wfn.org | ABCUSA: Biennial Update #6: July 1, 2003

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

BIENNIAL CLOSES WITH MEDEMA CONCERT, CELEBRATION OF 'WORSHIPPING PEOPLE'

RICHMOND, VA (ABNS)-In a service focused on a theme of "Centered in Christ:
A Worshipping People," delegates and visitors to the American Baptist
Churches USA Biennial Meeting here concluded their gathering with an
inspirational concert by well-known Christian musician Ken Medema and a
sermon by the Rev. Yamina Apolinaris.

Medema, who has performed at many American Baptist events over the past
three decades, shared many of his own songs and provided improvised
responses in music to the sermon and other program elements. 

Apolinaris, former executive minister of the Baptist Churches of Puerto
Rico, brought a message based on the account of Jesus and the unnamed woman
at the house of Simon the Pharisee recorded in Luke 7: 36-50.  The woman,
she said, expressed "not a word, not a whisper, just tears-wetting Jesus'
dry and sore feet with tears of silence.  Many of us have forgotten what it
is to shed tears like that... Many times there should be nothing else we can
do but cry, but we end up just talking-telling Jesus what we want and what
he has to do about it."

"We have lost out capacity to be still and silent before God.  To cry is not
to give up.  This was no weak woman; she had to be strong to do what she
did...."   Through her "tears of hope, tears of possibility, tears of
worship," Apolinaris said, the unnamed woman "was a paradigm of true
worshipping."

During the service President David Hunt recounted his year and a half of
leadership and his expectation for increasingly effective and dynamic
American Baptist mission and outreach.	He emphasized that "while we have
our differences, our common goal is to serve God."  He introduced
President-elect Peggy Johnson, who expressed her hope that American Baptists
will "agree to differ, resolve to love and unite to serve."

Significant anniversaries were noted during the session and throughout the
gathering: Interim Ministries-ABC, 25 years; the Woman's American Baptist
Home Mission Society, 125 years; the American Baptist Historical Society,
150 years.

Earlier in the day the Rev. Dr. John Sundquist, retiring executive director
of International Ministries, addressed the International Ministries
luncheon.  "I have learned so much from the global church, " he said.  "The
majority church is a good news people.	Bad news does not drain their
passion, destroy their spirit, limit their vision, crush their hope.  The
global church is a people centered in Christ.  The good news is the person
and work of Jesus."

"Remember this," Sundquist emphasized, "American Baptist International
Ministries is the only mission in the world that created a denomination....
It was a movement bubbling up from the churches empowered by the Holy
Spirit....  When we connect with the global church we together become God's
good news people, centered in Christ and on speaking terms with the Holy
Spirit.  And then we will once again discover that God id not through with
us yet, and that our future is as bright as the promises of God."

The 2003 Biennial Meeting included approximately 3,350 attendees,
performers, volunteers and others.  Participating were 1.495 delegates and
596 visitors.

U0630-1

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

Richard W. Schramm
Deputy General Secretary for Communication
American Baptist Churches USA
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
1-800-ABC-3USA/x2077