wfn.org | American Baptists Elect Hunt, Nakagawa and Gray as Officers

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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
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director
E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

June 23, 2001

HUNT, NAKAGAWA AND GRAY ELECTED OFFICERS OF AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES USA

PROVIDENCE, RI (ABNS)—Delegates to the Biennial Meeting of American
Baptist Churches USA, meeting here today, elected officers for their
denomination who will serve from Jan. 1, 2002 to Dec. 31, 2003.

David G. Hunt, of Portland, Oreg., the current vice president of American
Baptist Churches USA, was elected president. He is a member of the General
Board Executive Committee, General Secretary Search Committee and Biennial
Program Committee. A member of Grace Baptist Church in Portland, Hunt chairs
its Building and Development Task Force and has served as moderator.

Hunt has been active in the American Baptist Churches of Oregon, where he
has been vice president, chair of the Annual Gathering Planning Committee
and a member of Board of Ministries. Previously he served in the ABC of the
Rochester/Genesee Region on the Executive Board and Public Christian Mission
Committee.

As an ABCUSA General Board representative from 1990-1997 Hunt chaired the
ABCUSA Nominating Committee and the ABCUSA Young Adult Caucus and served on
the Committee on Christian Unity and Commission on Denominational Unity. He
also served on the National Ministries Executive Committee, among other
responsibilities.

Professionally he worked in government/politics for 10 years and currently
serves as executive director of the Columbia River Channel Coalition. His
community involvements include service on the Oregon City School Board, the
Clackamas County Committee on Citizen Involvement and the Oregon City Rotary
Club.

Yosh Nakagawa, an active lay leader from Seattle, Wash., was elected vice
president. A retired businessman, he was president and CEO in the
sports leisure-time industry. He is a member of the Japanese Church of
Seattle, an American Baptist church for more than 100 years, where he serves
as moderator. Four generations of his family have attended this church.

Nakagawa was vice president of ABC of the Northwest in 1986 and area
president for ABC of North Puget Sound in 1996. He served as Asian American
Baptist Caucus president in 1979 and was on the ABCUSA General Board from
1972-1979, where he was a member of the Executive Committee, the Credentials
and Caucus Committee, the ABCUSA Nominating Committee and the Board of
Educational Ministries. He also has been a member of the Ministers and
Missionaries Benefit Board (1992-2000), the board of the American Baptist
Seminary of the West and the board of Linfield College.

His community involvements include the Boy Scouts of America, the U.S.
Tennis Association and the Nisei Veterans Committee.

Melva Gray of Indianapolis, Ind., is the budget review officer-elect. She is
a member of First Baptist Church of Indianapolis, where she has served as
assistant treasurer, member of the Finance and Property Commission,
chairperson of Social Concerns and ABY advisor.

Gray serves on the Finance Ministry Team of ABC of Greater Indianapolis and
has been region president and treasurer. A regionally nominated General
Board representative, she is a member of the General Board Budget Review
Committee and the Board of Directors of the American Baptist
Historical Society. She also serves on the Board of Educational Ministries.

Her community involvements include service on the Board of Directors of the
CROP Walk.

BIENNIAL MEETING DELEGATES AFFIRM STATEMENT ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

PROVIDENCE, RI (ABNS)—Delegates to the Biennial Meeting of American
Baptist Churches USA here today affirmed a “Statement of Concern on
Restorative Justice” which calls on American Baptists to “become
more aware of and educated about restorative justice” and “to
work toward implementing restorative justice in their communities.”

The statement, in part, notes:

“...a punitive approach to justice does not effectively address
theneeds of victims or the community harmed by crime. There are few systemic
efforts to address the circumstances of offenders, who often leave prison
finding it difficult to live in society without re-offending. Retributive
justice, by design, is simply unable to respond to the human dynamics in
individual crimes, in part because the focus is on the breaking of the laws
of the state, instead of the relationships between the victim and the
offender.

“The biblically-based paradigm of restorative justice, however, does
address these dynamics, placing them at the center of the concern for
justice for all parties. Throughout the Bible, God calls people into a
covenant relationship based on shalom or right-relationships. This includes
physical well-being, living in peace with all people, and living with moral
integrity....

“…The principles of restorative justice improve the current
criminal justice system in a variety of ways and at all levels. For example
prosecutors can fund victim advocates in their offices to ensure that each
victim receives the attention necessary for meeting their needs. Judges
choose to hear from each victim before sentencing offenders. Victim/offender
mediation programs are established to offer face-to-face meetings to all
those who want to participate during any part of the criminal justice
process. Corrections departments focus more attention on programs that work
to bring offenders to an understanding of their responsibility for their
actions, and to help them find ways to respond to and repair...the damage
they have done to their victims and to society. Legislators develop laws
and fund programs sympathetic to the goals of restorative justice....

“Individuals in the community, likewise, share responsibility for
upholding restorative justice principles through education and advocacy, and
through support to victims of crime and to offenders seeking to repair the
harm they have done. We can establish support groups for victims and their
families for healing and to help create a climate that returns a person back
to a sense of safety and well-being. We can help offenders recognize their
accountability and responsibility for their actions. We can assist the
offenders’ families through a variety of supportive measures such as
providing transportation for visits and advocating programs for children and
their incarcerated parents. Furthermore, we can develop diversion,
mentoring, or intervention programs.

“Once the principles of restorative justice are understood, there are
myriad ways they can be implemented to bring about true justice and shalom
in our communities.

“Therefore, we call upon American Baptists to: become more aware of
and educated about restorative justice; encourage the use of resources
available through National Ministries, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North
America, and the local church; to work toward implementing restorative
justice in their communities; encourage legislators to develop laws and fund
programs sympathetic to the goals of restorative justice.”

BIENNIAL MEETING DELEGATES AFFIRM STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

PROVIDENCE, RI (ABNS)—Delegates to the Biennial Meeting of American
Baptist Churches USA here today affirmed a “Statement of Concern on
Violence in the Schools” which calls on “American Baptist youth
to set a Christ-like example for their peers, both in the ways they act and
react in the face of violence...; our families and our local churches to
address the issue of violence in schools, and to take appropriate action...;
pastors and lay people to identify and discuss with children and youth
causes of violence; the ABCUSA to provide resources through denominational
channels for addressing violence in our schools....”

The statement, “written in collaboration with our American Baptist
youth,” in part notes:

“...Violence in our nation’s schools is frightening and is a
significant issue for our youth. Violent incidents in our schools,
illustrated by the death of fifteen people at Columbine High School in the
spring of 1999, demonstrates a larger social reality for youth. We have
witnessed the same horrors in our country’s elementary schools, middle
schools, colleges, and universities. As part of that population, American
Baptist youth have directly or indirectly been impacted by such violence.

“Violence is not limited to physical harm. It can be inflicted
verbally, or without words at all. Taunting and verbal abuse add to a
climate of hostility that can lead to violent acts against an individual or
group. No form of violence should be tolerated or ignored wherever it is
found, whether in our schools, homes, churches, or communities.

“In the face of violence, people search for something, or someone, to
blame. The questions are continually asked, ‘Who or what is
responsible?’ and ‘What made them do it?’ Do we blame the
student’s parents, or circle of friends, or even Hollywood?’
Yet, even if we could answer those questions, the problem of violence would
not necessarily be resolved. A climate of safety and well-being is needed in
our schools, which is something all can work toward. As Christians, we are
inspired by Christ to respond to violence through love, justice,
forgiveness, compassion, comfort, and peace.

“Therefore, we join our American Baptist youth in calling upon:

“American Baptist youth to set a Christ-like example for their peers,
both in the ways they act and react in the face of violence, by: taking
action against violence in their schools; facilitating change in
behavior,where necessary; treating their peers with respect; tolerating
differences between people; and being willing to step forward as positive
role models and leaders.

“Our families and our local churches to address the issue of violence
in schools, and to take appropriate action, by: keeping guns and weapons out
of the hands of children; praying for peace, and healing the scars left by
violence throughout our schools; and acting as caregivers by addressing the
issue of violence honestly and sensitively.

“Pastors and lay people to identify and discuss with children and
youth causes of violence….

“The ABCUSA to provide resources through denominational channels for
addressing violence in our schools.

“All American Baptists to walk the path of peace that Christ has set
before us.”

NEW LIFE 2010 CELEBRATED AT AMERICAN BAPTIST BIENNIAL MEETING

PROVIDENCE, RI (ABNS)—A celebration of NEW LIFE 2010--the American
Baptist Churches USA emphasis to plant 1,010 new churches, reach 1,000,010
new Christians, reach out in a multitude of caring ministries, and so
transform congregations by the year 2010—engaged delegates and
visitors to the denomination’s Biennial Meeting here tonight.

Among American Baptist leaders lifting up NEW LIFE 2010 were Dr. Robert
H.Roberts, interim general secretary; Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III,
executive director of National Ministries; and the Rev. Carol Franklin
Sutton, movement director for NEW LIFE 2010.

“NEW LIFE 2010 has developed into God’s vision; it certainly
isn’t something we would have dreamed of,” Wright-Riggins said.
1,010 new churches? 1,000,010 new believers? Multitudes of caringministries?
Our denomination transformed? But we do live in a mission field. And, make
no mistake, we are the missionaries. The U.S. is currently the third largest
unchurched nation in the world. How can we not bring the Gospel to those on
our doorstep?”

He articulated goals of the emphasis:

“NEW LIFE 2010 seeks to plant churches that will minister to and
enable the ministries of our children and grandchildren. They are going to
‘do’ church differently from us. And they should. We are not
reaching many of them now.

“In NEW LIFE 2010 we reach out to the unevangelized groups on the
margins of our society—new immigrants, large sections of our inner
cities, growth populations, underchurched areas, your neighbors and mine.

“By pursuing NEW LIFE 2010 we enact a prophetic and caring Gospel,
which demonstrates the love of Jesus and offers the hope of a changed world.
The Gospel is still good news for all people.

“NEW LIFE 2010 will rekindle, revitalize and renew our existing
churches by its very existence. Our goal is nothing less than the revival of
our witness and the transformation of our denomination.”

Sharing stories of some of the early ministries resulting from NEW LIFE 2010
were Dalton Said Henriques, pastor, First Baptist Church, New Bedford,
Mass.; Frances Houston, Indian Ministries consultant, eastern churches,
National Ministries; Sandra Alvarado, pastor, Lion of Judah Baptist Church,
Boston, Mass.; and Doug Scalise, pastor, Brewster Baptist Church, Brewster,
Mass.

Sutton noted, “It is our mission field, is it not? And it is a great
privilege to serve the Lord in a new day, a new world.”

The song “New Life,” written by Kim and Reggie Harris, was
introduced by them at the Biennial Meeting today.

The celebration was followed by a concert by Ginny Owens, Christian singer
and Dove Award winner.