wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST UPDATE FOR OCT. 25, 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 
Richard W. Schramm, Director (E-mail: RICH_SCHRAMM.PARTI@ECUNET.ORG)

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UPDATE: OCTOBER 25, 1996
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o  Dr. Donald R. Rasmussen, pastor of Phillips Memorial Baptist
Church in Cranston, R.I., has been named executive minister of the
American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island.  Rasmussen was elected
Oct. 21 by the region's Board of Mission, which acted on a unanimous
recommendation of the Executive Minister Search Committee.  He will
begin his new responsibilities Jan. 1, succeeding Dr. Donald H.
Crosby, who retired earlier this year.  Rasmussen has led Phillips
Memorial Baptist Church since 1975.  He previously had served as
associate pastor there, and as minister of education at Jackson
Street Baptist Church in Scranton, Pa.
He has been active in ministries of his region, where he has served
as a member of the Board of Mission, the Investment Committee and the
Common Ground Conference Planning Committee.  In denominational
responsibilities Rasmussen has served American Baptist Churches USA
as a member of the General Board and its Executive Committee, and as
chair of the Board's Credentials and Caucus Committee.  He also has
chaired the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Ministers and
Missionaries Benefit Board, and has been a member of the Board of
National Ministries, where he chaired its Social and Ethical
Responsibility in Investments Committee, among other positions. 
Rasmussen holds degrees from Houghton College (B.A.), Gordon Conwell
Theological Seminary (M.Div.), University of Scranton (M.S.), and
Andover Newton Theological School (D.Min.).  He was ordained at
Jackson Street Baptist Church in 1964.  His wife, Virginia, also has
served as a member of the American Baptist Churches USA General Board
and as a member of the Board of National Ministries, as well as
president of American Baptist Women's Ministries of Rhode Island. 
Donald and Virginia Rasmussen are the parents of two grown sons,
Stephen and Robert.  In announcing Rasmussen's appointment, Dr.
Robert L. Carter Jr., president of American Baptist Churches of Rhode
Island, noted, "He comes eminently qualified by both training and
experience for this task....  [We] look forward to the many gifts
that he brings under the leadership of the Holy Spirit." The American
Baptist Churches of Rhode Island, one of 34 regions within American
Baptist Churches USA, includes approximately 76 churches and 13,500
resident members.

o  Dr. John J. Jackson, executive minister of the American Baptist
Churches of the Pacific Southwest, has announced his resignation,
effective Feb. 15, 1997.  He has indicated plans to undertake a new
church start in Carson Valley, Nev.  Jackson has served as executive
minister since January 1993.  Previously in the region he was senior
pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxnard, as well as region
president, chair of the region's Committee for New Church Development
and co-chair of its Restrategizing and Restructuring Task Force.  The
American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest includes
approximately 270 churches and 57,000 resident members.

96U1025
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