Ep. 215 - Kerstin Hedlund "Faith on the Frontlines" pt. 1
The Deconstructionists
John Williamson
4.4 • 823 Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode Summary
In this two-part conversation, John sits down with Pastor Kerstin Hedlund, a U.S. Army Chaplain whose story offers a rare window into what faith looks like when it’s lived out in the hardest and most human places.
From her path into military chaplaincy to the deep questions that arise in the presence of trauma and moral injury, Kerstin’s perspective brings theology down to earth — into barracks, hospitals, and battle zones — where hope, compassion, and grief often collide.
Together they explore what it means to serve others in a system defined by hierarchy and discipline, how empathy and faith can survive amid loss, and why doubt and mystery might actually make us more compassionate people.
Why It Matters
Pastor Kerstin’s story reminds us that faith isn’t tested in seminaries or sanctuaries — it’s tested in the trenches of real life. Her honesty about doubt, fatigue, and renewal challenges the neat formulas we often attach to belief and invites us toward something deeper, more embodied, and more human.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Deconstructionist podcast. I'm your host John Williamson. And I wanted to share a really special conversation that I think captures what this show is all about. |
| 0:21.0 | Curiosity, honesty, and finding faith that holds up in the real world. |
| 0:25.7 | Today's guest is Pastor Kirsten Headland, a U.S. Army chaplain whose story bridges the |
| 0:31.2 | worlds of theology, service, and humanity in ways few of us ever get to see up close. |
| 0:37.9 | Kirsten has spent years walking alongside soldiers through moments of loss, fear, and hope, |
| 0:43.8 | bringing spiritual care into some of the most complex and emotionally demanding settings imaginable. |
| 0:50.1 | In this first part of our conversation, we talk about her path into chaplaincy, how our |
| 0:55.7 | understanding of God has evolved through her experiences, and what it really means to embody |
| 1:00.5 | compassion and a system built on hierarchy and discipline. |
| 1:05.2 | It's a powerful reminder that faith doesn't exist in theory. |
| 1:08.5 | It's lived out often in the hardest place is imaginable. |
| 1:12.3 | So settle in. |
| 1:13.6 | This is the Deconstructionist podcast, and this is part one of my conversation with Pastor Kirsten, Freakin, Headland. |
| 1:26.9 | All right, welcome to the, but we can't. |
| 1:29.4 | All right, welcome to the Deconstructionist podcast. |
| 1:32.0 | Kirsten Headland, I am so excited to have you on. |
| 1:34.4 | Thanks for joining me today. |
| 1:35.8 | Thanks for having me today. |
| 1:36.7 | I'm glad to be with you. |
| 1:37.8 | Absolutely. |
| 1:38.2 | It was really a cool thing to have met you because we met through I started attending Peace Lutheran Church here |
| 1:47.0 | after having moved to Gahana and you happened to guest preach one Sunday and gave this really |
... |
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