Chuck Larson on Courage Beyond Combat: Faith, Fear, and Stepping Out in Love

In this episode of the Courageous Crossroads, host Jeff sits down with Chuck Larson for a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation about faith, courage, service, and purpose. Chuck shares stories from a life marked by global experience, including military service in Iraq, time spent in the Middle East, work in government and business, and a faith journey refined through hardship and renewal. He reflects on what courage really means to him today, not just facing physical danger, but stepping out in love, speaking openly about faith, praying for others, and trusting God in everyday moments. The discussion moves fluidly from combat missions and leadership under pressure to healing, generosity, identity in Christ, and the urgency of using our limited time to lift others up. Chuck Larson is a former Iowa legislator, U.S. Army Reserve JAG officer, and public affairs professional who served a year in Iraq and later as U.S. Ambassador to Latvia. He is the co-owner of an Iowa-based public relations, public affairs, and government relations firm with team members across the country, and he now spends much of his time coaching, teaching, and encouraging others in their faith. Chuck can be reached by email at clarson@ls2group.com or by phone at 319-533-1451, and he welcomes opportunities to connect, answer questions, or invite others into study and conversation.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out in courage, and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question: What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Hey everybody, this is Jeff. Welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. I hear more and more each week about people that are listening to the podcast and really enjoying and being encouraged by what it is that they hear. So thanks for tuning in and make sure you let your friends and neighbors know that we’re out there so they can be encouraged as well.

I’m super excited to welcome our next guest, Chuck Larson. Chuck is a friend of mine. He’s got a background that’s extensive. He’s got a lot of stuff in his background. But he’s a military guy. He’s a government guy. He’s a successful businessman. He’s a strong Christian and he’s got something to say when I asked him that question: what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? So without further ado, here is my dear friend Chuck. Chuck Larson is our next guest on the Courageous Crossroads Podcast. Chuck, thank you so much for being with us.

Chuck Larson: Thank you, Jeff. I’m honored.

Jeff Johnson: You and I have been chitchatting about you being on the show for a while. And I think I’m over a hundred guests in or something like that now. And I’m just absolutely tickled to be able to see what you think about this whole idea of Courage. Before we get into that though, can you give our listeners a little bit of a background on who is Chuck Larson? Where you’re from, some of your bona fides, family, all that. So what do people need to know?

Chuck Larson: Yeah, absolutely. I’m born and raised in Iowa and I spent the bulk of my career here. I did, I studied overseas for a year after high school and studied French and spent a couple years in Saudi Arabia, a year in Iraq with the United States Army, and then most recently a year in Latvia, where I served as US ambassador during the Bush administration. I own a company here with my business partner who’s also a great Christian—a public relations, public affairs firm, governmental affairs lobby and whatnot. It’s Iowa-based and we’ve got team members in about 14 states. And we love life. We try to walk in love helping people every way we can.

Jeff Johnson: That’s fantastic. Family?

Chuck Larson: Oh, family, yes. Married. I’ve got two boys and both are in college right now, one at the University of Chicago, one in Northwestern—very proud of them. They work hard, they earned it. And then I’m remarried and so two littles in my new marriage.

Jeff Johnson: Oh, wonderful. And you’re—I noticed you’re well-traveled. I mean, you don’t sit still for very long, do you, Chuck?

Chuck Larson: We love to move. And just finding now in life, as I’ve gotten to know God even better, we’ll move in his missions. But yeah, we like to travel and see the world. I just took the boys to Israel to see the Bible.

Jeff Johnson: Yes.

Chuck Larson: And amazing trip and come to know the Jewish people and to know the country of Israel. There’s so much antisemitism today. I wanted to combat that and also solidify their faith and understand the Bible. These just aren’t fairy tales that are made up. You get to see members of the Jewish faith that are saying between this portico and this portico, Jesus—not allegedly—Jesus performed miracles. This happened. This is real.

Jeff Johnson: That’s one of the things that I’m curious about. My wife has been to Israel and she did a tour all around that beautiful country. And I’ve got another close friend of mine who’s been there a dozen times or more. He keeps leading groups and stuff and he’s all over me: “Jeff, you’ve got to come to Israel.” He said your perception of the Bible is tremendously enhanced. He can’t even describe it. Is that true, Chuck? I mean, does it do something different when you go there?

Chuck Larson: Well, one, I feel like Jerusalem is still God’s city. And you can feel His presence there at night. And I think it’s transformative. Now, faith is just about believing. And you don’t need to see things to have faith. But it is really cool to see it and experience it. And the Catholic Church has done a remarkable job of building churches, starting in the third century, building churches over all the historic areas where Jesus fed the 5,000 or where Jesus met the disciples after the resurrection. There’s a little church there on the Sea of Galilee and the rocks where he grilled the fish to make breakfast for them—right there inside the church.

And if you think about it, you know, these churches were all built about 300 years after the resurrection. We know where all of our revolutionary battle sites are. And so the early Christians would go and worship or have church essentially at these various sites. And there’s, as an example, there was a woman who was writing essentially a tourist book in the third century and she went and documented many of these places where the Christians would go worship. And so, I feel very, very good about the locations.

Jeff Johnson: That’s really interesting. I’m curious—I apologize for jumping around a little bit—but I want to get back to Saudi Arabia. What is your connection to Saudi Arabia?

Chuck Larson: So I lived there for two years when I was a young man and a very good friend of ours—he was a captain in the Saudi army at the time. He went on to become the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan a little bit before 2001 and then in Beirut, Lebanon. And he’s a very, very good friend. And so, and then we represented the Royal Saudi embassy for about five years as well. And just last February, we took the delegation of six pastors over to the kingdom, which is great. The Saudis are a beautiful people and they want to learn more. And so they welcome this delegation of pastors and they paid for all of them to come over because they believe in bringing people together, which is beautiful.

Jeff Johnson: Does it take courage to mash together the Muslim faith and the Christian faith?

Chuck Larson: You know, because we walk in love. And we walk in love and we tell the story of Jesus. And I, you know what, if you’re a Muslim, fine. I’ve got a Bible study with a friend who’s Jewish. And he’s been going for a year and a half now, coming up on two years. And I thought, I’m not trying to convert you. You’re Jewish. Stay Jewish. I just want you to know Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Him. And I need you in the Jewish community talking about Jesus. And he started to get words of knowledge and he is evangelizing it.

And so I would say from a Muslim perspective, go to mosque. Great, but just know Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Him. In some countries, you know, a family—if you converted—you could be killed. And so we don’t want that. Jesus is on the move in the Middle East. There are so many Muslims where “the man in white” has come to them in their dreams. The man in white being Jesus. And I had a friend who prayed to Mary—that was her namesake—and she prayed to Mother Mary. And instead of Mary coming to her in her dream, Jesus came. So that’s how I address it. And I think there’s going to be opportunities for big changes in the Middle East. I think it’s coming. And it’s beautiful to be able to just show the love of Jesus Christ.

Jeff Johnson: Amen. Well, we’ve been lucky here on this podcast, as the listeners note, to interview several people of the Muslim faith as well as people of the Jewish faith and atheists and agnostics. The majority, I think, that I’ve interviewed have been of the Christian faith, but it’s always interesting to dive into this topic of courage with everybody, regardless of what faith they come from. You’ve got such a wealth of experience, Chuck. I’m curious to know how you define courage.

Chuck Larson: You know, for me right now in my faith walk, I’ve just learned—as we were talking about earlier with healings—sometimes having the guts to step out in love and ask somebody if you could pray over them, to speak life over them for them to be healed. In the beginning, that takes some courage. What if the healing doesn’t occur? And I’ll say that in all the people I’ve prayed over, I’ve only had maybe one or two who said no. And one person, I think he had a limp in his leg and he felt that he was a Christian and he felt that Apostle Paul had pains, and therefore this was his way of showing his faith in Christ by walking around in pain. And as you know, I don’t believe that’s the case. God is our Father. Our Father never wants anybody walking in pain or hurt. You’ve got a beautiful family, Jeff, and if one of your daughters was hurting…

Jeff Johnson: That’s right.

Chuck Larson: And that’s our Father, God.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. So your definition of courage then would be stepping out in faith.

Chuck Larson: Stepping out and talking about Jesus Christ in a loving way—always in a loving way.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, very much so. Who do you look up to as somebody that’s very courageous?

Chuck Larson: Well, you know, at this point in my life, I’m pretty much solely focused on Christ and still business. But there is a pastor by name of Curry Blake who teaches divine healing and he’s affiliated, I believe, with the Assemblies of God. And I have listened probably four or five times to his 19 videos on healing and then “The New Man”—how to transform your mind. Because our goal is to become Christ-like in all ways. And Dan Mohler would be another pastor I listen to a lot who helps folks develop their identity in Christ.

At the end of the day, when we develop our identity in Christ, a lot of the problems of the world fall by and a lot of the challenges that we face fall out. I work with a lot of men. And I see very, very often—almost 90% of the time—men don’t feel good about themselves. They don’t think they’re worthy of God’s love. And so I will coach through that about how to grow your identity in Christ and learn to love yourself. When I was first told, “Chuck, you need to learn to love yourself,” it seemed odd. It seemed prideful to me. And so I prayed and asked God and I get the word back that, you know, “I created you with perfection. Everything I do is with perfection. I want you to learn to love exactly who you are because I created you that way. You will not be able to shine my love until you learn to love yourself.” And it’s true because if we don’t love ourselves, we tend to be tearing down other people, picking them apart. When we love who we are in God, then we can shine his love and help lift other people up.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, that’s right. Where did you come to faith? Were you raised in a Christian home and you’ve had it from the jump or did it come to you later?

Chuck Larson: I was raised in a Christian home. I’ve always been a person of faith. I went through a horrible divorce and it refined me. It was like going through a refinery and it stripped out all of the attachments—attachments to money, attachments to art—scraped them off. It was like scraping barnacles off the side of a ship. It’s scary. But I came out clean and righteous in God’s eyes. And I’m so thankful. God surrounded me with like 14 people that were very prophetic. I’d get a phone call saying, “Hey, I’m supposed to share this word with you: You’re going to be okay. God wants you to know you’re going to be okay.” At very difficult times when I was very scared and worried.

And it was a very long process. I think it took three years, which is frightening. But at the end, my roots were so deep. This is the only way I’m going forward is committed to Christ. And as the Apostle Paul says, we don’t have a lot of time. The race is on and we have to help people learn to know with confidence that they are saved—they’re loved and they’re saved. And that’s what I spend my time doing is teaching that because I need them to get over the hump and know their salvation is secure because now we have to go out, stop worrying about ourselves, let’s go out and start working on others in love.

Jeff Johnson: How would you define you being courageous as you went through that process? I mean, divorce is a painful thing, Chuck. But when you talk about courage and being courageous, would you have said that you were courageous when you were going through that?

Chuck Larson: No, not at all. I was wallowing. I was scared. And I was very scared. And so no, there was zero courage there. But I learned to come to know Christ. He came to me in dreams a couple different times and taught me things. And so when it was all done, as I said before, the roots were so deep, there’s no shaking this tree. And now I’m in a period or a season where I’m coaching, I’m studying… and when you teach, you learn more. And I just want to go deeper and deeper and help as many people as possible.

Jeff Johnson: I think that’s fantastic. Okay. I want to go ahead and jump in then, Chuck, and ask you the question we ask here on the Courageous Crossroads Podcast. Chuck Larson: What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Chuck Larson: Well, my year in Iraq was a lot of fun and courageous. And so it was a great experience. And so I don’t know, Jeff. It was probably the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done. I was a JAG officer. And so I had a crew—we had about 4,000 troops between our engineer command and our aviation command.

Jeff Johnson: Wow.

Chuck Larson: And at night, we got our JAG members up and flying as door gunners and flew over 50 missions, which was incredible. I wrote a book about the men and women that received the Silver Star, Navy Cross, Medal of Honor, to help tell those stories. And there’s some incredible stories of sacrifice for fellow soldiers.

Jeff Johnson: How did you come to do a year in Iraq?

Chuck Larson: Well, I joined the Army Reserve back in 1987 and my unit was mobilized. And so we went to serve in 2004 to 2005. It was a great experience. You couldn’t go a day without meeting an Iraqi who had lost a family member or had a family member tortured by Saddam Hussein. It was horrific, horrific.

Jeff Johnson: So, was the biggest impact of that being gone from your family here in the States, or was it the people that you met over there, or just being immersed in the danger of all of it?

Chuck Larson: Being immersed in the danger. I mean, it was real. Rockets and mortars being walked across our housing area, roadside bombs. I had one bomb that went off just a millisecond right after our vehicle had passed over it. I had to stop and look—although I looked over to see if my driver was still there, he was there. I looked to see if his legs were there. Then I had to look down to see if I was there… I was there. And then I turned around and we had a Lieutenant Colonel in the back, and he was safe. And so we survived. But one of my JAG officers was blown up two different times. Another person three. And you’re familiar with the Maglite—the metal flashlights?

Jeff Johnson: Yeah.

Chuck Larson: His was shattered. The lens and the plastic was shattered. So you can imagine what that does to the body, the brain, whatnot.

Jeff Johnson: Those things are hardy, Chuck. Oh, stars. And you were there for 12 months?

Chuck Larson: 12 months, correct. Yep. A little on active duty… I think it was around 10 to 11 months total in country.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. What was the nature of your 50 missions—helicopter missions?

Chuck Larson: Sure. We were the Chinook—with the two propellers/props. It flies heavy cargo. And so we flew everything from Iraqi prisoners/terrorists to different prisons. We flew millions of dollars in cash for the rebuilding of Fallujah. But nightly, we were usually moving troops in different parts of the country, Navy SEALs. It was a great experience. I loved it.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Well, thank you for your service. And I can’t imagine how much courage it took for you to spend a year over there. How did that reshape your perception of what courage was, because you defined it for us as “stepping out in faith” just a second ago? Was it the same? Did you have the same feeling that you were doing something faithful, you were trusting God, and you were just putting one foot in front of the other? Was it different when you did your tour in Iraq?

Chuck Larson: My faith was strong back then, but not like it is today. I just didn’t have that relationship like I do today. So I didn’t have any kids at the time. It was a great opportunity to be courageous and, you know, spend a year in Iraq and do additional combat missions. But this side of the fence, with the deep relationship with Christ, is so much more. It’s the being able to help people, lift them up. Those are the greatest out of my entire career—helping somebody in love coming to know Christ, praying over them, getting a word for them. That’s the greatest reward ever. No question.

Jeff Johnson: I’m always self-effacing on this podcast and I say—I shouldn’t say—because we know as Christians words have power, so forgive me Lord—but I don’t know that I’m the best interviewer in the history of the world. So I give myself great license to ask maybe stupid questions, but I am curious. Given the equipping that you have now with courage—you know, that stepping out in faith—if you were to go back and do that one year in Iraq again, would it be a different experience for you? Would you carry yourself differently? Would you perceive things differently?

Chuck Larson: I think so without doubt. Because today, if you have a conversation with me, Jesus is going to come up in the conversation. I’ve witnessed some beautiful miracles and I love to tell about those miracles, evangelize about them. I want people to know how God moves in their lives. So when they have something unusual that occurs, they think, “That was a wild coincidence.” No, it wasn’t. It was God. That’s how he moves. And so yes, I would have been talking a lot more about Jesus. And our Iraqi friends—I would have had the chance to talk to them about Jesus as well. I would have stepped out more and prayed over them for healing or if they have a family member that’s sick. Now, the medicine is not what it is here in the United States in Iraq. And so there would have been a lot of opportunities.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Well, thanks for sharing about that experience in Iraq. Where do you find yourself having opportunities to practice courage? Do you find yourself being courageous in the marketplace now?

Chuck Larson: I do. God has blessed our business and we’ve been very, very blessed. My business partner, as I said, is a strong Christian as well. And I think we’re generous with our success… we walk in faith and donate regularly to help… God just fills it right back up. It’s His money. He fills it right back up. And so it’s beautiful to watch. And I tell this not from—what’s that area of faith where people preaching, you know, if you want to become financially successful…

Jeff Johnson: Prosperity gospel kind of stuff.

Chuck Larson: Yeah. And just whatever you’re doing, do it in love. Don’t be doing it to make money. We’re here for such a short period of time and then we get to go be with the Father. Love and helping other people—God will take care of you. No question. But it takes courage. “Okay, I’m going to open up my pocketbook, I don’t have much left, and I’m going to give it to help somebody.” That takes courage.

Jeff Johnson: I’ve heard you mention that the Apostle Paul talked about time is short and that we don’t have much time. I want you to expand on that a little bit more because that really touches me, Chuck. I have such respect for you with the way that you carry yourself with your faith. I mean, it’s not supposed to be hidden; it’s supposed to be “let your light shine” as the Word says. And you definitely do that. My best friend Roy passed away right before his 51st birthday years ago… he was such a man of faith. And I remember in his hospital bed when he was drying up and about ready to be “promoted”—let me say it that way—he said to me, “Jeff, we don’t have much time.” And he said it with this longing in his eyes, you know, that there’s a lot of work to do. Talk about that from a Christian perspective, Chuck, because that really touches me when you say that.

Chuck Larson: Sadly, we don’t realize how little time we have until we’re in our 50s. It seems like I’m seven. And so the race is on. My goal with coaching and helping men learn to love themselves—know they’re loved by the Father, they’re saved… let’s move out and begin to help other people. And I believe very strongly in the multiplier effect. And so as we coach, my ultimate goal is to whatever your blessings are, if you are a coach yourself, to getting up, moving and taking over and growing a new ministry. And that’s how we multiply and hopefully have a list of lives saved when we’re done.

There’s a missionary by the name of Tom Stamman, who we should have on your show sometime. He is really prophetic. About 340 days out of the year, he’s out meeting with small groups of Christians around the country. He has an orphanage with a hundred kids… because he’s just constantly praying over people, God’s blessed him with visions and words. And I remember about five years ago he prayed over me and he told me the most wonderful things about myself. And he said, “You know, you’re going to have a list like Schindler’s list of lives that you have saved.” And so that motivates me. That motivates me in a massive way. Because when I get to heaven, I want it to be like the Love Boat where there’s this boat of people who are like, “Yes! Right when you spoke to me, you gave me a word and you lifted me up, and here I am now.” That’s the vision I want. That’s the dream: to just save, save, save. And you’re doing the same thing with your podcast and the way you take care of your business.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, thank you for saying that, Chuck. What do you think God sent you here for? What’s the special gift, the special talent, the special touch that He gave you? Again, it’s another bold question. I feel comfortable asking you that, though, Chuck. I want to know.

Chuck Larson: Well, I mean, I spent 14 years in the Iowa legislature. I’m an evangelist. And so I know right now I’m in kind of an equipping period where I’m learning, teaching, and learning. And I hope to go back to the Middle East. Some of the words that I’ve received is to the Middle East to help people. And I think ultimately we’ll shuttle back and forth and just walk in love—nothing threatening—walk in love, help lift people up. I know the area well. I love it.

I need to connect with Brandon as well; I believe there’s something there. My friend who was the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan—he just published a book about the Saudi-Pakistan relationship. He’s very close with the Prime Minister. And I believe in the case of Pakistan where they have indentured servitude for the Christian brick makers, there’s got to be a way to stop it permanently. That’s something I’m very aware of. Because over in India, it’s the Christians and the Muslims that are the brick makers there. And so it’s not just a Pakistan issue. We need to fix it in Pakistan, but then my Muslim brothers and sisters, we need to go work together in India to make it illegal there.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, and the important thing is paying attention to where God leads you, which is exactly what you’re talking about. It’s interesting you mentioned Brandon. Keep him in your prayers. We’ve got the team over in Pakistan right now doing another mission to relieve some people from slavery over there. So, yeah. Okay, Chuck. Well, this has been fantastic. It’s been interesting to get to know a little bit more about you. And you’ve got such a wide breadth of experience. How would you encourage people that are feeling a little bit timid or feeling like their jaws are wired shut a little bit, and maybe they should be a little bit more bold with their faith or step out in courage? How would you encourage those folks?

Chuck Larson: I will—I’ll make a promise to you. Okay? You step out in faith, the Holy Spirit will be speaking through you. I’ve never been embarrassed, I’ve never been shunned when I’ve stepped out. At different times, I’ve stepped out with clients—which most people would say business and church are separate. But if it’s done in love, then everybody’s fine. And I’m not the type that pressures; I may have a good story. But just do everything in love with the right intentions, the right heart. And I know God will take care of you.

I can remember sometimes I was really surprised I stepped out with a very, very large client. He was in the energy business and his wife’s mother had breast cancer. And we had never talked anything other than oil. And I asked him, “How was your Christmas?” And he said, “It was okay. You know, my wife was not here. She had to go back to Thailand because her mom has breast cancer.” And I said, “You know, I know we’re here to talk about oil, but I’d like to take a moment and just tell you about Jesus and some of the healings I’ve witnessed. And if it makes sense, we could set up a Zoom call or there’s people in Texas I know they could come pray over your mother-in-law for healing and get rid of that cancer.” And I was like—that took courage. And he said, “You know, my father-in-law is a Presbyterian pastor in Thailand, and I think this would really resonate with them.” And so God’s got this divine way of bringing us together. And we all think it’s a coincidence and it’s not. It’s by design. So step out in love. You don’t have to be the guy standing on a soapbox yelling over everybody on the street. In love, tell them about Jesus Christ.

I also encourage people… I have to get into my Bible every day, just a little bit. One time in prayer, God said to me, “Come every day and I’ll knock the dust off your sandals.” And if I go two or three days without being—not just in the book, I’m in the book every day—but just silent prayer, listening, conversations… the world starts to come around me. Those vines, those thistles, they just start to choke. And then I start to second-guess myself. And it’s so easy: just take a little bit of time, get into the book, get into a little prayer, learn to know the Shepherd’s voice. People will wrestle—I wrestled for many years. “Is that my head talking to me or is that God?” Finally, I said, “God, I’m going to throw in the towel and go with it.” And then the downloads just start coming.

So there’s a great guy I mentioned to you, Mark Holloway on Instagram from New Zealand. I would encourage everybody to hunt him down. He’s a best-selling author. He will coach you on how to have full conversations with God—full sentences, full paragraphs—and ask those questions and get real answers back that you were not expecting.

Jeff Johnson: It’s another reason why I respect you, Chuck. I hate to slobber on you so much, but you’ve stayed humble enough, even with your vast experience and all the things that you’ve been through in your life. You’ve stayed humble enough to remain teachable. I always say every time I talk to you, I hear you talking about another book you read or some podcast you listen to or somebody that inspired you to do something… being like a sponge. I think that’s a very honorable, very good quality. So if people wanted to get a hold of you to ask questions… how could they do that?

Chuck Larson: Shoot me an email or text me. My email address is CLarson@LS2group.com. Or my mobile number is 319-533-1451. We’ve got Bible studies and meetings every day of the week. We’ve got a great group at St. Francis as well. And so I’ll probably try to arm-wrestle you into a Bible study.

Jeff Johnson: That’s wonderful. Very generous of you, Chuck. Thank you so much. And we’ll make sure that we include that in the show notes to everybody that’s listening. Chuck Larson, stepping out in faith and a man of great courage. Thank you so much for being with us today, Chuck.

Chuck Larson: Thank you, Jeff. God bless.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us today on Courageous. If you’d like to hear more about the work and ministry being done at Crossroads Apologetics, please visit our home on the web at crossroadsapologetics.org. Would you or someone you know like to be featured on Courageous? Send us an email at info@crossroadsapologetics.org telling us about the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.