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College Chaplain

The college chaplain is a spiritual leader who embraces the productive tension between fostering connection and honoring difference within a diverse campus community. Serving as both a mediator and a mentor, the chaplain facilitates dialogue across diverse belief systems while encouraging deep personal reflection and confronting unresolved existential questions. Rather than seeking to eliminate differences, the chaplain helps students and the broader community navigate these complexities, promoting growth through both conversation and introspection.

By providing pastoral counseling and spiritual direction, the chaplain creates a safe, inclusive space where all students can find a home away from home, develop authentic relationships, give and receive embodied hospitality, and form intentional community. In doing so, the chaplain challenges students to become critically aware, lifelong learners committed to living in a way that allows for both respect and integrity.

Our chaplain is available for confidential pastoral care on a variety of issues, and may refer to clinically trained counselors in the Wellness Center on an as-needed basis.

Rev. Jason Buckwalter, DMin

[email protected]
573-592-5866

Rev. Jason Buckwalter serves as Westminster’s Chaplain and Director of the Center for Faith and Service. He brings to Westminster more than 20 years of ministry experience in a variety of church-related settings. An Ordained Elder in the Church of the Nazarene, Rev. Buckwalter holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary. He is passionate about walking with students through the transformative years of college as everyone learns together how best to love their neighbors.

In addition to his responsibilities at Westminster, Rev. Buckwalter also pastors Heartland Church in Fulton, Missouri. He is married with three teenage boys and enjoys spending time with his family, photography, making and listening to music, good food, and deep conversations.