Fire Chief Teaches Us How to Walk Through the Fire

FIERY TRIAL    

From his years of interaction with other Christian men, Chief Cochran knew that many of them struggled with guilt and shame over past failings, which made them feel they couldn’t fully become Godly men. In 2013, he wrote and self-published a book on Christian manhood in hopes of encouraging men in their walks with God. “Though I titled my book Who Told You That You Were Naked?, it wasn’t about sex,” he explains. “In fact, that topic occupied on only a handful of the book’s 162 pages. I addressed the issue briefly from a biblical perspective, but mostly I explored what it looked like for men to understand and live in the freedom God offers through a relationship with Jesus.”  

Before publishing the book, the Chief contacted Atlanta’s ethics officer, asking if there would be any problem with his writing a faith-based book on his own time, and mentioning in the bio that he was the Atlanta fire chief. She told him there would be no problem with it, as long as the book wasn’t about the city’s government or the fire department. The officer even asked for a copy when it came out. He also gave copies to two Christian city council members, and the mayor at the time, Kasim Reed, whom he understood to be a man of faith.  

A year later, he was told by a friend at City Hall that a council member had received a copy of his book and found it offensive. A couple more warning calls from people in the city’s administration made it clear that a storm was brewing over his book. The next week, Chief Cochran was called to a meeting with the city’s human resources director, the mayor’s chief of staff, and a city attorney, and the trouble began.  

“They told me parts of the book were ‘problematic’: the fact that I identified myself as the fire chief of Atlanta, that I wrote about having the responsibility to care for and cultivate the fire department ‘to the glory of God,’ and that the parts where I quoted the Bible’s teaching on human sexuality were offensive to the LGBT community,” he says.

He was immediately suspended for 30 days, told not to speak to the media about the matter, and at the end of the suspension, he was fired.

THE BATTLE HEATS UP 

Throughout the suspension, Chief Cochran received many supportive emails and letters, as well as the personal prayer support from a variety of unexpected sources, including Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-Fil-A, Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention.  

He believed his firing was more than an unfair personal attack on him, but a societal injustice that merited righting. He says there are three reasons:

“First, my reputation had been impugned. For all that I had done to ensure there was a place for everyone in the fire department, I had been characterized as a bigot and a hatemonger. That was simply untrue,” he states. But there was another reputation which concerned him more. “It was because I knew what was really at stake was not my reputation but Jesus’. Those who criticize Christians for holding to biblical values are really criticizing the One they follow.”  

Thirdly, there was the financial impact of losing his career – and perhaps, his future earning potential in light of the lies which had been spread about him. He met with lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom, who began to build a case to vindicate him. Though the process was slow and arduous, it proved worthwhile. 

Over the course of a four-year legal battle with the City of Atlanta, which often involved false, painful accusations, unkind comments from erstwhile friends, and even a couple death threats, Chief Cochran says he was able to maintain joy and peace. He knew the Lord had higher purposes for it all and placed his trust in Him.  

Finally, in December 2017, the Chief was fully vindicated. A judge deemed his firing unconstitutional, as a violation of his First Amendment right to hold and express his religious beliefs. The city offered Chief Cochran a very low financial settlement, but the lawyers of the Alliance Defending Freedom kept negotiating. A year later, the Chief was awarded a $1.2 million settlement.  

Though exonerated and fairly recompensed, Cochran faced yet another hurdle. “Being Black in America gives you lots of opportunities to practice forgiveness,” Cochran says. “That has certainly been my experience, from the prejudice I first became aware of at Linwood Junior High to the racism I faced upon joining the Shreveport Fire Department. I believe that choosing to let go of grievances and not hold on to hurts kept my heart soft from my formative years on and made it easier for me to hear God.”  

While acknowledging the pain, Cochran says he holds no unforgiveness in his heart toward those who treated him so poorly and unfairly.  

HOW TO VIEW RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

“Religious Liberty is at risk,” Chief Cochran warns. “My story is one of many government attacks on people for openly living out their faith. True religious liberty,” he points out, “is good for everyone – not Christians only.”  He says that’s because religious liberty strengthens society for all people, regardless of the tenets of one’s faith.  

Starting with his suspension, the Chief was asked to speak at many churches, and used the occasions not simply to tell his story, but to share how rightly to respond to religious persecution. In a message title, “The Blessings of Suffering,” he outlined five truths for Christians to cling to in persecution:

1.     “God always prepares His sons and daughters for suffering – always.  We would not be going through the situation unless God had determined that we were prepared for it, through all that had happened in our lives up to that point.”

2.    “There are worldly consequences for standing on biblical truth and standing for Christ.  That’s an unavoidable reality; there is a price to pay for following Jesus in a world that does not recognize Him.”

3.    “There are Kingdom benefits for standing on biblical truth and standing for Christ—and these Kingdom benefits are always greater than worldly consequences.  We can never give up more than Jesus promised to restore to us.”

4.    “There are two types of suffering – that which is God-allowed, and that which we bring on ourselves through our poor choices, such as I had suffered in the past – all can bring glory to God.  He is always glorified when His sons and daughters endure suffering.”  

5.    “The life of blessing for those who have the courage and faith to stand for God in the face of suffering will go to a level that is exceedingly, abundantly above all that they could ask or think.”