October 21, 2002
Chaplains find home with convention
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--The Baptist General Convention of Texas has endorsed its first 42 chaplains and pastoral counselors and started developing an applicant-approval process.
___At its initial meeting in Dallas this fall, the nine-member endorsement board unanimously voted to grant transfer of endorsement to 39 chaplains and three pastoral counselors who had been endorsed by other Baptist entities.
___The 42 pastoral caregivers--36 male and six female--included 41 previously endorsed by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board and one who had been endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___NAMB requires new chaplains, or chaplains needing endorsement for a new service assignment, to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. NAMB also denies endorsement to ordained women chaplains.
The first group of 42 pastoral caregivers endorsed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas included 39 chaplains and three pastoral counselors.
___Thirty-one of the BGCT-endorsed pastoral caregivers are Texas Baptists, and 11 serve outside the state, including five Texans in the military chaplaincy.
___The 39 chaplains include 22 in health care, 10 military, six in restorative justice and one serving in business and industry.
___The board agreed to a streamlined process for transfer of endorsement and for reaffirmation of previous endorsement--a step required when a pastoral caregiver moves from one assignment to another.
___The endorsement board, chaired by Joe Perez of Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, also began establishing guidelines for screening applicants who have not been through the endorsement process with another recognized chaplain-endorsing agency.
___At the time the board met, the BGCT chaplaincy relations office already had received 22 requests for endorsement by individuals not previously endorsed by any other Baptist entity.
___State and federal institutions such as prisons and the military--as well as many hospitals and other organizations--require chaplains to be endorsed by an officially recognized endorsing organization.
___This summer, the U.S. Armed Forces Chaplains Board approved the BGCT as an authorized endorsement agency. The Veterans Administration, Federal Bureau of Prisons and American Association of Pastoral Counselors have done the same.
___At its first meeting, the endorsement board agreed that its purpose--to be carried out through the BGCT chaplaincy relations office--would be to "establish a framework for a supportive community of called pastoral caregivers that will provide a caring ministry to empower its membership through endorsement, recognition and mutual accountability towards the fulfillment of the Great Commission."
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