wfn.org | CoB Newsline- General Board staffing, Int'l Festival

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      May 8, 1997
Contact:  Paula Wilding
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline             May 8, 1997  

This is Newsline for the week of May 8. In the news today:  
1) The General Board releases an extensive listing of personnel 
     for its new design. 
2) The Seventh Annual International Festival will be held 
     Saturday at the Brethren Service Center. 
3) Twelve students will graduate from Bethany Theological 
     Seminary on Sunday. 
4) A vigil supporting the close of the School of the Americas is  
     held in Washington, D.C. 
5) Annual Conference booklets should be available in early June.
6) Brethren families are encouraged to sign a "pledge of 
     nonviolence." 
7) A conference for Anabaptists will be offered next month by 
     Elizabethtown College's Young Center. 
8) The June/July Source resource packet will arrive in 
     congregations this week. 
9) The National Council of Churches' Yearbook is released.   

1) An extensive but not a completely comprehensive listing of who
will be doing what for the newly designed General Board was
announced on Friday. The following people have been appointed to
be a part of the new organization. There are additional positions
to be filled by either appointment or open search. Announcements
will be made as personnel is determined. The polity changes of
Annual Conference will not affect the General Board staffing.  

Executive Director -- Sue Snyder, assistant; Elsie Holderread,
Human Resources coordinator; Ellen Hall, Human Resources
secretary (New Windsor).  

Volunteer Service Ministries -- Dan McFadden, director; Todd
Reish, coordinator of Orientation; Kim Bickler, secretary.  

Funding -- Ken Neher, director; area financial resource
counselors David Huffaker (midwest), Ray Glick (southeast),
Howard Miller (northeast); Jackie Azimi, systems coordinator;
Faye Miller, resource coordinator.  

Congregational Life Ministries -- Glenn Timmons, director; Chris
Douglas, Youth/Young Adult Ministries coordinator; secretaries
Joan Pelletier and Judy McDonald.  

Global Mission Partnerships -- Mervin Keeney, director; Mary
Munson, secretary. New Windsor staff: Miller Davis, Emergency
Response/Service Ministries manager; Lydia Walker, Outreach and
Training coordinator; secretaries Jane Yount, Helen Stonesifer,
Jane Bankert and Glenna Massicot; Lois Duble, temporary office
helper; case workers Alexandru Kirculescu and Tomislav Tomic;
Loretta Wolf, Material Resources manager; Nocoletta Coarda,
sorter/packer; Bill Fleagle, truck driver/warehouser; Brenda
Giles, sorter/packer; Randy Koontz, hi lift operator/warehouser;
Virginia Long, warehouse and Grantee Program; Samsudin Moledina,
medical receiver; balers Randy Parrish and George Poleuca; Max
Price, truck driver/warehouser; Rosella Reese, medical packer.  

Treasurer -- Judy Keyser, treasurer and director of Centralized
Resources; Jeanie Hicks, gift management/Centralized Resources
assistant; Buildings and Grounds managers David Ingold and Ed
Palsgrove (New Windsor); Sheri Cromar, Building Services
assistant (part-time); Joanne Holmes, receptionist/switchboard;
Bryan Katzel, mailroom specialist; maintenance mechanics Ron
Anders (New Windsor) and David Bulpit (New Windsor, part-time);
Diane Gosnell, secretary/receptionist (New Windsor); Felix Hill,
general maintenance/mail (New Windsor); controllers Brenda Reish
and Kent Shisler (New Windsor); accountants Pat Marsh and Kellie
Jones; LaVerne Wisdom, accounts payable/data entry specialist;
Lillian Dako, accounts receivable/data entry specialist; Nancy
Gutierrez, data entry specialist (part-time);  Elaine Caprarola,
accounting and data entry specialist; and Ken Shaffer, Historical
Library and Archives manager. Additional New Windsor staff
includes Perry Hudkins, Information Systems manager; Ed Leiter,
programmer/analyst; Francie Coale, PC specialist; Darlene Hylton,
operations specialist; Maria Capusan, kitchen helper/ storeroom
clerk; Janet Comings, second cook; kitchen helpers Virginia
Kolpack, Bettina Weaver and Roberta Weaver; Linda Mathis, head
a.m. cook; Emma Moses, prep/kitchen helper; housekeepers Doris
Glass, Maria Poleuca and Christine Watson; and Lisa Sensensy,
Conference Center secretary.  

Brethren Press -- Wendy McFadden, director and publisher; Julie
Garber, Study Resources editor; Howard Royer, staff for
Interpretation; Nevin Dulabaum, News and Information manager;
Jennifer Leo, Marketing manager (part-time); Nancy Klemm, copy
editor; Vicki Roche, Subscriptions processor; Margie Paris,
Information assistant (part-time); Customer Service
representatives Eleanor Plagge and Linda Coisman; Steve Bickler,
warehouser; Karen Stocking, publishing assistant.  

Positions with Association of Brethren Caregivers, SERRV
International, On Earth Peace Assembly, and overseas and
volunteer positions also are not included in this listing.   

2) The Seventh Annual International Festival will be hosted on
Saturday by the Brethren Service Center, New Windsor, Md. The
festival, which is sponsored by SERRV International, will feature
entertainment, crafts and cuisine from around the world. The
festival will host three Global Villages, representing Africa,
the Americas and Southeast Asia, complete with a variety of food
and artisans. A music and dance troupe focusing on Africa, a
Filipino dance group, a Caribbean steel drum band and a group of
cloggers from Carroll County, Md., will perform during the
festival. SERRV International also will host over 100 of its
national representatives in a Customer Appreciation Day. For more
information, contact Sheila Law Buttner at 410 635-8775 or
SERRV.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

3) Twelve students will graduate from Bethany Theological
Seminary, Richmond, Ind., on Sunday. The graduation setting will
be Wilkinson Theatre, which is inside the Runyan Center on the
Earlham College campus (which is adjacent to Bethany Seminary).
The graduation will begin at 1:30 p.m. Ten Masters of Divinity
and two Masters of Arts in Theology degrees will be given.  

Steven Breck Reid, professor of Old Testament at Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary and a member of the Bethany
Board of Trustees and adjunct faculty, will deliver the
commencement address. For more information on the commencement,
contact David Shetler or Marcia Shetler, (800) 287-8822.   

4) A Capitol Hill vigil to protest the existence of the U.S. Army
School of the Americas (SOA) was held late last month by
Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren, the General
Board's Washington Office and other faith-based organizations.
The U.S.-funded SOA is based in Columbus, Ga. It is a key
training facility for Latin American military personnel.
According to John Harvey, interim director of the Washington
Office, SOA graduates have been linked to numerous human rights
violations. Recently, released trained manuals confirm that the
SOA curriculum "condoned or appeared to condone executions of
guerrillas, physical abuse, coercion, torture and false
imprisonment," according to a 1996 White House Intelligence
Oversight Board report.  

The Washington Office encourages Brethren to support the closing
of SOA through House Resolution 611. For more information,
contact the Washington Office at 202 546-3202 or at
WashOfc@AOL.Com   

5) Annual Conference booklets will be available in early June.
One change not noted in the booklet is the "Black Brethren and
Friends" luncheon, from July 5 to July 4. To order a booklet,
call 800 323-8039 or write to AnnualConf@AOL.Com.   

6) Families that want to promote positive moral values while
resisting the violence that is omnipresent in their lives can
take a stand by signing "A Family Pledge of Nonviolence," which
has been created by the Parenting for Peace and Justice Network.
Brethren are encouraged to sign the pledge, which has been
distributed to all Brethren congregations by the General Board's
Office of Congregational Nurture and Worship. Signers of the
pledge vow to "respect self and others, communicate better,
listen, forgive, respect nature, play creatively and be
courageous" in challenging violence. Jim Chinworth, associate
pastor of Mountville (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, serves as the
Church of the Brethren representative with the Parenting for
Peace and Justice Network.   

7) Anabaptists in Conversation, a conference in Brethren and
Mennonite Interactions with 20th Century Theologies, is scheduled
for June 19-21 at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. Sponsored by the
Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, the
three day conference will feature 12 plenary sessions. Dale
Brown, former Bethany Theological Seminary professor, will serve
as keynote speaker. Brown also will be honored at the banquet.
For more information, call 717 361-1470 or write to
YoungCtr@Acad.ETown.Edu.   

8) The June/July issue of Source, a packet of denominational and
ecumenical resources for congregations collated by the General
Board's Office of Interpretation, was sent out to congregations
this week. Resources included in this month's packet are a
Brethren Press curriculum order form for 1997-98 Sunday school
materials; an order form for Annual Conference audio and video
tapes; a Faith Building Books catalog; Church World Service's
1996 annual report; Focus: General Board ministries; Brethren
Journal Association-hosted Annual Conference events; information
on the Black Advisory Committee luncheon scheduled for Annual
Conference; the July issue of "Living Waters;" and previews of
the June and July issues of Messenger magazine.  

Source is supplied free of charge 10 times a year to pastors or
contact people in each congregation for sharing with
congregational leaders. Others may subscribe for $3.   

9) More than half of North American church members are affiliated
with one of the following -- the Roman Catholic Church, the
Southern Baptist Convention or the United Methodist Church --
according to the National Council of Churches' 1997 Yearbook of
American and Canadian Churches. The Yearbook also states that
four of the 10 largest U.S. denominations are composed of mostly
African-Americans -- National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Church
of God in Christ, National Baptist Convention of America and
African Methodist Episcopal Church. A net increase in overall
church membership is attributed to three denominations -- the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, the Roman Catholic
Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. The Yearbook also
reports that one-third of theological students in 1995 were
women. Fifty-five denominations reported financial data and the
Yearbook calculated that over $21 billion was contributed to
churches last year.  

The 65th edition of the Yearbook, which is a complete summary of
denominational membership, may be purchased for $29.95 by calling
800 672-1789. A CD-Rom version with the book also is available
for $39.95.   

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