wfn.org | Debt endowment receives first director

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 22, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{484}

NOTE:  A head and shoulders photo of Mearle Griffith is available at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html

By Pamela J. Crosby*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- With the appointment of the inaugural director of
the denomination's Seminarian Indebtedness Endowment, theological school
graduates move a step closer to taking their first church jobs without being
in tremendous debt.

Mearle Griffith, a United Methodist pastor and former staff executive for
the United Methodist Council on Ministries, comes to the position with more
than 10 years of experience in institutional fund raising and development.
Most recently, he served as senior pastor of Church of the Saviour United
Methodist Church in Cincinnati and also has served as executive director and
director of communications in the Iowa Annual Conference.

The 2000 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body,
authorized the $300 million campaign to address the long-identified problem
of seminarians graduating with an excessive financial burden as they enter
into a position of pastoring and caring for others. The United Methodist
Higher Education Foundation in cooperation with the church's Board of Higher
Education and Ministry and the General Council on Finance and Administration
will administer the funds.

"Mearle Griffith exemplifies the vision of the Seminarian Indebtedness
Endowment initiative," said George M. Miller, the foundation's president and
chief executive officer.  "He brings a scope of development and fund-raising
expertise and personal commitment that will enable us to make great strides
toward supporting our seminary students who are planning to go into the
ordained ministry of the United Methodist Church in the future.  We look
forward to this association and the development of this extremely important
endowment."

For more information, contact the foundation at umhef@gbhem.org; 1001 19th
Ave., S., Nashville, TN 37212; phone (800) 811-8110; fax (615) 340-7330; or
visit www.umhef.org.
 
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*Pamela Crosby is a staff member in the Office of Interpretation at the
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org