wfn.org | ABCUSA: Brown Named Indian Ministries Director

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 1/17/03)--American Baptist
National Ministries has named the Rev. Wilfred L. Brown director for Indian
Ministries.

Brown, who previously served as Indian Ministries team leader and
coordinator of the Southern Plains, now will work with the 37 American
Baptist Native American churches across the United States, assisting pastor
and lay leaders with transformation, leadership development and pastoral
placement.  New church planting in association with NEW LIFE 2010 and
promotion of mission awareness also are part of his new portfolio. 

Brown will work closely with the American Baptist Indian Caucus and continue
his association with these National Ministries-related institutions: Hopi
Mission School, Kykotsmovi, Ariz.; Christian Center of Anadarko, Anadarko,
Okla.; and Bacone College and Murrow Indian Children's Home, both in
Muskogee, Okla.

"We look forward to a strong partnership with and a bright future for Indian
churches and leaders under Rev. Brown's leadership," said the Rev. Dr. David
C. Laubach, National Ministries' associate executive director for
Congregational and Evangelistic Ministries.  "Wil Brown has been a key
player in developing and implementing a strategic plan for Indian Ministries
that reverses 100 years of dependency and follows a path from maintaining to
growth, from being mission to doing mission, from being isolated to being
interactive, and from self-serving to community serving."  

For Brown, who wants "to see every Native American congregation have a
Native American leader or pastor," leadership development is a key goal.  He
also hopes to see congregations planted in key urban areas such as Phoenix,
Los Angeles, Kansas City and Oklahoma City, where the concentration of
Native Americans is high.

In October, Brown-a member of the Kiowa and Acoma tribes-attended the 4th
World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People in Hawaii.  "There has been a
lot of hurt about how the gospel was introduced to indigenous people," Brown
says.  At the gathering Christians from across the globe dealt with
reconciliation and healing in order to leave the past behind and move
forward, fulfilling the Great Commission as indigenous people.

Brown, who joined National Ministries in 1996, was commissioned as an
American Baptist home missionary in 1998.  The graduate of Southwest Baptist
University in Bolivar, Mo., assumed his new responsibilities Jan. 1.

K/2003ABNS/03ABN9

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org