By Marv Knox
Gerry Hutchinson, a stalwart chaplain and chaplaincy leader in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship across two decades, is the latest recipient of the highest honor CBF presents to chaplains and pastoral counselors.
Hutchinson served 26 years as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Then he became manager of CBF’s Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministries from 2014 to 2020. He received the Carl Hart Award for Excellence in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Ministry during the Fellowship’s 2023 General Assembly in Atlanta, June 28-30.
Ironically, Hutchinson initially resisted becoming a chaplain. In the 1980s, he served New River Baptist Association in Jacksonville, N.C., near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. A friend repeatedly suggested Hutchinson join him as a Navy Reserve chaplain, and Hutchinson repeatedly said no.
Eventually, “it just clicked,” he recalled. “I came home and said to my wife, ‘I’m going to think about joining the Navy Reserve as a chaplain,’ which I did, and the rest is history.”
That history included seeing his life come full circle. “Having lived in a Marine Corps town, I spent the majority of my time in the Navy serving with the Marines because the Navy provides chaplains for the Marine Corps,” he explained. “So, to know that I was serving Marines was especially satisfying. I even went back to Camp Lejeune a couple of times on different sets of orders.”
Although slow on the uptake, Hutchinson fully embraced chaplaincy. Citing former Chaplain of the Marine Corps Alan Baker, he called chaplaincy “ministry in motion.”
“We send chaplains out, and they draw people in,” he said. “Especially in military chaplaincy, there’s no more incarnational ministry. … You live with these people. You work with them, you exercise, you eat, you sleep. And they see you and you see them at their best and worst, and you get to be a minister among them. That’s a pretty special opportunity.”
It’s even more than special, he added. Chaplains “are with people in times of great joy and great challenge. And to share those holy moments — to be with people at times that they’re vulnerable and/or experiencing great trauma — is a sacred responsibility. It’s very humbling and yet can be very satisfying when you know you have been there to be an agent of healing or … someone who can walk with them, so they don’t walk alone during a difficult time.”
When Hutchinson shifted from serving as a chaplain himself to endorsing chaplains and pastoral counselors for CBF, he expanded his ministry along an arc he followed for decades.
“Endorsement is an affirmation by one’s faith group or one’s denomination that you are a bona fide minister, fully qualified and in good standing with your faith group,” he said. Endorsement provides the gateway to ministry with military, medical, government, business and other employers, and Hutchinson was their guide.
“The endorser is the first person an enquirer for endorsement has contact with,” he said. “I was more than willing to answer questions about what our process was like and what they would have to do to become endorsed. But I also wanted to learn from them: ‘Are you related to CBF? Are you connected in a relational way, either through your church or having attended or graduated from a partner seminary?’ We want to know that our endorsees reflect the theological values and the relational value that CBF puts a premium on.”
During Hutchinson’s tenure, CBF endorsed more than 200 chaplains and pastoral counselors, including its 1,000th endorsement in 2016. He codified the ministry’s goals and processes, and he expanded its engagement with chaplains and pastoral counselors. He broadened access to training opportunities and relationship-building events. And he expanded the profile of chaplaincy and pastoral care among Fellowship Baptists.
“I can think of no better chaplain than Gerry Hutchinson to receive the Carl Hart Award,” said Renée Owen, Hutchinson’s successor as CBF’s chaplaincy and pastoral counseling director. “Gerry’s tenure as our CBF endorser and his chaplaincy experience caring for sailors and their families are just two of the ways that Gerry has exemplified the essence of this award — offering compassionate presence and excellence in the provision of spiritual care, serving not only as a chaplain, but also as an advocate for chaplains.”
Owen noted she is among the multitude who have experienced Hutchinson’s ministry. “As a CBF-endorsed chaplain, I have always felt extremely supported by Gerry,” she said. “When you are with Gerry, you know that you have his 100 percent undivided attention. His compassionate presence invites you into a sacred encounter where you are affirmed and empowered to do the work that God has called you to do.
“Gerry embodies the spirit of the Carl Hart Award, as he spent his career offering caring and impactful pastoral care to individuals and communities, and later offering coaching and spiritual care to CBF chaplains and pastoral counselors empowering them to live out their call to ministry in specialized settings.”
“I am truly honored to have Gerry’s support and mentoring wisdom now as his successor as the CBF endorser,” Owen said. “Gerry’s compassionate presence and support empower me to continue the legacy of this holy work that he had an important role in building, supporting our CBF-endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors.”
CBF presents the Carl Hart Award annually to a CBF-endorsed chaplain who excels in a specialized ministry. Hart was a noted prison chaplain who helped create CBF’s chaplaincy program. He championed a holistic approach to counseling and advocated for chaplains’ ministry.
Hutchinson was a U.S. Navy Reserve chaplain from 1988 through 2013, serving under CBF endorsement beginning in 2001. In 2004-05, he deployed with four Marine helicopter squadrons to Bagram, Afghanistan. In 2012, he served in active duty as director of religious affairs for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa in Djibouti. He received the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal for leading English discussion groups with Djiboutian youth.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mars Hill College, Master of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Master of Science degree in social work from the University of Louisville.
He was a Southern Baptist Home Mission Board missionary with New River Baptist Association; associate director and director of the Home Mission Board’s Church and Community Ministry Department; associate pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta; and interim pastor/associate pastor of Culpeper Baptist Church in Culpeper, Va.
Watch the video below to learn more about Hutchinson:
Find news, photos and videos from the 2023 CBF General Assembly at http://www.cbf.net/assembly2023