HMB Chaplains Commission does not endorse CBF candidates

                                                                                                                                                              Vol. VIII, No. 8, September 1995

The Home Mission Board Chaplains Commission has not and will not endorse any Cooperative Baptist Fellowship chaplaincy candidates, according to HMB President Larry Lewis. Lewis was responding to news media reports from the recent annual meeting of the CBF in Fort Worth, Texas, where an official said CBF chaplaincy candidates have been endorsed by the HMB.

"The Chaplains Commission endorses persons who are active members of cooperating Southern Baptist churches and meet the qualifications for endorsement. We do not endorse chaplains for the CBF or any other paradenominational group," Lewis told Baptist Press.

News media reported Ed Beddingfield, CBF Coordinating Council member from Sylva, NC, said the HMB has not turned down any CBF chaplaincy candidates and has "bent over backwards" to help. Lewis said that implies "we are working with the CBF to endorse chaplains. That is not true. The Home Mission Board has no working relationship with the CBF on this or any other issue."

"Although we do not question chaplain candidates about their church's support of the CBF, we do ensure that every candidate is an active member of a church that supports the Cooperative Program. Candidates, many of whom are laymen, must also give testimony of their salvation experience and affirm traditional Baptist doctrinal beliefs," Lewis said.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a four-year old organization of moderate Southern Baptists who are critical of SBC leadership. [BP)