wfn.org | Office of Loans and Scholarships names recipients of three annual a

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TITLE:	Office of Loans and Scholarships names recipients of three
annual academic awards

April 1, 1998	CONTACT: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470
{197}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Seven United Methodists have been named
1998-99 recipients of three annual awards offered by the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

The awards, made through the board's Office of Loans and Scholarships,
go to United Methodist campus ministers, chaplains, deacons, diaconal
ministers and undergraduate students interested in campus ministry. The
agency is providing a total of $18,200 in assistance through The Baker
Graduate Awards, the Allan Jerome Burry Scholarship and the Rosalie
Bentzinger Graduate Scholarship.
	
Baker award recipients will receive a total of $12,000 for advanced
study. They are:
*	Guy R. Brewer, a doctoral student at Asbury Theological Seminary
in Wilmore, Ky.;
*	John Mark Forrester, a doctoral student at Columbia Theological
Seminary in Decatur, Ga.;
*	William D. Mills, a doctoral student at Texas Tech University in
Lubbock; and 
*	William Finnin, a student at the Hazelden Foundation in Center
City, Minn.

Burry scholarship winners, receiving $600 each, are:
*	Robin E. Barr, a junior at Washington State University, and
*	Timothy W. Smith, a junior at the University of Tennessee in
Knoxville.

The Bentzinger scholar, who will receive $5,000, is:	
*	Patricia A. Meyers, a doctoral student at Seattle University. 

Named for the late Bishop James C. Baker, the Baker awards are given to
campus ministers continuing their education through a full-time degree
program or certification, a certified non-degree program, or an
independent studies program. 

Brewer, a former Baker award recipient, is the area director for Miami
Campus Ministries in Coral Gables, Fla. A member of the Florida Annual
(regional) Conference, he is working on a doctorate in ministry at
Asbury. Before entering campus ministry in 1993, he was a pastor in the
Florida and North Georgia annual conferences.

A second-time Baker recipient, Forrester is the United Methodist campus
minister at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He is a doctoral student
at Columbia Theological Seminary, and has served the Tennessee Annual
Conference as a campus minister since 1991. 

Mills is also a second-time Baker award recipient. A member of the New
Mexico Annual Conference, he is director of the Wesley Foundation at
Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

Finnin has been a chaplain at Southern Methodist University in Dallas
since 1980. He is studying alcohol and substance/chemical abuse at the
Hazelden Foundation. He earned a master of divinity degree from Duke
Divinity School in Durham, N.C., and a doctorate in theology from Iliff
School of Theology in Denver.

The Burry scholarship honors the former campus ministry staff person at
the Board of Higher Education and Ministry. The Rev. Burry died in
August 1990. The award recognizes a student's academic performance,
leadership skills and involvement in a United Methodist-related campus
ministry or chaplaincy program.

Barr, a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim, Wash., is a
peer minister in her campus ministry group and a coordinator of the
campus Covenant Group. She was a delegate from her annual conference to
the 1996 General Conference. An environmental science major, she plans
to do relief work overseas after graduation.

Smith is a member of the Park Avenue United Methodist Church in
Valdosta, Ga., and the South Georgia Annual Conference. He represented
the Holston (Tenn.) Conference at the Student Forum of the United
Methodist Student Movement (UMSM) and was an organizer of the
Southeastern Jurisdictional UMSM. He sings in the University of
Tennessee's Wesley Foundation Chorale and works with the Campus
Minister's Council as the student representative on its Committee on
Hunger and Homelessness.

The Bentzinger scholarship was named for a retired executive in the
Board of Higher Education and Ministry's former division of diaconal
ministry. The scholarship is awarded to a student pursuing a doctorate
in Christian education at a graduate theological school. 

Meyers is a candidate for a doctorate in education at Seattle
University. She is the music minister at Aloha United Methodist Church
in Aloha, Ore., and a faculty member of the religious studies and
philosophy department at Marylhurst College in Marylhurst, Ore. She also
is a writer for the United Methodist Publishing House and Wyndham Hall.

Meyers earned a master's degree in Christian education from
Garrett-Evangelical Seminary and a doctorate in ministry from the
Graduate Theological Foundation.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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