'For God and Country': Lt. Col. Martha Kester serves as country's first female state chaplain

Lt. Col. Martha Kester believes coincidences are not just accidents, especially when it comes to her career. 

“I like to say coincidences are when God wants to remain anonymous,” she jokes, sitting in her office at St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 3424 Forest Ave. in Des Moines.

But coincidences are what brought Kester to Iowa – a state the New Jersey native knew very little about – and to her role as a chaplain in the Iowa National Guard, despite her not coming from a military family and having no prior military experience.

Now, Kester is making history as the “co-first” female state chaplain in the National Guard alongside Lt. Col. Heather Simon of the New Jersey National Guard, and she said she credits all of it to a “dual call[ing],” and a little bit of “God’s great sense of humor.” 

When Kester, now 54, was in her thirties, she left a nearly decade-long career working in youth ministry to pursue her dream of becoming an Episcopalian priest. But she said she never expected when she walked into her first day of seminary at the Trinity School for Ministry in Pennsylvania that she would one day be joining the military. 

Over a coffee chat with an army recruiter, Kester said, to her surprise, she felt drawn to the idea of serving as a spiritual support for soldiers both on the ground and back home. 

“I fell in love with the Guard mentality and the Guard mission,” she said. 

And, coincidentally, Kester said she fell in love with St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where she got offered an assistant position in Des Moines in 2006. Upon joining St. Luke's, Kester joined the Iowa National Guard, where she has since served as a chaplain.

In 2010, Kester deployed to Afghanistan for nine months, where she said she experienced a “bizarre sense of reality” but also “an incredible sense of purpose.” Based out of Bagram Air Base, Kester said she traveled across the country, meeting soldiers and providing them with prayer. 

“The whole model of the chaplaincy is to bring God to the soldiers and to bring soldiers to God,” she said. “It’s that sense that no matter where we are or what we’re doing, even in the horrible and the worst situation where it seems like there's no way anything good can happen, there’s that sense that God is still present.” 

Returning from her deployment, Kester said she experienced another joyful coincidence thanks to “God’s timing.” St. Luke’s promoted her to Rector, allowing her to realize her original dream while also continuing her military service. She kept her post at the church even during a brief stint working as a deputy chaplain for the Nebraska National Guard from 2019 until October of this year, when she returned to the Iowa National Guard to take on her new historic role. 

Now as the Iowa state chaplain, Kester said she feels a strong responsibility to serve the citizens and soldiers of the state of Iowa through leading with integrity and staying true to herself. 

Her gender, while historic, has nothing to do with how she intends to approach her work, she said.

“I never thought of myself as a female chaplain. I’m the chaplain,” she said. 

However, Kester recognizes it’s “about time” that female chaplains be promoted to high-ranking roles in the military, especially given the value in bringing in a diverse range of perspectives to the job, she said. 

“I think that’s the beauty, is finding people who have gifts different than you,” Kester said. “Whether you're male or female, I just think it’s bringing whatever god given talents you have because they’re all different.” 

Surrounded by maroon carpeting and mahogany brown-stained cabinets, Kester sits in her humble office and reflects on all of the coincidences which brought her to where she is today – to a job and a state she never expected to be in, but she now says she “couldn’t imagine leaving.” She looks lovingly at the window, with the light illuminating a piece of stained glass art she created depicting the Army Chaplain’s Seal. 

“Pro Deo et Patria, For God and Country” she reads from the artwork, still drawn to the words with the same sense of drive and purpose which brought her to the Iowa National Guard over a decade ago.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at@francescablock3.