Staying Focused on Serving God Despite Our Circumstances: A Conversation with Beth Runkle, Pt 1

The world is becoming increasingly proficient at telling stories that deny God. As such, we need thinking Christian to become as natural as breathing. Welcome to the Thinking Christian podcast. I'm Dr. James Spencer. Through calm, thoughtful theological discussions, Thinking Christian highlights the ways God is working in the world and questions the underlying social, cultural, and political assumptions that hinder Christians from becoming more like Christ. Now, on to today's episode of Thinking Christian. Hey, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Thinking Christian. I'm Dr. James Spencer, and I'm joined today by Beth Runckle. Beth has had a long career as a military wife, and so today we're going to talk about some of her thinking and ministry related to the military and how Christians can and are really needed in military service, but also sort of how she's now ministering to both military wives and families. And so, Beth, it's great to have you here. Thanks for coming on the show, and just interested to hear more about your story. So tell us a little bit about how you got into what you're doing now, but also, you know, your history with the military and your husband. Great. Yeah, and thanks for the opportunity to be on your show. So my husband was in the Air Force for 25 years, and we met at a wedding and dated long distance, and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into with agreeing to marry a man who was in the military. And I praise God for that because I'm very happily married, but I don't know if I would have known what I was signing up for, I think I might have reconsidered. So that's God's sovereignty, even from, you know, who I would marry. So we got married. He had just finished pilot training, and we moved three times our first year of marriage. And then we showed up to his first operational base, and he deployed. So I had a rather abrupt introduction to what really is kind of normal in the military. And I had been very career-oriented, and I found myself just wondering, what have I gotten myself into, you know? And my career now is in the shadow. I've got to follow what he does. And that whole time that we were stationed at that base, only two years, it was very tumultuous because he deployed three times. He went to training for seven weeks. There was multiple hurricanes that came through, and when a hurricane comes through, they bravely fly off on their jet and leave you at home to deal with no power, flooding, hurricane. So that was just all my introduction to the military, and I began to become very bitter about the military, about the lack of control that we had in our life. And since I've become a believer, you know, talking negatively to your husband, especially about what he does, is communicated as disrespect. So we were kind of starting to just be in a negative cycle in our marriage. You know, I wasn't supportive. I wanted him to get out, even though he had a pilot commitment. But I had been raised going to church, but I did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I didn't understand the significance of what he did on the cross. So we began a spiritual journey, and we started going to a church. It wasn't an evangelical church, but it had some great people. But my husband, when he was deployed in the desert, living in a tent, was really spending some of the time at the chaplain's tent asking questions and seeking to learn more. And when we moved again in two years, and this time when we moved, we ran into some old friends of my husband's from college, and they had become believers. And they invited us to go to a Bible study with them, and it was a Bible study on Genesis. And it was very in-depth. It was a precept ministries Bible study with Kay Arthur. And even though we had been hearing a lot about God and about Christianity, we really had not yet figured out how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus. And I would say up until that point, we were trying to straddle both worlds, you know, kind of be like, okay, we're going to be good people these days of the week, and, you know, then we're going to be not the others. But during that Bible study, we surrendered our lives to Christ, and it happened on the same day. And I, you know, really praise God for that because I think we were on parallel journeys that really only intersected, you know, on that, through that Bible study and on that key day. But it just really understood, you know, that I was a sinner and I needed to be saved. And so we had a conversation on that day on the way home, you know, that we were going to be all in for Jesus and that some things in our life were going to change. And we were still struggling in our marriage, though, even though we'd, you know, given our lives to Christ, we were still struggling. So we found out about a Christian marriage conference that was being offered. And so we went to that. And that was offered by a ministry called Family Life, which is also a part of CREW, which is the ministry I work with now. And that conference really transformed our marriage because we saw the biblical blueprint for marriage, you know, the desire for oneness and how we drift towards isolation, biblical roles, you know, the man being the spiritual leader, how men need to love their wives and wives need to respect their husbands. And that was really just incredibly eye-opening. And I realized, like, wow, I have been doing all of this incredibly wrong. And then we came home from that study. They gave like a pitch at the end of the weekend and said, hey, this is great information. If you think you have people you could share this with, you, too, can go home and start a small group. And we were like, well, we have all these military people around us and marriage is hard, but it's a little bit harder in the military. So we started leading small groups in our home, really most of the time focused on marriage. And we found it was a very easy way to engage others, you know, in wanting to get involved in discussions, spiritual discussions. You know, we would often invite people that were not believers. Hey, do you want to do a four-week marriage study with us? And they wanted to work on their marriage because, again, it was really hard. So that just kind of began us being on mission while we were in the military. You know, and my perspective shifted from I hate this life, oh, woe is me, I'm miserable, to really seeing, okay, my husband's been called to serve his country and he's very patriotic and loyal and loves to do that. But if I've married him and God's allowed that to happen in his sovereignty, I, too, am called to be on mission and to embrace this military life instead of fight it. And, you know, it didn't happen overnight, but there was a shift from, you know, the moving, the constant turmoil to really looking forward to it because it meant God had another assignment for us. And that was a physical move, but it was also, you know, there were spiritual moves happening too because we were also growing. I mean, we were moving so frequently. We moved 14 times and, you know, tried different churches and really that encouraged us to figure out what was our biblical doctrine, you know, and what does the Bible say? Not just this is the denomination that we're comfortable with. Because a lot of times we lived where they didn't have what we were comfortable with. Yeah. Well, let me try to flesh out just so we understand kind of the tensions that are involved. So I've moved nine times in my marriage. I know the toll, just the physical toll of moving takes. So we had kids. We shifted jobs. You know, it is very much a disjointed experience. It has that sense of like everything that was stable is no longer stable. And now you're going into a completely new and fresh territory. And so it does require, I think, as we went through our marriage and we were obviously I'm not in the, I wasn't in the military, so we were moving for other reasons. But we started to be far more discerning about when we would make those moves as our kids got to certain ages, which is something that obviously you wouldn't have had the luxury of doing when you're in the military. So, but I think through that, you know, my wife and I also had clear understandings of how to communicate, where to communicate. Like we had to work through all those things because there were times when I was actually working away from home. I'd travel or whatever. And then very much similar to what you've got. You know, you're kind of left to take care of everything at home or you're left to, you know, pursue your career sort of on someone else's schedule. So just, I think a lot of people won't necessarily understand. I know I don't. How does communication happen? Like when your husband was deployed, how often are you in contact with him? Like, what does that contact look like? You know, how are you developing that relationship while he's away? You know, and, or are you just sort of alone? Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed with inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty? More families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to.

Precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up, and many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Well, it's improved a lot thanks to technology. In the beginning, we had an email and my husband, he could make 10-minute phone calls, and because I worked and I worked with a lot of different clients, I couldn't be found. This was before the age of like people having a cell phone in their purse. This was a long time ago. We would only talk once a week for 10 minutes because I had to be home during a certain window because he would be patched through by like the military operator. But you'd be surprised what you can communicate over email when you have to. Now, it is so much better. You know, now there's Skype, there's FaceTime, there's the app Marco Polo that people use just to send videos back and forth. Most couples that are deployed now probably talk almost daily unless they are like special forces or some infantry, you know, where they're away from, you know, the internet. So it's gotten tremendously better, but you just have to stay committed. And I'm thankful. Early on, my husband and I did, we had to do three sessions of premarital counseling. And since he lived in one place and I lived in another and we were getting married in another location, it ended up not being incredibly effective because it was three different people, one session each. My husband and I do premarital counseling now. And so I'm like, wow, that wasn't very good at all. But one of the chaplains that we met with told us, don't ever use the divorce word. It's not a word that you say. You don't say it. And that was the biggest thing that we took away from that. It was like, okay, it's not ever going to be an option. You know, we're not going to bring it up. And then once I became a believer, I realized it can't even be in my thought life. You know, I can't even entertain that thought because thoughts lead to actions. And so, you know, you just stay committed. But certainly once you became believers and you understand the significance of the picture of marriage, right, of Christ and the church and what that stands for for your children, you know, as they watch you, you know, I think the Holy Spirit makes it a little bit easier too to stay committed. But as we were doing these marriage studies, we were investing in other people's marriages. But one of the things we realized too is we were putting deposits in our own marriage. So we were being reminded, what does the scripture say about marriage? You know, how can we better communicate? What's better ways to handle conflict? So even though we are investing in other people's, I mean, we need to be reminded of these things, right? Our flesh will take over and we need to be reminded. One of my life verses is Romans 12 too, you know, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I absolutely believe I have to stay in the word of God to push out, you know, the lies of the enemy. And obviously one of the big targets that the enemy has is marriage. You know, if he can divide marriages, I think he can do a lot of damage. So I think he really tries. Yeah. And so you and your husband now are both out of the military. I think it's probably fine to talk about it like that, right? Well, I mean, he served, I supported. Yeah. Yeah. So he, so you're both out. He's out of the military now and you're both ministering through crew, which crew is, will always have a sort of a place in my heart. It was the ministry through which I came to Christ. So. Oh, that's fantastic. I love that. When I came to Christ in 1997, it was through a campus crusade is what it used to be. You know, I was, I'm old too. We always have to tell people that's what it's called. Right. Right. I go with the old thing, but yeah, that's, that's what I came to Christ through. And so I'm very familiar with crew and, and what it all does, but there's a military wing, correct? That maybe a lot of people aren't as familiar with. And so talk a little bit about what that entails for you all and what that ministry really looks like. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed with inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty? More families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary metals is a Christian owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, sanctuary metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Sure. Yeah, so Campus Crusade crew in the U.S. has dozens of ministries that fall under the umbrella of Campus Crusade. And crew military happens to be one of them. They are smaller, but they are focused on evangelism and discipleship with the military. So that's just our target niche. As I mentioned, my husband and I, you know, we continued to do studies when we were in the military moving around. We would always have a couple study in our home and then I was leading usually military spouses and military women in Bible studies in my home. It was a way we invested in others, but honestly, it was a way we created community. I learned after a few moves that I really needed to be, take the initiative in creating community for myself because when you're in the military, not only are you moving, but so is your community. So everything's in constant flux because either you're moving or your friend is or new people are coming. So that was just a way that we did it. But towards the end of my husband's career, once he had decided he was going to retire, God orchestrated an opportunity for us to meet somebody on staff with crew military. And they asked us to prayerfully consider, you know, joining them on staff. It's not something we really knew about. We had used some of crew military's guides, but honestly, we didn't know they were crew military. We just thought they were Campus Crusade or Family Life. But it really was, is an extension of what we were already doing, but even more. So we are full-time missionaries and we are located here in Colorado Springs, which has five military installations if you count the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. And we are focused on all the bases. Actually, we could greatly use more staff, but we do marriage and parenting studies at Fort Carson and Peterson. I teach women's Bible studies down there weekly. And then we have done a little bit of combat trauma healing that is Christ centered. So that's for veterans and active duty, anyone who's struggling with that. And the course that we offer is in conjunction with a ministry called Reboot. And it is a course for the spouse and the person with combat trauma, which is incredible. And it is very focused on Christ. And we have just seen amazing healing through that course. And then my husband and I, about half of our time, we spend with cadets at the Air Force Academy. And that looks a little bit more like a typical college crew ministry, probably the one that you're familiar with, James. So large group meetings. My husband and I disciple men and women. I disciple the female cadets. He does the men. We help with all their retreats, their small group meetings on Monday nights. And then, then we also do the premarital counseling for cadets that are interested in doing that. Sometimes it's cadet cadet and sometimes it's cadet civilian. So, and we have another couple in full-time ministry.

Crew, who is also working with us at the Academy. So we kind of split our time all around the Springs because we, um, there's only those two couples here. Wow. Two couples for the five military bases. And is your ministry, I mean, it sounds like from what you're describing, a lot of it is very much discipleship oriented or Christian to Christian. Um, but is there an evangelistic component to this as well? Is there any issue with that from a, you know, a military perspective kind of doing evangelism? Yes. Well, first of all, a misunderstanding. Some military members will think that they cannot share their faith. Um, and you have to be careful with how you share your faith. Um, you, you know, you can't do it from a superior to someone reporting to them. Um, but even when my husband is on active duty as the Lord provided, um, if he had an open door, he would talk about his faith, right? You just can't, um, proselytize, which means you're forcing your faith on someone. Now at the Air Force Academy, um, we function as our volunteers. And one of their things is we cannot proselytize. We can't stand around campus. Um, but what we do do is that we do train the cadets, um, all the cadets that we disciple, we're going to train them in how to share the gospel. And then we're encouraging them to do it, which is truly much more effective anyways, because, you know, those are their peers. Um, and then, um, over the course of the year, you know, we'll have discussions with them. What does it look like to be a Christian on active duty and how can you be a strong Christian leader and, you know, still abide by the regulations of, they call it the AFI in the Air Force. I don't know what that stands for, but it's the rules. Um, there's lots of numbers to them. Um, and then, um, with our ministry, um, at the bases, so we're working in conjunction with the chaplains. Um, so we come under their approval and everything we do is approved by them. Um, but not everyone who comes to our classes is really a believer. Um, so then we can offer to meet with people outside of class, you know, to, to talk more about it. We will present the gospel in all of our classes. Um, and then women that I come in contact with, you know, I'll just, Hey, you want to grab coffee? Um, we're, we're not as limited at the other bases on, um, sharing the gospel as we are at the Academy. Um, but, um, and everyone, we are also training them how to share the gospel. And then we're really, um, teaching them that disciples make disciples. Um, so we're challenging them to be being discipled by, um, one of us, the older adults, and then they should be discipling someone else. And that's something that's very well structured at the Academy. Um, so the, the cadets that we disciple are discipling someone else. And sometimes that tier goes down. Um, and then we just have a much greater ability, um, to help people grow spiritually. Everyone. Thanks for listening to the first half of the interview with Beth Runcle. Join us tomorrow for the second half of the interview on another episode of Thinking Christian. I just want to take a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the Thinking Christian podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. In a world where relationships are easily broken and often discarded, the Rebuilding Us marriage podcast is your lighthouse, guiding the way to hope, restoration, and transformation in Christ. I'm your host and marriage coach, Dana Shaye. Join me as we discuss the necessary tools for rebuilding marriages from adversity, betrayal, and disconnection. It's time to reignite love as we rebuild marriages from the ground up. Listen to the Rebuilding Us marriage podcast on lifeaudio.com or wherever you get your podcasts.