wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR MAY 14, 1997

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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: MAY 14, 1997
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o  Dr. J. Dwight Stinnett, senior pastor of First Baptist
Church in Elwood, Ind., has been named the next
executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of
the Great Rivers Region.  Stinnett was elected
yesterday by the region's Board of Managers.  He assumes
his new responsibilities July 1.  Dr. Gene Ton has
been serving as interim executive minister since the
retirement of Dr. Malcolm Shotwell at the end of last
year. 
Stinnett has served the Elwood church since 1990.  He was
pastor of Waldron Baptist Church, Waldron, Ind.,
from 1985-1990.  In regional activities within the
American Baptist Churches of Indiana, Stinnett has been a
member of the Ministers Council, the Higher Education
Consultation Task Force and the Commission for
Certified Lay Ministry, among many other positions.  He
is chair of the Registration Committee for the 1997
Biennial Meeting of the American Baptist Churches USA, to
be held next month in Indianapolis.  Stinnett served
as part of the U.S. Air Force from 1973 until his
honorable discharge in 1989 with the permanent rank of
captain.  He also held a number of staff positions at the
University of Cincinnati Medical Center and at the
Shriners Burns Institute in Cincinnati between 1975 and
1983, and has contributed to numerous scientific
textbooks and research publications.  He holds degrees
from the University of Alabama (B.S., Microbiology), the
University of Georgia (D.Phil., Microbiology) and
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), where he
has
pursued doctoral study.  Dwight Stinnett and his wife,
Mary, are parents of a daughter, Suzanne.  The American
Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region, one of 34
regions within American Baptist Churches USA,
includes about 260 churches and 50,000 resident members.

o  Long-term relief needs remain in the wake of
devastating flooding caused by melting snow that affected
many
American Baptists in parts of North Dakota, South Dakota
and Minnesota last month.  Assessments still are
being made to determine the extent of the damage and the
best ways of responding to it.  All but one family in
the Federated Church in Grand Forks, N.D., suffered flood
damage, although the church itself was spared. 
Pastor Richard Tosh and his wife, Beth, abandoned their
home for a time.  According to Tosh, the flood "wasn't
a challenge I was looking for, but it's certainly an
opportunity to minister in Jesus' name."  Worship
services
resumed May 4 at the church, and many families were able
to return to their homes about that time.  American
Baptist churches served strategic roles in relief
efforts.  First Baptist Church in Bismarck became a
collection
center for flood relief donations.  First Baptist Church
in Fargo functioned as a "sandwich assembly point" to
feed volunteers and home-owners working to salvage their
dwellings.  National Ministries' Office of Disaster
Response and the American Baptist World Relief Office
released $10,000 of One Great Hour of Sharing funds
for flood recovery efforts in and around Campbell, Minn.,
where 300 parishioners of Campbell United Parish
were affected by flooding.  The Rev. Dennis Burke, the
American Baptist pastor, is the only resident clergy for
many miles and provided ministry and leadership during
the crisis.  American Baptists also sent $3,000 to aid
evacuated residents of Watertown, S.D., where members of
First Baptist Church, Watertown, were affected.
American Baptists desiring to contribute to flood relief
in the northern plains and Indiana/Ohio may designate
One Great Hour of Sharing "Midwest/South Storms-1997"
funds on line 7 of the Monthly Report of Mission
Support form.  Volunteers will be needed to assist
long-term relief ministries.  For information about
individual
or group volunteer opportunities contact Carole
Dieciedue, director of National Ministries' Volunteers In
Mission,
at 1-800-ABC-3USA, ext. 2449. 

o  Dr. Oliver W. Hasselblad, a retired American Baptist
International Ministries missionary to India and
longtime president of American Leprosy Missions, Inc.,
died May 3.  He was 88.  Hasselblad served with his
wife, Norma, in Jorhat, Assam, from 1938-1957.  A medical
doctor, he developed the Jorhat Hospital from a
small 25-bed clinic to a major medical center with 225
beds.   He also built the first modern tuberculosis
sanatorium, developed mobile and outpatient clinic work
in remote areas, and supervised the Kanpokpi Leprosy
Hospital in Manipur for three years.  In 1959 he became
president of American Leprosy Missions, Inc., a post he
held for 15 years.  He was regarded as an expert on world
leprosy control, and oversaw the development of new
techniques in the fight against the disease.  Condolences
for Norma Hasselblad and the Hasselblad family may be
sent to her at Plymouth Village, 923 Providence Place,
Redlands, CA 92373-6181.

97U514
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