DECATUR, Ga.—Less than 20 years after the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began endorsing chaplains and pastoral counselors, CBF named its 1,000th endorsed person—Erin Lysse, a chaplaincy resident at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Erin Lysse was named the 1,000th chaplain/pastoral counselor endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. (CBF Photo)“Being a chaplain gives me the opportunity to sit with people in some of the worst times they might experience in life. I meet folks who are experiencing crises that change their lives forever,” Lysse said. “CBF is endorsing me as the 1,000th endorsee, and I feel a connection to an important legacy of ministry, and my hope is to continue that legacy.”
CBF chaplains and pastoral counselors serve in a variety of contexts, including medical centers, correctional institutions, hospice organizations, police and fire and rescue departments, colleges and universities, businesses, retirement communities, pastoral counseling centers, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Civil Air Patrol and in each branch of the U.S. armed forces, as well as numerous other specialized settings.
CBF declared itself a “religious endorsing body” and formed the CBF Council on Endorsement in 1997. The following year, the group endorsed its first group of three chaplains and a pastoral counselor—Paula Peek, a hospice chaplain in Kentucky; Tim Madison, a hospital chaplain in Texas; Jim Pruett, a pastoral counselor in South Carolina; and Capt. Jim Harwood, a U.S. Navy chaplain.
Within four years, CBF endorsed more than 100 individuals and in 2001 selected long-time chaplain George Pickle as its first full-time endorser. During Pickle’s 12 years as endorser, the number of endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors grew from 138 to 715. After Pickle’s retirement in 2013, U.S. Navy Chaplain Capt. Gerry Hutchinson was selected to succeed him as endorser.
Hutchinson shared his excitement to celebrate the milestone 1,000th endorsement and emphasized the privilege he feels to support Christians living out a call to minister in specialized settings.
“George Pickle laid a strong foundation for the ministry of chaplains and pastoral counselors with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,” Hutchinson said. “It is my great privilege to carry the torch onward. I am abundantly grateful that God continues to call, gift and guide women and men to CBF whose passion is kingdom work through chaplaincy and pastoral counseling.”
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