Baptist Briefs

Posted: 1/05/07

Baptist Briefs

African Baptist leader dies. Frank Adams, general secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, died Dec. 27 in Kumasi, Ghana, after several months of chronic illness. Adams, who also served as Baptist World Alliance regional secretary for Africa, was previously general secretary for the Baptist Convention of Ghana. Adams was a graduate of Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, and the Oxford Center for Mission Studies in the United Kingdom. He is survived by wife Selina, two sons and one daughter.

Deadline nears for China pen-pals. The Fellowship of Baptist Educators is seeking about 2,000 students in grades 7 to 12 to answer letters and become pen-pals with young people in China. Jan. 15 is the deadline for requesting letters through the Christian Corresponders project, now in its 16th year. For more information, write John Carter with the Fellowship of Baptist Educators at Samford University, Box 292305, Birmingham, Ala., 35229, e-mail j-fcarter@juno.com or call (205) 822-4106.

Former first lady ordained as deacon. Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., ordained former First Lady Rosalynn Carter as a deacon Dec. 10. Though raised a Methodist, Carter, 79, has been active in Baptist congregations since her marriage more than 60 years ago to former President Jimmy Carter, a longtime Baptist deacon. She is the second woman elected as a deacon at Maranatha. “She is very shy and doesn’t like the spotlight,” said Maranatha Pastor Jeff Summers. “But people have seen her leadership and compassion.” Carter often is involved in behind-the-scenes ministries, such as working with children and delivering meals to the homebound, he added.

Former missionary named university president. A Japanese university founded by Southern Baptist missionaries named one as its new president. Trustees of Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan, elected Gary Barkley as the school’s ninth president. Barkley is the university’s third American-born president. A graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., Barkley earned a doctorate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1984 and immediately moved to Japan to work as a missionary for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board. Barkley joined the school’s faculty in 1987 and went on to become dean of religious affairs.

Noted African-American pastor dies. George O. McCalep Jr., pastor of Greenforest Community Baptist Church in Atlanta and a popular speaker at African-American Baptist events, died Dec. 23. He was 67. He was a past president of the Southern Baptist African-American Fellowship and a prolific author. Under McCalep’s leadership, Greenforest Community Baptist grew from 25 members to more than 4,000, and the church’s annual budget increased from $13,000 to $2.1 million.

LifeWay VP announces retirement. Mike Arrington, vice president of the corporate affairs division at LifeWay Christian Resources, has announced his retirement effective Feb. 1. Arrington, who will continue to serve as a consultant to the president, was an executive with Texas Utilities before he joined the Southern Baptist publishing house staff in December 1991.