Happy Birthday, Marines!
Today, November 10th, 2025, is the 250th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Born in Tun’s Tavern, Philadelphia, and proven on the shores of Tripoli, Africa, America’s Corps of Marines have acquitted themselves on battlefields and in war zones all over the world. Known by several monikers earned throughout their storied history. Leathernecks. Devil Dogs. Jar Heads. White Sleeves. Marines. The brunt of many jokes from the other branches of our Armed Services, yet when the bullets are flying, there’s no one else they desire to be in the fighting hole beside them.
I served as an Officer in the Marine Corps from 1995-2000, coming up through the Naval ROTC Program at Vanderbilt University, and exiting as a Captain. My Dad was a Marine who served two tours in Vietnam with the Marine Air Wing. During my senior year of high school, as I began searching for a career path and was exploring possible military service, there was never a thought given to which branch. It was USMC or bust for me. The Corps runs in families. It gets in your bloodline. I remember Dad telling stories of when he was drafted in 1967. His classmates thought he was crazy when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. But Dad told them, “If I am going to war, I want to go with the best. I figure my odds of staying alive are better if the man next to me is the best-trained warrior in the world.” Enough said.
It is truly impossible for me to fully capture all the life lessons and valuable insights the Lord allowed me to gain from my time as a Marine. Most of those lessons translate not just to life, but even to church life. Here are a few of the more significant things God taught me in and through the Corps:
There is no substitute for the unity of identity.
Shared history. Shared suffering. Shared training. Shared heroes. Shared values. Shared title. These are all ways the Corps builds unity. The initial training in the Marine Corps, whether Boot Camp or Officer Candidate School, is aimed almost singularly at building identity. Who is a Marine? What is a Marine? Marines do what they do because of who they are. And who they are is who they’ve always been (for the last 250 years). Turns out, knowing who you are is powerful. And sharing that identity with a band of brothers is potent on battlefields and in boardrooms. For 250 years, the Marine Corps has brought together diverse groups of men and women from all across our Nation and have transformed them into the world’s most fierce fighting force. How? By forging the unity of shared identity.
“Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:11).
Seems to me Christians in local churches could use some reminders of our shared identity. I have seen this go awry over my decades of pastoral ministry, in two ways. One, we focus so much on the unity within our own local church body that we forget or neglect the larger body of believers. When church members oppose pastors who want to help revitalize another church down the road, or plant a new church on the other side of the county or world, they are committing this error. Criticisms of missions-mindedness in local churches often sounds like, “But we should be focusing mostly on ourselves.” But I simply ask, “Where is that in the Bible?” Two, we do not hold tightly enough to doctrinal confessions and/or build a culture of accountability within our local church body, so that members actually do not share a unified gospel identity. Knowing who we are and what we believe, especially about core doctrines of the faith, and even secondary doctrines – such as baptism, communion, manhood and womanhood, home, family, church leadership – is essential to a church’s unity. Churches who are “fast and loose” with doctrine are straying into this error and ensuring disunity. So, pastors must help strike the balance, between these two ditches as they shepherd the flock of God. And church members must re-commit themselves to the notion that unity within their local church is not based upon shared hobbies or ethnicity or personalities or preferences; but rather is in Christ and His gospel. Period.
There is no substitute for commitment to accomplishing the mission.
Identity. Mission. These two always go hand-in-hand. In fact, as I have already mentioned, Marines will die to accomplish the mission, or would rather die than not accomplish the mission, because of who they are. Mission flows from identity. For 250 years, our Nation’s enemies have learned the hard way that there is nothing more fearsome on the battlefield than a Company of Marines on mission. The mission statement of the Marine Corps rifle squad says it all:
“To locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver; or to repel the enemy’s assault by fire and close combat.”
Clear. Concise. Laser-focused. This is what we do. And we do it the way we do it because of who we are.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).
Clear. Concise. Laser-focused. This is what we do, Church. And we do it the way we do it because of who we are, Church. At Corydon Baptist Church, we say it like this:
“We are a Christian family of disciple-making disciples consumed by the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
I once saw a sign in a store that said: “A Disciple is someone who has moved from being the Recipient of the Church’s Mission to being Responsible for the Church’s Mission.”
Well, amen. Our churches are too full of members who are not really disciples. They’re stuck in the quagmire of “what’s in it for me-ism.” The man who complains to his pastor that he’s not being invested in enough, yet does not attend the Sunday School class on biblical manhood being offered even as he complains. The woman who never quite seems satisfied with her lot in life, yet does not attend the discipleship training on godly contentment. The couple whose marriage is weak, yet neglects the monthly Grace Marriage gatherings. The parent who struggles to find the balance between child-rearing and marriage and work, yet never seeks out the Biblical Counselor. The church member who incessantly gripes about the pastors and church not focusing enough on local outreach, yet he or she has not personally shared the gospel or tried to disciple someone with an open Bible for years. The member who says no one invests in him, yet hasn’t invited a fellow church member into his home for years.
This list could, sadly, go on for a few pages. In the Corps, we often said, “Lead. Follow. Or Get Out of the Way.” Now, that’s too harsh for the church. But, if we can push past the gruffness, there’s a nugget for us, dear Church. Are you stepping out in faith to lead a ministry effort? Are you faithfully following a spiritual leader to help accomplish the mission? Or, are you doing neither? Are you just showing up to hear a sermon, sing a song, then return to your worldly life? Churches must live on mission with Jesus. Every member on mission with our King. And if you lack training or knowledge to do so, avail yourselves, dear brothers and sisters!
Blood Loyalty.
Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. That’s the Marine Corps’ motto. And, “once a Marine, always a Marine.” There are no former Marines, except those who were discharged dishonorably.
Now, as Christians, we understand that our Lord is the only One who is truly semper fidelis (2 Tim 2:13; Rev 19:11). We are too often not nearly as loyal to King Jesus as we should be. Nevertheless, if we are truly born-again followers of Jesus, it is our blood earnest intent to live for His glory faithfully. And I think the Church could use a heavy dose of loyalty. Not just to Christ, but to His Church.
American evangelicalism is inundated with a lack of “brand loyalty,” if I may say it thusly. Call it church-hopping. Call it cross-pollination of denominations. Call it consumerism. Call it what you will. But I am afraid God might call it discontent. Disloyal. Cowardly.
In my 14 years as Pastor in my present congregation, I have NEVER once had a member quote Chapter and Verse of the Bible as the reason he or she was leaving our church body to go to another church down the street. The reasons are always about feelings. Or fitting in. Or personalities. Or preferences. Or an unwillingness to deal with interpersonal conflict or sin biblically (Matt 18:15-18; 1 Cor 5; Col 3:12-17). Or an unwillingness to have doctrinal assumptions challenged with an open Bible (Acts 17:11). It really begs the question – who or what is our ultimate authority for a decision as significant as what local church to covenant with to make the name of Jesus known near and far?
Now, I am not saying the Lord would never lead a member to leave a church and find a new one. Nor am I intending to impugn the motives or character or anyone who has ever left my present congregation. To be sure, we are looking more and more often now to send our members out for the sake of the Name! So, as our Pastor Emeritus likes to say, “Don’t hear what I’m not saying.”
But, my point is this: Most people who leave local churches and cannot manage to “find a healthy church and build your life around it” (Tom Ascol, Founders Ministries), are spiritually short-changing themselves and their families. Spiritual consistency and stability is one of God’s greatest gifts to His Church. Think of all the exhortations in the Scripture to be “steadfast and immoveable.” My own spiritual growth in the first 30 years of my life was exponential primarily because I had only two pastors (two congregations) for those 30 years. The inability to settle down in a church is doing grave damage to us. We must learn the fruit of patience. Of perseverance with people you might not otherwise hang out with. Of confession and forgiveness. Or loving confrontation and compassionate encouragement. Of Christ-like loyalty.
One of the deepest disappointments I deal with in ministry is how easily church members quit on one another. Quit on a leader or leaders. Quit on fellow members. We are missing out on the joy of growing with one another. Of being changed together. Of witnessing long-term graces in each other. Of watching our children and grandchildren grow together. Be baptized together. Be catechized together. Be loved on the same laps. Be taught by the same teachers. Be shepherded by the same shepherds (yes, pastors need to learn loyalty too). Be pointed to the same Savior. Be sent out and supported by those we know indelibly as “family who have our backs.”
My Marine Dad often told me growing up, “Son, you can be beaten but you cannot be whipped.” That was his way of inculcating endurance in me. A don’t ever quit attitude. Loyalty. To someone or something far greater than me. Blood Loyalty.
Dear Saints, our Savior is the Ultimate Warrior (Exodus 15:3) who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). May we mimic Him. Reflect Him. We are, after all, engaged in a great war, with everlasting souls hanging in the balance (Eph 6:10-20). Let’s stay in the fight. Shoulder-to-shoulder. Together. Filled with the Spirit. Armed with the Word. For the honor of our King.
Semper Fi!