Florida’s 1st Public School Chaplain Is Trump Disciple at War with Church-State Wall

The state’s first public school chaplain twice ran for Congress, wrote an ode to Charlie Kirk, and preached the need to “battle alongside Trump.”

He identifies with the Black Robe Regiment, a coalition of pastors committed to tearing down the wall of separation between church and state.

Still, the Rev. Jack Martin insists politics won’t interfere with his volunteer school service.

Living in Hernando County since 1997, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2016 and in 2022. In the 2022 Republican primary, Martin came in second to U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, earning 9.2% of the vote.

Martin remains politically active, particularly through his Facebook and Rumble accounts, posting an array of social media videos supporting Republicans and criticizing Democrats. Among his posts:

• An ode to Charlie Kirk.
• A video criticizing U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the government shutdown, calling him “Uncle Chuckles.”
• An image boosting “Pastors for Trump.”
• A photo calling for former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to be deputized so he can arrest former President Barack Obama.
• A video advocating for ivermectin to treat COVID-19, which Martin says saved his life after catching COVID.

“If we want our country back, we can’t stand as spectators applauding Donald Trump.  We need to take our armor, get out there in the battle alongside of Donald Trump,” Martin said during an appearance before the Lake County Florida Republican Assembly.

Martin told the Phoenix that “without apology there are things he [Trump] does I don’t like, too,” and that his support for Trump is “in areas that are restoring our country to be a more sound republic.”

Still, Martin insists his motivation to serve as a chaplain is “not anything political, it’s not to proselytize, it’s to help kids.”

Registered as clergy under the Christian Life Assembly of God church, the Rev. Martin is listed as a chaplain on the Hernando County Schools’ website, meaning he is qualified to “provide support, services, and programs” to students who seek it out.

A 2024 law, HB 931, that permits volunteer chaplains drew backlash from some faith leaders for the possibility it would lead to religious proselytization of students, “undermine the secular nature of public education,” and violate the Establishment Clause, the part of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits government establishment or preference of a religion, the Phoenix has reported.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking the district to backtrack and not only take away Martin’s permission to serve as a chaplain but to eliminate the entire program, which is voluntary for students.

“Rev. Martin has openly promoted Christian nationalism and disparaged public education itself. His stated views are incompatible with the religious neutrality required of public schools and threaten to undermine the trust and inclusivity essential to serving Hernando County’s diverse student body,” the foundation wrote in its letter to Hernando officials.

The foundation advocated for access for students to “trained professionals such as school counselors, psychologists, and social workers — not clergy advancing religious or political agendas.”

“Please understand that permitting a religious chaplaincy in a public school district jeopardizes the rights of students and parents and invites legal challenge,” the organization’s legal counsel, Christopher Line, concluded in his letter.

Constitutional concerns

The retired Pentecostal pastor told the Phoenix in a phone interview this week he does not share constitutional concerns about the program. He’s “100% sure before the Supreme Court that it would be proven pure and good.”

As chaplain, Martin said, he will try to be “one more layer in a system that’s trying to help our kids get through school and graduate as healthy as they can.”

A father of six homeschooled children, Martin served as chaplain for Spring Hill Fire and Hernando County Fire for 17 years. That experience, he said, has prepared him to work with students.

If a tragedy such as a school shooting were to happen, “I would be the most trained — even out of their counselors — I would be the most trained to be able to go in and immediately start to help,” Martin told the Phoenix.

Citing his outspokenness about Jan. 6, 2021, and his commitment to the Black Robe Regiment, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has called Martin a Christian nationalist.

His response: “I am a Christian who loves the United States of America, the nation that God has allowed me to be born and live in. And I respect the laws of the land. And I respect the word of God. And I attempt, the best I can, to live in a manner that would be the life the way Jesus would have done it.”

Martin does identify as a Black Robe Regiment pastor. The national organization with that name bills itself as a “modern-day network of patriotic pastors and religious leaders striving to safeguard liberty by helping clergy and community leaders step into their God-given duty of leading from the pulpit, in the community, and in government.”

A 2022 Vice report cited by the Freedom From Religion Foundation asserts the Black Robe Regiment does fall within the rubric of Christian nationalism, having ties to Gen. Flynn, who in his Reawakening America tours has argued “the church should be at the heart of all aspects of American society.”

Martin says the Vice story is inaccurate. “I mean the Black Robe Regiment is a term, it’s not one group of people,” he said.

Last month, Martin posted on the Black Robe Regiment Facebook group, of which he’s an administrator, “I say this in humility but mark down that the first Public School Chaplain in the State of Florida is a Black Robe Regiment pastor.”

Martin insists the topics he’s been outspoken about would not be part of his offerings as a chaplain.

“In the past, at school board meetings, I’ve spoken on vaccines, on mandatory masking, and things like that. But those were as a citizen and those were prior to any chaplaincy program existing. But they would not be something that would be talked about,” Martin said.

In an appearance before the Lake County Florida Republican Assembly in August, Martin said he could help combat bullying in schools and calm kids after any bomb or gun scares.

Martin said he was invited to speak to the organization, which declares “everything else will fall into proper place by reforming the Republican Party with Judeo-Christian conservative constitutionalists with the Courage to do what’s right.”

“I hear a lot of pastors say, ‘We’ve fixed the problem, we’ve got Christian schools.’ My only problem with that is, what about all the kids that are still in public school and who are still being forced to believe stuff they shouldn’t?” Martin told the Assembly.

The Rev. Martin has amplified right-wing talking points blaming transgender people for political violence. The day after a shooter opened fire at a Catholic school in Minnesota, Martin told the Lake County Florida Republican Assembly that, “if long before that, somebody had sat down and helped those young people, they would have got the help they need.”

In addressing gender-confirming care, Martin told the Phoenix, “My personal view — and, again, I could not use this one in the school, obviously — but my personal view is that you’re hurting kids. It would be like telling the anorexic if you eat more it will get better, you’re just hurting them. And I think my whole heart in trying to be a chaplain is to help kids, not to hurt them and not to create a bigger problem than already exists.”

Martin has a Rumble channel called “THE HARD RIGHT SAVING AMERICA” and publishes songs he’s written. One title is “The Ballad of J6ers,” a “tribute” to participants in the events that transpired in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, which he called “no insurrection. It was a 1A protest by citizens.”

“I am a man who loves my country, I was in D.C. that day along with my good buddies believing free speech worked that way,” Martin wrote in his  lyrics, although he stresses he wasn’t there.

There’s an accompanying video featuring clips of  the insurrection and an artificial intelligence-generated image of Obama being handcuffed by FBI agents in the Oval Office as Trump watches.

“And maybe justice will be served and the bad folks are put in jail,” the song continues.

Martin told the Phoenix the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s criticism is incorrect.

“They referred to a song that I had written and I used the quote the president [Trump] used. I want them to go be peaceful protests, and they tried to make it as if I said that was a peaceful protest. I have my own view on that day,” Martin said — going on to allege that more than 270 Deep State “insiders” were among protesters. “I have questions that there was at least some shenanigans with that day.”

Xs and Os

The Hernando County School Board approved language implementing the state’s first public school chaplain the program earlier this year, making it the first district to welcome the volunteer religious figures.

“Pastor Jack, I want to say that I appreciate everything that you have done in leading this chaplain program. I have worked with you hand-in-hand, day-after-day, week-after-week, we’ve had a few months at this, and it’s been some long, hard discussions,” Hernando School Board Chair Shannon Rodriguez said during a school board meeting last month. “I’m honored to come alongside of you.”

The district’s policies outline that chaplains:

• May provide religious or spiritual guidance to students, lead students in prayer, and offer reflective, non-judgmental listening to students who are going through a difficult time.
• May not seek to persuade or force any student to participate.
• May not proselytize for or disparage any religion, belief, lack of belief, or faith group
• Provision of care, help or counsel is not proselytization or disparagement.

The district, which operates more than 20 schools, requires chaplains to obtain “an ecclesiastical endorsement from their faith group” to certify they are indeed a leader in the faith, “qualified spiritually, morally, intellectually, and emotionally to serve as a chaplain for the board,” and “sensitive to religious pluralism and able to provide for the free exercise of religion by all students.”

The policy prescribes that “the selection of a chaplain should reflect the expectations of the local community.”

The program has officially started, although Martin said his counsel has not yet been called upon.

The policies require interested parents to opt in and provide Martin protections from lawsuits.

The law requires interested school chaplains to first pass a Level 2 background check, “a state and national fingerprint-based check and consideration of disqualifying offenses and applies to those employees designated by law as holding positions of responsibility or trust.”

After passing the background check, a chaplain wishing to provide services must schedule a consultation with a school principal and interested parents to earn signatures from both parties.

“I would like to look at this three years down the road and see the value of what’s come out of the program, and be able to look back and say, ‘See, this is why I thought it was effective,’” Martin said.

After the Phoenix’s interview with Martin, a second chaplain was added to the district website, Shawn May, registered with Great Life Church, a non-denominational church in Spring Hill.

Although groups have raised criticisms and threatened legal action, Martin said he hopes Hernando’s program “can prove to be effective to the good of the school and the students in a way that, if other counties wanted to try it, they would model a program.

“The school board has done an incredible job of implementing a program that limits what I can do and that’s fine with me,” he added.

Last year, pastors opposed to chaplains entering schools told the Phoenix they disagreed with its “scout’s honor” system to not proselytize.

Following the passage of the chaplain law, the Satanic Temple told the Florida Gannett newspapers that it intends to take advantage of the law, the Phoenix reported last year. They since have complained that the state’s model policy for districts to carry out the law was too narrow.

–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix