wfn.org | AMREICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR MARCH 7, 1997

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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: MARCH 7, 1997
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o  On April 20, 1997, which has been designated Volunteer
Sunday by American Baptist Churches USA, many
congregations will take time to recognize their members
who serve as volunteers.  Volunteerism has become a
strong national trend that will be highlighted April 27
when President Clinton and others meet in Philadelphia,
Pa., for the President's Summit for America's Future. 
The summit is aimed at bringing America to a new level
of commitment to volunteer service, especially targeting
the nation's young people.  During 1996, through
National Ministries' Volunteers In Mission program and
International Ministries' Volunteer Services, more than
200 persons served as volunteer missionaries.  Hundreds
more participated in group mission/work tour
experiences, one of which was the rebuilding of the Olive
Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Littleton, N.C. 
The 108-year-old church was burned in January 1996. 
Materials to help recognize volunteer service are
available
from the Volunteers In Mission office.  For more
information or to order materials contact Carole
Dieciedue,
Volunteers In Mission, P. O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA
19482-0851; phone 1-800-ABC-3USA, ext. 2449.

o  American Baptist Educational Ministries will
participate in the Children s Defense Fund Annual
Meeting,
March 12-15 in Washington, D.C., by hosting a table at
the Religious Networking Breakfast.  The breakfast, held
in conjunction with the meeting, will be at the
Washington Hilton Hotel on Friday, March 14, at 8:00 a.m.

Tickets are $15.00.  Also as part of the meeting an
interfaith service will take place 7:00 p.m. Thursday,
March
13.  Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, pastor emeritus of Abyssinian
Baptist Church in New York City, will be the featured
speaker.  Awards will be presented to civil rights
pioneer Rosa Parks and comedienne Rosie O Donnell. 
Following the service an ice cream social will celebrate
the success of the 1996 Stand for Children event in
Washington, D.C.  Attendees will be encouraged to promote
the 1997 Stand for Children on June 1 in their
own communities.  Both activities are open to all
American Baptists; conference registration is not
necessary to
attend the events.  The Children s Defense Fund is making
available two scholarships, to cover the $325 meeting
registration, for any children s ministries worker in an
American Baptist church.  For more information contact
Brenda Tribett, Educational Ministries  director of Black
Church Education and Children s Ministries, at 1-800-
ABC-3USA, ext. 2149 / (610)768-2149.

o  The company leasing 20,000 feet of space here at the
American Baptist Mission Center has decided not to
renew its option for a second one-year lease.  The
lessee, LMC Properties, Inc. of Middle River, Md., a
subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is
consolidating the Management and Data Systems division in
its
King of Prussia corporate facilities.  It began occupancy
at the Mission Center through a one-year lease
beginning in May 1996 with an option for renewing that
lease for an additional year.  An agreement with
American Baptist Churches USA will allow it to extend its
original lease one month before vacating the space on
June 30, 1997.  The company has focused its activities
here on developing unclassified commercial contract
software programs for communications corporations such as
Bell Telephone and on providing a location for
recently employed personnel who are in training in such
subjects as ethics, communications, management
processes and systems.  The decision to lease a portion
of the Mission Center building was reached in 1995
following a study of space utilization authorized by the
American Baptist Churches' General Board.  The study
concluded that a reduction in the space utilized by the
denominational offices not only was feasible but
desirable
as an act of good stewardship.  Other current tenants
include Intergraph, Inc. and DuPlex Corporation.  

o  The world's largest ecumenical organization has begun
a special year-long emphasis in support of migrants,
refugees and other uprooted people.  The American Baptist
Churches-related World Council of Churches has
declared 1997 to be the "Ecumenical Year of Churches in
Solidarity with Uprooted People."  The emphasis
is designed to "give global witness to the support of
churches for refugees, migrants and displaced people
around
the world...at a time of growing concern about
'xenophobic hostility,'" according to the WCC.

97U37
(E/FV)___________________________________________________
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