wfn.org | ABCUSA: Mild to Retire from National Ministries

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

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 1/19/05)--The Rev. Mary
L. Mild, manager of National Ministries' American Baptist Personnel
Services (ABPS), will retire in March 2005 after 20 years of service to
American Baptist Churches USA.

Under her leadership ABPS transformed its database of ministerial
profiles searchable only at Valley Forge into a Web-based system
accessed by more than 150 area and executive ministers at regional
locations across the U.S.

Mild manages the ABPS database and has created resources for the search
and call process that include Church Reflections and Calling An American
Baptist Minister.  She also produces the Ministry Opportunities Listing,
a monthly publication of open ministry positions within American Baptist
Churches USA.

A commissioned American Baptist home missionary, Mild joined National
Ministries' staff as director of Women and the Church in January 1985.

>From 1987 to 1996 she was National Ministries' consultant to the
national board of American Baptist Women, serving on the group's
restructuring commission and assisting with planning four national
women's conferences.

Mild served on planning committees for numerous other American Baptist
conferences, including peace and evangelism convocations, Faith Faces
Issues and Orientation to ABC Life. She chaired the Chaplains and
Pastoral Counselors Committee, which oversees the endorsement process
for American Baptist chaplains and pastoral counselors.

Also, Mild edited three books-Women at the Well and Songs of Miriam,
published by Judson Press, and Worthy of the Gospel, published by
National Ministries-along with two issues of American Baptist Quarterly,
one focused on the American Baptist Women's Home Mission Societies and
the other on the American Baptist Women's Foreign Mission Movement.

"Through her two decades of service to American Baptist Churches USA,
the Rev. Mary Mild has left an indelible mark on our denomination," said
the Rev. Dr. Margaret Ann Cowden, National Ministries' acting executive
director and treasurer. "The conferences she participated in planning
have inspired hundreds; the books she edited continue to provide
thoughtful reflection for hundreds more. And Mild's work with ABPS has
provided support for those American Baptist clergy, and congregations,
that seek God's call for a new direction. We give thanks for Mild's
gifts to National Ministries and ask for blessings on her well-deserved
retirement years."

K/2005ABNS/05ABN9

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