This review needed a rewrite, because the previous version described a book that does not exist. It presented School Chaplain: A Call to Faith, Family and Freedom as a family discipleship guide for fathers, complete with invented anecdotes about bedtime conversations. That is not what this book is.
It is an advocacy book. Rocky J. Malloy, a former missionary and military officer, is making a case for putting volunteer chaplains into public schools, and recruiting readers to become them.
What the book is arguing
Malloy’s position is that public schools are in a crisis of violence, despair, and self-harm, that students need adults present who can speak to them spiritually, and that chaplains can legally serve in that role. The book covers the legal ground he says supports this, and lays out a pathway for a reader to get certified and placed.
Malloy founded the National School Chaplain Association, which is the body that does that certifying. That is worth stating plainly and it is not stated on the cover. The book makes a case, and the organization the author founded is the route the book points you toward. That does not make the argument wrong. It does mean you are reading a book with a destination.
What you should know before ordering
This is a live political fight, not a settled matter. School chaplaincy has been the subject of state legislation, most visibly in Texas in 2023, and it is contested by people on both sides who care about religious liberty. Supporters see it as restoring access. Opponents, including some Christians, worry about untrained volunteers in counseling roles and about what happens when chaplains of every faith claim the same access.
Malloy argues one side of that. He argues it well and he has done the work. But a reader should not come away thinking this is a description of consensus, and the previous version of this review presented it as if it were.
The book also carries some large figures about certified chaplains already serving in schools. Those numbers come from the movement’s own reporting and I could not independently verify them. Treat them as claims, not as established facts.
Finally, note that this post is filed under Family. That is the wrong category. It is not a parenting or family discipleship book. It belongs with community or civic engagement material.
Who this is actually for
A man who is already interested in school chaplaincy and wants the case for it and the practical path into it. Someone weighing whether to volunteer in his local district. A reader who wants to understand a movement that is showing up in state legislatures.
It is not a book about leading your own family, and buying it for that will disappoint you. If your interest is discipling your own children, almost anything else in our Family section is a better use of the money.
If you are considering certification, read the book and then talk to your own pastor and to your district before committing to anything, including a fee.