wfn.org | Notes about People

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

5-June-1998 
98200 
                    Notes about People 
 
                    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
    The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has hired two 
regional representatives to replace the Rev. Mills J. Peebles and the Rev. 
Robert B. Smith, who have undertaken new assignments with the Board. 
    Warren B. Cooper of Trenton, N.J., is to serve the Synod of the 
Northeast and the Rev. R. Nelson Ralls of Bessemer, Ala., will serve the 
Synod of Living Waters and part of the Synod of the Sun.  They will start 
serving their regions June 22, 1998. 
    Both Smith and Peebles will now serve the Board as special 
representatives with Smith working on special assignments with the 
president of the Board and Peebles with the vice president for church 
relations, the Rev. Paul Stavrakos. 
    Since 1985, Cooper has been president and CEO of Sky Island Sound, a 
production company that focuses on empowering churches and producing custom 
music.  Since 1993 he has also been the chief operating officer for Asset 
Recovery Associates, which uses emerging technologies to develop 
enterprises.  He has been active in Philadelphia Presbytery. 
    Ralls, a member of Sheppards and Lapsley Presbytery, has been serving 
as pastor at the Gardendale, Ala., Presbyterian Church since 1993. 
Previously, he served as pastor at other churches in Alabama and Georgia. 
He was chaplain with the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard for 
more than 24 years.  He also has a sales background working in insurance 
and with investment consultants. 
 
                               # # # 
 
    Through the generosity of Jane G. and D. Rae Carpenter of Lexington, 
Va., plans for the Jane G. Carpenter Lectureship Fund have been finalized 
by the Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina.  The newly established 
Lectureship Fund totals $70,000. 
    "The mission and ministry of the Montreat Conference Center is to 
provide educational, spiritual, retreat and worship activities which are 
both challenging and relevant to those who attend," said Emile H. Dieth, 
Jr., president of Montreat.  "The generosity of Jane and Rae Carpenter 
will allow us to enhance and expand our existing programming, as well as 
create new opportunities with an outstanding selection of distinguished 
speakers." 
 
                               # # # 
 
    The World Council of Churches (WCC) has announced the appointment of 
Georges Lemopoulos as deputy general secretary, effective Jan. 1, 1999. 
    Lemopoulos, a native of Istanbul, Turkey, is a member of the Orthodox 
Church (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and has been on the staff of the WCC since 
1987.  He is currently executive secretary in the WCC's Office of Church 
and Ecumenical Relations, where he serves as co-secretary of the Joint 
Working Group of the WCC and Roman Catholic Church.  He is also responsible 
for contacts and relations with Orthodox churches and Christian world 
communions. 

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