wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR DEC. 18, 1996

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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 
Richard W. Schramm, Director (E-mail:
RICH_SCHRAMM.PARTI@ECUNET.ORG)

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UPDATE: DECEMBER 18, 1996
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o  Executive Ministers Robert Rasmussen, American Baptist
Churches of the West, and Malcolm Shotwell,
American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region,
were honored for their careers in local church and
denominational service during the recently completed
meetings of the American Baptist Churches' General Board
and General Executive Council.  Rasmussen, whose 25-year
tenure leading the region is the longest of any
American Baptist executive minister, had announced last
year his intention to retire on his sixty-fifth birthday
in
February 1997.  Rasmussen previously was director of the
Commission on the Ministry (1963-1971).  Dr. Conrad
Lowe, senior pastor of North Parkersburg Baptist Church
in Parkersburg, W.V., will succeed Rasmussen.  The
American Baptist Churches of the West includes
approximately 220 churches and 47,000 resident members.
Shotwell, who will retire at the end of 1996, has served
as executive minister since 1990.  Previously he was an
area minister for the American Baptist Churches of
Pennsylvania and Delaware (1981-1990) and pastor of
churches in Galesburg, Ill., and Cuba and Olean, N.Y. 
The American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers
Region (Illinois and Missouri), includes approximately
261 churches and 50,000 resident members. 

o  The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (M&M) of
American Baptist Churches USA has announced
a number of appointments and staffing changes.
   Richard A. Huber, a member of the M&M staff since
1973, has been named associate executive director
effective Jan. 1, 1997.  In addition to benefits research
and development, Huber will be responsible for the
design and maintenance of M&M's benefit plans, assuring
that the plans exceed industry standards and meet all
legal and actuarial requirements.  He will continue to
work closely with M&M's Member Service Team and will
remain in the New York office.
    George J. Colwell became financial analyst on Dec. 2,
1996, and Winona A. Green will become
finance/operations specialist on Jan. 13, 1997.  Both
will be located in M&M's New York office.  Colwell will
monitor M&M's custodial bank and 11 asset managers to
ensure timely and accurate reporting of all financial
and performance data.  For the past five years he has
served as assistant vice president for Portfolio Analysis
of
the Continental Asset Management Group of Trust Company
of the West, New York City.  A chartered financial
analyst, Colwell has an undergraduate degree in
accounting and marketing from Boston College and an
M.B.A.
from Pace University.  Green most recently was employed
as director of International Business, AT&T Capital
Corporation, Morristown, N.J.  She provided financing
solutions to support the sale of undersea cable products
worldwide and earlier served as manager of Trade/Project
Finance.  Green is a graduate of Morgan State
University, and has an M.A. from Columbia University and
an M.B.A from Fordham University.
   In other changes, a recent study of M&M's field
services resulted in a reallocation of field
responsibilities and
new staff appointments effective Jan. 1, 1997. 
   Richard Arnesman, who retired as associate executive
director in 1995, will serve as a part-time Member
Service representative in the New York office.  A
certified financial planner, Arnesman also will conduct
M&M
Financial Planning Seminars. 
   Sarah L. Hallstrand, who joined the staff in 1981,
will be M&M's Member Service representative for 
ABC of Metropolitan Chicago, ABC of the Dakotas, ABC of
the Great Rivers Region, Mid-American Baptist
Churches, ABC of Nebraska and ABC of Wisconsin.  
Hallstrand's home office is in Oak Park, Ill.
   William R. Hunnex, who was employed by M&M in 1995 as
coordinator of Human Resources, will assume
the additional responsibility of Member Service
representative in the New York office.
   Patricia L. Hunter will be M&M's Member Service
representative for ABC of Central Region, ABC of the
Northwest, ABC of Oregon and ABC of the Rocky Mountains. 
Hunter has been on the staff since 1987; her
home office is in Seattle, Wash.
   Walter L. Parrish III, M&M's at-large representative,
will assume the additional responsibility of Member
Service representative for the Philadelphia Baptist
Association.  Parrish was employed by M&M in 1990, and 
works from its New York offices and the American Baptist
Churches Mission Center in Valley Forge.  Parrish
and Member Service Representative Elizabeth Gordon will
be available to assist staff at the Mission Center.
   Richard D. Reese has been employed as a Member Service
representative for ABC of Indiana, ABC of
Greater Indianapolis, ABC of Ohio, Cleveland Baptist
Association, ABC of Michigan and ABC of Pennsylvania
and Delaware.  Since 1990 Reese has served as
Southeastern Area representative of ABC of Michigan. 
Prior to
joining the Michigan staff he served as pastor of ABC
churches in South Dakota and Utah.  He is a graduate of
Sioux Falls College and has an M.Div. from North American
Baptist Seminary.  He will work from his home
office in Ferndale, Mich.  
   Kenneth E. Stout, who has been on M&M's staff since
1988, will become Member Service representative for
the West Virginia Baptist Convention, where he has served
as interim representative since April 1996, and the
Pittsburgh Baptist Association.  Stout's responsibilities
for writing and photography will continue.  His home
office is located in Fair Lawn, N.J.
   In announcing these changes,  M&M Executive Director
Gordon Smith said: "These staff appointments and
the reallocation of field responsibilities are among the
most recent efforts made by M&M to achieve our goal of
providing members with the best possible service."

o  The office of Human Resource Development within the
Office of the General Secretary has become Human
Resource Development and Legal Services.  Barbara A.
Williams, Esq., who recently received her doctor of
jurisprudence degree from the Villanona University School
of Law and successfully completed the Pennsylvania
Bar exam, has assumed the title of associate general
secretary and legal counsel.  Also within the Office of
the
General Secretary, Richard W. Schramm, director of the
Office of Communication, will assume the additional
title of deputy general secretary for communication as of
Jan. 1.    

o  When American Baptists from around the continent
converge on Indianapolis next June for their
denomination's Biennial Meeting, hundreds of American
Baptist men and boys will mark both the 75th
anniversary of American Baptist Men and a homecoming. 
ABMen was formally established at First Baptist
Church of Indianapolis on June 18, 1922.  Several
businessmen had met in January of that year in Chicago to
address the financial concerns of the Northern Baptist
Convention, and a small group of active Baptist laymen
determined at that time to raise five million dollars in
support of the denomination.  Five months later they had
reached their goal; as they gathered at the Indianapolis
convention the group organized as the National Council
of Northern Baptist Men.   Through the ensuing decades
the organization continued to raise mission funds. 
Significant growth took place during the 1930s and 1940s. 
"The Layman s Hour" was a national project of
ABMen; it still airs today in selected markets.  Among
those active in ABMen who became president of
American Baptist Churches USA have been E.H. Rhoades,
William Coleman, John A. Dawson, Stanton Gallup,
John Mandt, Harold Davis and Hector Gonzalez.  Recently
ABMen has emphasized gender-specific ministry to
men and boys, and ABMen Disaster Relief has gathered
hundreds of volunteers nationwide.  ABBoys &
ABYoungMen, currently in test pilots, will be formally
introduced at the Biennial Meeting.  Special recognition
of the 75th anniversary will take place during the
Biennial Meeting.  First Baptist Church of Indianapolis
will
present a character in 1922 costume to "report" the
founding to the convention.  Additional observances
include a
golf tournament co-sponsored by ABMen on Tuesday, June
24, and a breakfast at Tuxedo Park Baptist Church
on Friday, June 27.  Further information is available
from ABMen at 1-800-ABC-3USA, ext. 2286.

o  American Baptist-related Eastern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., has launched a $6.3-
million capital campaign, "Forward in Faithfulness."  In
addition to strengthening the school's endowment and
creating scholarship funds, the campaign will finance the
new Koinonia Center, among other endeavors.    
96U1218
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