wfn.org | ABCUSA: Buckles to Complete Service on IM Staff

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

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 5/23/05)--Charles
Jones, acting executive director of American Baptist International
Ministries, announced today that Mike Buckles will be leaving
International Ministries at the end of August 2005.

Buckles is an American Baptist layman who served on International
Ministries' Board in the 1990s in several capacities, eventually as its
president.  During that time he was heavily involved in moving the
agency forward in its work with international volunteers.

He became so committed to helping expand the volunteer ministry that he
set aside his work in the family business to join the International
Ministries staff in the late 1990s.  As he returns to responsibilities
in the family business, Buckles continues to be an enthusiastic
supporter of International Ministries, and especially its joint efforts
with churches, American Baptist regions and international partners to
enable as many American Baptists as possible to serve Christ as
volunteer missionaries.

"We are all grateful to God and to Mike for the many ways in which he
has strengthened IM's work," Jones said.  "We wish God's blessing upon
him as he goes, and we fully expect to receive him back as a volunteer
in Global Mission."

05ABN48

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