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Garland Pierce elected NCC associate general secretary for Education and Leadership Ministries Commi


From "Daniel Webster" <dwebster@ncccusa.org>
Date Fri, 26 May 2006 14:40:28 -0400

Garland Pierce elected NCC associate general secretary for Education and Leadership Ministries Commission

New Orleans, May 22, 2006 ? The Rev. Garland F. Pierce, an African Methodist Episcopal clergyman with years of experience in the ecumenical movement, has been named Associate General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA for the Education and Leadership Ministries Commission.

Pierce was elected during the meeting of the NCC Governing Board here on May 22. He succeeds the Rev. Patrice Rosner who is leaving the position she?s held since 2000 to become director of Churches Uniting in Christ, headquartered in St. Louis.

Rosner and NCC General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, praised the selection of Pierce.

"I want to thank you for the gift of who you elected as my successor," Rosner told the Governing Board as she opened farewell presents during a luncheon in her honor.

"I know of few people who are more dedicated to the visible unity of the church or who have more gifts to bring to their ministry," Edgar said.

Pierce joined the National Council of Churches staff in 2003 as associate director of the Education and Leadership Ministries Commission. His responsibilities have included program ministry administration and planning, program interpretation, advocacy for Christian education, staff support for the NCC Inclusiveness and Justice Standing Committee, and staff support to NCC General Assembly Caucuses, Young Adult, Racial/Ethnic, and Historic Black Church.

He has been active in the leadership of the World Council of Churches since 1995, when he joined the staff of the WCC U.S. Office in New York. His travels during his tenure as a member of the staff, and later as an AME delegate and member of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, included meetings in Brazil, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Tonga, Cuba, Greece and elsewhere.

Before he joined the WCC U.S. Office, Pierce was Youth Minister at Greater Bethel AME Church in Nashville, Tennessee from 1994-1995. He was a curriculum Resource Specialist in the AME Department of Christian Education in Nashville from 1993-1995.

Pierce holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University, Greenville, S.C., and the Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif. He was interim director of the Claremont McNair Scholars Program in 2002.

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NCC News contact: Dan Webster, 212.870.2252.


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