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Posted on 07/28/2012 6:28:26 AM PDT by madprof98
NEW YORK — A long-serving Air Force chaplain has left the Southern Baptist Convention after the conservative denomination publicly questioned his attendance at a same-sex civil union ceremony at his base in New Jersey.
The chaplain, Col. Timothy Wagoner, is remaining on active duty and has affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which holds more moderate views on homosexuality and some other issues than the Southern Baptists.
"I find very little that is more important and nothing that is more exhilarating than providing for the religious freedoms and spiritual care of all service members and their families — and will joyfully continue to do so," Wagoner said Friday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Wagoner — the senior chaplain at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst — had made clear he would not officiate at such ceremonies, which the Southern Baptists do not condone.
However, Wagoner had told The AP — in an interview a few days after the ceremony — that he decided to attend as a show of support for the base community, for Umali, and for the Evangelical Lutheran chaplain, Col. Kay Reeb, who presided over it.
"I wouldn't miss it," Wagoner said, describing the ceremony as beautiful.
Professor David Key, director of Baptist Studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, predicted that Wagoner's departure from the Southern Baptists might be the first of many as their chaplains try to reconcile conflicting loyalties.
"The SBC has been defined by its anti-gay stance," Key said. "They now find themselves not just out of synch with growing segments of society but also out of synch with the U.S. military." . . . "Showing affirmation for gay and lesbian soldiers is what the military wants, and exactly what the SBC doesn't want. At the moment, it's irreconcilable."
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Colonels make pretty good pay. He chose mammon over God.
“The SBC has been defined by its anti-gay stance,” Key said. “They now find themselves not just out of synch with growing segments of society but also out of synch with the U.S. military.” . . . “Showing affirmation for gay and lesbian soldiers is what the military wants, and exactly what the SBC doesn’t want. At the moment, it’s irreconcilable.”
As a member of a church in the SBC, let me say this:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
-— Jesus Christ
I liked this:
“It quoted Kevin Ezell, president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, as saying, “When it comes to what our chaplains believe and practice, we do ask and we do expect them to tell.”
“We only want to endorse chaplains who can support Baptist doctrine and belief without reservation,” Ezell said. “If an SBC chaplain concludes he cannot conduct his ministry in harmony with SBC beliefs and doctrine, then it is best to part ways.”
That moves me to puke.
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Bingo! After all, he's a Jimmy Carter Baptist.
They sure are, aren't they.
Too bad he still thinks he is a Christian and competent to lead from the pulpit. Having rejected Scripture concerning
“marriage” and “Sodomy” I see no reason to consider him a follower of Jesus Christ.
Bye......don’t let the door, or anything else, hit you in the ass on the way out.
He should have been fired by the S. Baptists; his endorsement should have been pulled.
He violated his very reason for being in the military as a southern baptist chaplain....to be a fully representative ordained minister of that denomination.
The S. Baptists should NOT have permitted him to reaffiliate, and the AF would have had to violate regulation to keep him on active duty with a denominational change...which is so transparently insincere, by the way.
How long do you think God will continue to be mocked? We’re seeing the early ramifications now, if we learn to take the blinders off.
This raises a question. Now that the Anglicans (Anglican Church in North America) are separate from the Episcopalians, I wonder if any of the US military chaplains are now officially Anglican?
It creates an interesting situation, in that to break off from the Episcopal church, many individual churches became “Missionary churches” to African Anglican provinces.
His endorsement was pulled. A liberal group then gave him an endorsement. He is no longer an SBC chaplain.
Actually, it looks like he quit to avoid having his endorsement pulled. The SBC made it clear he couldn’t remain as an SBC chaplain.
New rules in the system as I left stated that such a plan was not permitted. Granted, I was in the Army, but I think it was DOD and not just DA.
They said that one could not have an endorsement pulled and remain on active duty, grab an endorsement-of-convenience, and go on in a seamless career.
The ONLY way for that to happen was for the losing denomination to accept the transfer. In other words, if they were yanking your endorsement for cause, then it was a demonstration of bad faith on the part of the military to undercut that denomination’s decision about their standards for their chaplains.
Therefore, they insisted that any seamless continuation on active duty could only be with the acceptance of the losing denomination. After all, that chaplain went to bird colonel as a southern baptist, and had represented himself as such, and that denomination had invested a great deal in him when it could have been advocating others who were more in keeping with their views.
The job of a chaplain is to be that denomination’s representative. There is no such thing as a government religion.
This could be out of date, but anything in the military can be waived by someone, and I’m sure Obama himself would authorize it to show his support for gays, if needed:
26 AR 165–1 • 3 December 2009
8–9. Loss/change of ecclesiastical endorsement
a. All Chaplains are required to have on file with OCCH an Ecclesiastical Endorsement (DD Form 2088) submitted
for them by an AFCB Listed Endorsing Agent. If an Endorsing Agent withdraws a Chaplain’s ecclesiastical endorse-ment, then the officer must immediately cease from all religious activities, that is, performance of rites, ceremonies,
services, pastoral counseling, and so forth. Under no circumstances will the Chaplain perform any Chaplain functions without a valid ecclesiastical endorsement.
b. A withdrawal of ecclesiastical endorsement is official when a Chaplain’s Endorsing Agent notifies the CCH of
the loss of endorsement in writing. In accordance with DODI 1304.28 and AR 600–8–24, the CCH will then notify the
Chaplain of the loss of endorsement and offer the following 4 options:
(1) Seek a new ecclesiastical endorsement from an AFCB Listed Endorsing Agent. If another ecclesiastical endorse-ment is not obtained, the Chaplain will undergo involuntary separation in accordance with AR 600–8–24 or AR
135–175.
(2) Submit a voluntary retirement request, if eligible.
(3) Submit an unqualified resignation request. If the Chaplain has not fulfilled their MSO, then the request is
forwarded to the ASA(M&RA) for waiver approval.
(4) Request a branch transfer. If a Chaplain is granted an appointment in another branch, the officer will not wear
the Chaplain branch insignia or be assigned to a Chaplain position.
c. Chaplains seeking a change in ecclesiastical endorsement must submit a request to OCCH, DACH–1 and coordinate the action with both current and prospective Endorsing Agents to avoid a loss of endorsement. As the approving authority, the CCH may convene a special advisory board to review the circumstances surrounding a Chaplain’s request for a change in ecclesiastical endorsement.
Thanks, Mr Rogers, the bold and underlined section above is the part to which I made reference.
The losing endorser CAN block it. It must be coordinated.
Given that, my suspicion is that the SBC acquiesced, so it's on them. That Colonel had more than enough time to retire handsomely AND enable the SBC to demonstrate that it stood behind its principles.
The loss of an endorsement does not mean the Chaplain is forced out. If it is lost, then he can perform no religious service until someone else provides him with an endorsement:
“In accordance with DODI 1304.28 and AR 600–8–24, the CCH will then notify the Chaplain of the loss of endorsement and offer the following 4 options:
(1) Seek a new ecclesiastical endorsement from an AFCB Listed Endorsing Agent...”
Cooperation of the losing endorser seems to be required only to prevent a break in religious duty - as I read it.
In any case, I have no doubt the modern military could and would have gotten a waiver from whatever level required - including the President - if needed to prevent a brave, loving chaplain from being punished by the evil homophobic slave-loving woman-oppressing SBC...
:>(
The America I loved and served no longer exists. It gives waivers to allow homosexuals to march IN UNIFORM in gay parades. And lets be real - Romney will NOT change this. He fully supports gay activists, even tho as a Mormon he ought to be repulsed by them.
I think God is making manifest what lies in the heart of America, and then He will judge us for it - unless we repent. But far too many congregations and denominations never use the word repent any more. I see no sign that America is willing to repent, or even understands the concept.
And without repentance, there is only judgment to look forward to...
Historical FYI only...
As I read it, those are 4 sub-paragraphs under b. Paragraph c is unique and any of the 4 sub-paragraphs pursued must be reconciled with paragraph c.
IOW, there is no seeking alternate endorsement that hasn’t first satisfied paragraph c.
The exception to that is (4) which is the branch transfer. However, the chaplain must qualify for a branch transfer. And, to go from Chaplain to infantry or Chaplain to psychologist must itself receive the acceptance of the gaining branch. They would not accept a branch transfer of anyone who was not qualified for their branch. And in most cases, they would be far less likely to accept a bird colonel, even if there were qualification, for he would supplant someone and move immediately into a high leadership level within that branch.
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