From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
UMNS# 04444-New leaders to guide Christian Unity commission
From
"NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>
Date
Wed, 29 Sep 2004 17:09:13 -0500
New leaders to guide Christian Unity commission
Sep. 29, 2004 News media contact: Linda Bloom * (646) 3693759* New
York {04444}
NOTE: Photographs and related coverage, UMNS stories #445 and #446, are
available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Linda Bloom*
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (UMNS) - Sitting in the projected path of Hurricane
Jeanne, members of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns officially marked a new era of leadership.
During the Sept. 22-24 organizing meeting in Daytona Beach - shortened a day
and a half because of the hurricane - commission members noted a number of
"firsts." The Rev. Larry Pickens was installed as the youngest chief
executive and the first African-American to lead the church agency. Bishop
Ann Sherer of Lincoln, Neb., became the first woman president to lead the
commission. Sherer and Bishop Minerva Carcano of Phoenix also became the
first female bishops to serve as commission members.
Pickens, a 45-year-old Illinois pastor and attorney, became the commission's
general secretary July 1. He succeeded the Rev. Bruce Robbins, who left at
the end of 2003 after 13 years in that position. Bishop Melvin Talbert was
the interim leader.
Talbert - who until recently served as the United Methodist Council of
Bishops' ecumenical officer - offered a salute to Pickens during his Sept. 24
installation service at Bethune-Cookman College, a historically black college
associated with the denomination. He recalled their years of friendship,
adding, "Tonight, I look out on him as one of my sons in ministry."
Buoyed by music from the Bethune-Cookman chorale, commission members crowded
near Pickens as he pledged himself to God and the work of the church. The
installation service was preceded by a dinner at the college, where the group
was joined by Trudy Kibbe-Reed, the school's new president.
Besides Sherer, the new commission officers are Jerry Ruth Williams,
Chesterfield, Mo., vice president and Lonnie Brooks, Anchorage, Alaska,
secretary. Clare Chapman, staff executive director of finance and
administration, serves as recording secretary.
On other personnel matters, the commission learned that the Rev. Betty
Gamble, a staff executive, will take early retirement in January. Another
executive, Anne Marshall, also left the commission this year. The personnel
committee will serve as a search committee in the hiring of two new staff
members.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************
United Methodist News Service
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