The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship reached a milestone March 5 with its endorsement of the 1,000th person serving in ministry as a chaplain or pastoral counselor.
Erin Lysse became the 1,000 chaplain endorsed by the CBF. (Photo/CBF)
CBF leaders announced April 12 that with the endorsement of Erin Lysse, a second-year chaplaincy resident at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., the 1,800-church Fellowship had recorded its 1,000th endorsee.
The CBF, which celebrates its 25th anniversary June 20-24 in Greensboro, N.C., formed its council on endorsement in 1997 after voting the year before not to “become a separate convention” from the Southern Baptist Convention.
The 1996 vote had several implications, including concern that lacking a more formal organization CBF might not be recognized by the military, hospitals and other entities as having authority to endorse chaplains. Until then most CBF clergy were endorsed through the Home Mission Board of the SBC — now known as the North American Mission Board — but there were no guarantees at the time that it would remain an option for long.
Within four years CBF had endorsed more than 100 chaplains and pastoral counselors. Long-time chaplain George Pickle was named the Fellowship’s first full-time endorser in 2001. Pickle retired in 2013 and was replaced by U.S. Navy Chaplain Capt. Gerry Hutchinson.