wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR SEPT. 1999

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AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR SEPT. 3, 1999

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 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

UPDATE:  September 3, 1999

HOPPER APPOINTED MANAGER OF M&M'S VALLEY FORGE OFFICE
 Sumner Grant, executive director of The Ministers and 
Missionaries Benefit Board, has announced the appointment of 
Perry Hopper as manager of M&M's Valley Forge office and 
member of the Management Team, effective Jan. 1, 2000.  
 Hopper, who has served in M&M's New York office since 1987, 
also will serve as Member Service representative for Mission 
Center staff and the Philadelphia Baptist Association.
Hopper succeeds Elizabeth "Betty" Gordon, who retires 
Jan. 1, 2000 after 37 years of service.  During his tenure 
in the New York office Hopper has been an assistant to the 
executive director, membership services officer and a Member 
Service representative.  He also has been special 
representative for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
 A graduate of the University of Washington, Hopper 
received an M.Div. degree from Harvard University Divinity 
School and a D.Min. degree from United Theological Seminary.  
In addition to his M&M responsibilities Hopper is liturgist 
and minister of Christian education at the Canaan Baptist 
Church of Christ, New York City.
 Commenting on Hopper's appointment, Grant said, 
"Perry's gifts of leadership, experience and knowledge make 
him the ideal choice to continue M&M's tradition of 
providing superior service to members at the Mission Center 
and in the Philadelphia Baptist Association.  I am pleased 
he has accepted the new challenge and have confidence that 
he will contribute significantly to M&M's future direction 
as a member of the Management Team."

AMERICAN BAPTISTS SEND $20,000 FOR TURKEY EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
 The American Baptist Churches' World Relief Office 
thus far has sent $20,000 to Church World Service to help 
ecumenical recovery and rehabilitation work following last 
month’s devastating earthquake in Turkey.
 While American Baptist Churches USA does not have any 
direct relations with any group within Turkey, it is using  
ecumenical channels to the respond to the need there.
 The quake, centered in Izmit and measuring 7.8 on the 
Richter Scale, has claimed at least 14,000. 
 American Baptists wishing to help in emergency relief 
work in Turkey can do so through One Great Hour of Sharing 
(Monthly Report of Mission Support, line 7), designating 
funds for "Turkey Earthquake Relief."

MADSEN APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF BACONE COLLEGE
 Dr. Norman P. Madsen, president of Kendall College, 
Evanston, Ill., has been named president of Bacone College, 
Muskogee, Okla.
 Madsen's appointment as Bacone's seventeenth president 
was announced by the school's Board of Trustees.  He 
succeeds Bill Fife, who has served as acting president since 
the resignation of Dr. Dennis Tanner earlier this year.
 During his three years as president of Kendall College 
Madsen oversaw a 41 percent increase in enrollment and a 90 
percent increase in development giving.  He previously was 
vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the college 
at McKendree College in Lebanon, Ill.   
 An ordained Methodist minister, he holds a master of 
theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a 
doctor of philosophy degree from St. Mary's College, St. 
Andrews, Scotland.
 In announcing the appointment, Trustees Chair James L. 
Baker cited Madsen's "impeccable experience and 
qualifications" and noted that the selection "demonstrates 
the Board's commitment to launching a new and aggressive 
direction for the college."
 Bacone, which throughout its history has had a strong 
commitment to the education of Native Americans, is one of 
16 colleges and universities related to American Baptist 
Churches USA through Educational Ministries.

WALKER NOMINATED TO HEAD BAPTIST JOINT COMMITTEE 
 J. Brent Walker, Esq., general counsel and associate 
executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, has been 
nominated as the next executive director of that Washington, 
D.C.-based religious liberty agency.
 A search committee voted unanimously Aug. 18 to 
nominate Walker, an attorney, ordained Baptist minister and 
adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
 If confirmed by the BJC directors at their Oct. 4-5 
meeting, Walker, 48, will  become the fifth chief executive 
in the history of the 63-year-old BJC.  He would succeed Dr. 
James M. Dunn, executive director since 1981, who left 
that position Sept. 1 to become president of the Baptist 
Joint Committee Foundation and professor of Christianity and 
public policy at Wake Forest Divinity School.
 American Baptist Churches USA is one of 12 Baptist 
bodies related to the BJC.
 Search committee chairman Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-
Riggins III, executive director of National Ministries of 
American Baptist Churches USA, said the panel's task was to 
"identify a person who would carry our cause into the next 
millennium.  In J. Brent Walker we found a candidate young 
enough to continue the energetic and vigorous legacy of the 
Committee and old enough to lead it with wisdom and 
maturity."
 "We were impressed that Brent's spiritual journey led 
him to leave a prestigious law practice, prepare for 
Christian ministry and then dedicate his skills as an 
ethicist and advocate for extending and defending religious 
freedom," Wright-Riggins said.
 In addition to Wright-Riggins, other American Baptist 
members of the search committee were Dr. Daniel E. Weiss, 
general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, and Dr. 
G. Elaine Smith, a Washington D.C. attorney and past 
president of American Baptist Churches USA.
 Walker holds a bachelor's degree in political science 
and a master's degree in public administration from the 
University of Florida, a juris doctor from Stetson 
University College of Law and a master of divinity degree 
from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  While attending 
seminary Walker served as pastor of Richland Baptist Church 
in Falmouth, Ky.
 He speaks frequently on church-state issues at 
churches, conferences and on university and seminary 
campuses, and has appeared on numerous network news programs 
to discuss church-state issues.
 Walker and his wife, Nancy F. Walker, who serves as 
minister to children at Columbia Baptist Church, Falls 
Church, Va., are the parents of two sons, Ryan, 20, and 
Layton, 17.

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