May 12, 2003
BGCT office has endorsed 100 chaplains
___By John Hall
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--The Baptist General Convention chaplaincy relations office has endorsed 100 chaplains nationwide, including those serving in military, health-care, restorative justice, business and pastoral counseling roles.
___"It is not unusual for a group to take one or two years before endorsing," explained office director Bobby Smith. "We have been extremely blessed by God by having 100 people."
___Although the BGCT had not planned to endorse so many chaplains so quickly, Smith and his staff stepped up efforts to meet national endorsement standards in response to chaplains' concerns.
___A large number of chaplains said they could not find an endorsing body that represented them theologically or practically and encouraged the BGCT to speed up its efforts to help them, Smith reported.
___However, the BGCT chaplaincy program will be more than an endorsing body, said Joe Perez, a member of the BGCT chaplain endorsement board and director of pastoral services at Valley Baptist Health System. He envisions a network of chaplains supporting and helping each other in their work around the nation.
___As funds for institutions become stretched, chaplains are having more difficulty finding funds for vocational education, Perez noted. That's one way the BGCT might aid chaplains by offering continuing education.
___"This is not just a paper-pushing process," Perez said. "We're trying to be responsive to the needs of chaplains, which are different from the needs of pastors."
___The new BGCT office continues laying the foundation for that supportive chaplaincy program, Smith said. The department held its first retreat last winter to hear the needs of chaplains across Texas.
___The retreat also served as a networking forum to help chaplains build a support group and avoid isolation, which may damage their ministry, Smith said.
___Smith also trains volunteer chaplains. More than 3,000 people have completed the 42-hour program, which includes six months of supervised ministry.
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