in Psychology. Gregg has all kinds of good things to tell you about building resiliency and some great tips for first responder families. Music is by the Mini Vandals, by Chris Haugen, and by National Sweetheart Hey Chaplain Podcast Episode 121 Tags: Fire, Ambulances, Career, Church, ...

Text a Message to the Show I'm frequently asked about the topic of grief, so here are a few thoughts that frequently come up in those conversations, with special attention to the insights we get from Christianity. Music is by the Westerlies Hey Chaplain Podcast Bonus Episode 44 Tags: Grief, Bible, Death, Emotion, Fear, Funerals, Loss, Love, God, Health, Hope, Pain, Psychology, Remembrance, Sympathy, Trust Support the show Thanks for Listening! And, as always, pray for peace in our c...

Text a Message to the Show Today we're talking about Field Training Officers and the FTO programs that train police officers once they are on the street. Our guest today is Steve Kellams from the Blue Canary podcast. Steve has taught hundreds of police departments in regard to field training issues and how to best run an FTO program and he is a past president of the National Association of Field Training Officers. Resources: Steve's Blue Canary consulting website, including his ...

Text a Message to the Show It's mailbag time! Use the link above to leave a comment or a question and we might use it on a future show! Music is by LesFM Hey Chaplain Update Episode 3Q 2025 Tags: Chaplaincy, Chaplains, ICPC, Law Enforcement, Limited Series, Mail, Microphones, Mini-Series, Podcasting, Radio, Reporting, Training, Kansas City, Little Rock, Arkansas, Kansas Support the show Thanks for Listening! And, as always, pray for peace in our city. Subscribe/Follow here: App...