wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR MAY 17, 1996

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American Baptist News Service_____________________
Office of Communication / American Baptist Churches USA
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320
E-mail: RICH_SCHRAMM.PARTI@ECUNET.ORG
Richard W. Schramm, Director

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UPDATE: MAY 17, 1996
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o  Word has been received of the death of the Rev. Bernardino Martinez,
longtime staff member of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, who
died suddenly yesterday during a ho spital procedure.  Martinez was
instrumental in the development of the ABC of New Jersey's Hispanic
ministri es program in the mid-1970s, and had served for many years as
coordinator for all Hispanic ministry in that r egion.  He also was a
longtime area minister in New Jersey.  Martinez, a native of Cuba, had
served churches th ere.  He came to the U.S. in 1968 to minister in Newark,
N.J., and later pastored First Spanish Baptist Churc h in Union City while
coordinating the Hispanic Ministries program.  Details on memorial services
are incomplete at present.

o  Dr. Edward H. Kaechele, director of American Baptist Personnel Services
(ABPS ) and a National Ministries commissioned home missionary, has
announced his intention to retire Sept. 30.  Kaechele joined National
Ministries' staff as eastern personnel consultant for ABPS in 1983.  He
 became director of ABPS in 1990.  As director, Kaechele supervised the
process by which trained leadership and churches can be brought together.
This effort has involved the development of personnel Profiles of chu rch
leaders and the updating of a customized computerized system.  Along with
other ABPS staff Kaechele has worked directly with professional church
leaders and seminarians, encouraging and assisting them in the preparation
and updating of their Profiles.  He also has related extensively to
national and regional American Baptist staff, assisting in the preparation
of search requests to be used to discover available leaders.  Kaechele has
served o n the Committee on Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors for nearly
nine years and has chaired that committee sin ce 1993.  The committee
oversees the endorsement of American Baptist chaplains and pastoral
counselors.
 Currently this group of clergypersons, who also are National Ministries
associated home missionaries, in cludes approximately 600 persons serving
at mission sites around the world.  For the 22 years prior to his tenure
with National Ministries Kaechele served as a pastor of churches in
Massachusetts and Connecticut.  While pastoring First Baptist Church
of New Haven, Conn., Kaechele worked as a certified pastoral supervisor for
Yale Divinity School and was counselor and supervisor at the Pastoral
Center in New Haven.  He is a member of the American Association of
Pastoral Counselors.  In commenting on Kaechele's upcoming retirement,
National Ministries Executive Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III
noted Kaechele's commitment to "quality and excellence in making ABPS work
for American Baptist individuals as well as for regional organizations.  Ed
 has worked diligently to assure the timely and accurate response of the
ABPS system to the concerns of its users."

o  Mary L. Mild, associate director of American Baptist Personnel Services
and a National Ministries commissioned home missionary, has been appointed
director of ABPS, effective Oct. 1, 1996.  She will assume the position
following the retirement of Dr. Edward H. Kaechele.  Mild has been
associate director of ABPS since early this year.  ABPS provides the means
for bringing together trained le adership and churches.  Currently more
than 3,700 active church leaders are in the computerized system.  As associ
ate director of ABPS, Mild directs enrollment of American Baptist
ministerial leaders and seminarians into the system.  She also oversees the
production of individual ABPS Profiles.  Prior to Mild's service with ABPS,
she directed National Ministries' Women and the Church program for ten
years.  In that position, she developed and provided resources on women's
issues and served as the editor of a newsletter for American Baptists
concerned about those issues.  She also edited Songs of Miriam: A Women's
Book of Devotions (Judson Press) and co-e dited Worthy of the Gospel: Women
as Partners in Mission.  Mild also has edited two issues of the American
Baptist Quarterly on women who have served as missionaries.  She recently
completed editing Women at the We ll: Meditations on Healing and Wholeness
to be published by Judson Press this fall.  Before joining National
Ministries' staff in 1985 Mild was employed by the New Jersey Division of
Youth and Family Services as a social worker, supervisor and social
services trainer.  She served as a counselor and staff trainer at the Mer
cer County Women's Center, a shelter for battered women.  Mild is a
graduate of Eastern Baptist College and R utgers Graduate School of Social
Work.  She holds the M.Div. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.  In
maki ng Mild's appointment, National Ministries Executive Director Dr.
Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III said: "Mary's professional background and her
strong local church experience equip her in a unique way to direct ABPS.
  We look forward to her creative contributions in not only maintaining
ABPS' quality services but also in responding to the denominational needs
of the future."

o  While traveling through Hong Kong on his way to China, Dr. John
Sundquist, ex ecutive director of International Ministries, underwent
surgery today for a non-cancerous condition.
  The trans-urethral resection surgery, which reportedly went well, will
require Sundquist to stay at the Seven th Day Adventist hospital in Hong
Kong for five days.  He will not be able to fly for another four weeks, and
 will remain in Hong Kong through July 10.  Carol Sundquist, his wife, was
traveling with him and will return to the U.S. on May 28.  Cards may be
sent to Dr. John Sundquist, c/o The Rev. Keith E. Tennis, Hon Garde n 4/B,
146 Argyle St., Kowloon, Hong Kong.

o  All American Baptist-related institutions in Alaska are reported to be
safe a nd unaffected by a major forest fire there.  The week-long blaze is
confined to Kodiak Island, according to the Rev. Earl Clark, pastor of the
Community Baptist Church in Kodiak.  Clark, chair of the Kodiak American
Red Cro ss, reported that the city was prepared to provide housing for
displaced people, but that the fire has not threatened residential areas.
Institutions in the general area of the fire include Camp Woody on Woody
Island and Kodiak Baptist Mission, an outreach of American Baptist National
Ministries serving troubled children and youth.

o  The president of Bulgaria heard reports of the "considerable
constraints" und er which Baptists in his country worship during a meeting
with church leaders last month.  Theodor Angelov, president of the Union of
Baptist Churches in Bulgaria, and Dr. Denton Lotz, general secretary of the
Baptist Worl d Alliance, shared with President Zhelyu Zhelev their concern
with media attacks accusing Baptists and other evangelicals of an
assortment of unsavory activities.  They also criticized the mayor's office
in S ophia for setting up "administrative roadblocks...in not granting
permission for the new Baptist church, seminary and orphanage."  Lotz and
Angelov expressed gratitude for new freedoms following the fall of
communism, and stressed the commitment of Bulgarian Baptists to seek good
relationships with the majority Orthodox church other Christian bodies.

o  Dr. Eugene B. Habecker, president of the American Bible Society since
1991, w as named chairman of the United Bible Societies in April.  The UBS,
which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, includes 120
independent Bible societies around the world.  The UBS and its member
societies distribute several hundred million Bibles or portions of
Scripture annually, and recently have brought Scripture to audiocassettes,
compact discs and CD-ROMs.  Habecker served as assistant dean of students
at American Baptist-related Eastern College in the early and mid-1970s.  He
recently was presented the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and
Science Life Enrichment Award in Los Angeles.

o  American Baptists Dr. James Forbes and Dr. Gardner Taylor were named
among th e 12 "most effective preachers" in the English language in a
recent survey by Baylor University.  The survey gathered input from 341
seminary professors and editors of religious publications.  Forbes is senior
 minister of Riverside Church in New York City and Taylor is pastor
emeritus of The Concord Baptist Church of Chr ist in Brooklyn.

96U517
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