wfn.org | American Baptist News Jan 19 1996

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

American Baptist News Service_____________________
Office of Communication / American Baptist Churches
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320
Richard W. Schramm, Director______________________

News Wrap-Up________________January 19, 1996

     o  Joan Hoffman, administrative assistant to the executive
director of International Ministries for 25 years, has been
designated director of Board Relations and recording secretary as of
Jan. 1, 1996.  The announcement was made by International Ministries
Executive Director John A. Sundquist.  Hoffman began her tenure at
the American Baptist Churches Mission Center in 1963 as a secretary
in the Public Relations Department of International Ministries.  She
has worked for the last four executive directors of International
Ministries.  Hoffman's new responsibilities include recording and
maintaining historical and legal minutes for the Board of
International Ministries.  She also will make arrangements for the
semiannual board meetings.  Janet L. Medrow will be assuming the
position of administrative assistant to Sundquist.  Medrow has more
than 16 years executive secretarial experience, including employment
with the International Regulatory Department of Wyeth-Ayerst.  Most
recently Medrow has served as administrative assistant to the
president/CEO of a consulting firm in Wayne, Pa.  Medrow began her
responsibilities at the Mission Center Jan. 16.  

     o  Eunice Lawrenz Smith, wife of Dr. Gordon E. Smith, executive
director of The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board, died Jan.
14 in Montclair, N.J., after a short illness.  For the past 20 years
Eunice Smith was a hospital consultant and president of Lawrenz
Associates, Inc.  She was an innovator in the design and development
of staffing and scheduling systems and nursing department operations. 
Eunice Smith also is survived by four daughters: Amy Murphy, Jane
Lawrenz, Sharon Lawrenz and Susan Lawrenz-Smith; stepchildren Brian
Smith, Paula Reeves and Gail Adams; a sister, Mary Hendrikson; and
four brothers: Paul Seltz, Roland Seltz, Richard Seltz and Douglas
Seltz.  A memorial service will be held Jan. 26 at 3:00 p.m. at the
First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 153 Park St., Montclair, N.J.  The
family has suggested that memorial contributions be sent to one of
the following: First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 153 Park St.,
Montclair, NJ 07042; Montclair Counseling Center, 183 Inwood Ave.,
Montclair, NJ 07043; YWCA of Montclair, 159 Glenridge Ave.,
Montclair, NJ 07042.  Gordon Smith has been hospitalized for several
weeks for the treatment of a hip abscess and staph infection.  On
Jan. 10 he underwent a minor procedure to correct a slight heartbeat
irregularity.  It is anticipated that he will be released from the
hospital soon.  Telephone calls at this time are discouraged.  Cards
and notes may be sent to his home: 24 South Mountain Ave., Montclair,
NJ 07042.

     o  A. May Hill, a former missionary with the American Baptist
Home Mission Societies, died Jan. 13 in Sacramento, Calif.  She was
103.  Over a 35-year career, she served at several Christian centers:
Rankin Christian Center, Pittsburgh; Dearborn Neighborhood House,
Detroit; Brooks House of Christian Service, Hammond, Ind.  She was
director of Lincoln Christian Center in Sacramento from 1946-1957 and
also served as executive director of the Locke (Calif.) Chinese
Christian Center from 1952-1957.  She remained active at her home
church, First Baptist in Sacramento, following her retirement.

     o  American Baptist-related Linfield College in McMinnville,
Oreg., has received a $350,000 grant from the Murdock College Science
Research Program.  The grant will fund supplies, equipment and
student and faculty stipends in a program involving most of the
school's biology, chemistry and physics faculty, as well as research
opportunities for undergraduates.  Linfield has experienced
significant growth in recent years in the number of students majoring
in sciences.

     o  The Rev. Richard E. Haley, pastor of First Baptist Church in
Tewksbury, Mass., has been named dean of students at American
Baptist-related Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre,
Mass.  Haley will begin March 1 at Andover Newton, the country's
oldest Protestant graduate school of theology.  

     o  A group of ecologically minded evangelical leaders has
called on Congress to uphold and strengthen the Endangered Species
Act.  The Christian Environmental Council of the Evangelical
Environmental Network, in a recent statement, urged Congress to
resist any "action that would weaken, hamper, reduce or end the
protection, recovery and preservation of God's creatures, including
their habitats."  Citing biblical injunctions in Genesis, Psalms and
Matthew for the good stewardship of the earth's resources, the
Council asked Congress to "provide additional funding support for
endangered species recovery so the Act may be even more effective in
preserving God's creatures in this nation and throughout the world." 
Members of the Evangelical Environmental Network's Advisory Council
signing the statement included Dr. Roberta Hestenes, president of
American Baptist-related Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa.; Dr.
Robert Seiple, president of World Vision and a former president of
Eastern; and Dr. Ronald Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social
Action and a faculty member at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Philadelphia.
                                    -0-