Entries for January 2010

American Baptist International Ministries (IM) missionaries have responded to the immediate medical needs resulting from the January 12 Haiti earthquake.  Dr. Steve James, IM missionary in Haiti, and Kristy Engel, IM missionary in the Dominican Republic, have created response teams and ministered to earthquake victims in Christianville and Port-au-Prince.

A recent communication was received by International Ministries (IM) from Rev. Pierre Espady, president of the Iglesia Bautista Misionera Haitiana, Inc. (Haitian Missionary Baptist Church) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, an IM partner.  The church ministers to Haitians living in the Dominican Republic and most of the church members have family in Haiti.

Daily news reports reflect the indescribable results of the 7.0 earthquake that brought destruction on January 12 to Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.  Medical professionals are, and will be, urgently needed to respond to the injuries of thousands of victims.

Rev. Floyd Harbold passed away on January 21, 2010. Dr. Robert E. Briggs and Rev. Raymond D. Weigum died in 2009. Harbold, Briggs and Weigum all served as ministers of mission support with American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), and all are remembered for their faithful service.

Elmer Hall was honored at the close of last year by the Bible Institute at the Evangelical Cooperative Center (CECO) in Kimpese, Democratic Republic of the Congo with an honorary doctorate degree. 

American Baptist International Ministries (IM) missionaries, Christian partners and U.S. and Puerto Rico congregations are continuing to mobilize and respond at historic levels to the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti and devastated its capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area on January 12.

Rev. Dr. Lloyd D. Hamblin, Jr., Acting Treasurer and Associate General Secretary for Finance with American Baptist Churches USA has announced his plans to retire from his role with ABCUSA effective March 31, 2010.  Hamblin assumed this role in January 2007. 

The Rev. Clydia Nahwooksy, a former member of the Board of National Ministries and the ABCUSA General Board, died Dec. 31, 2009, in Indiahoma, Oklahoma. She was 76 years old.

International Ministries' Coordinator, Volunteers in Global Mission, Angela Sudermann, recently published a memoir entitled, "Running Water, Living Water" about her personal experience as a Christian mission trip leader guiding a team to a small Lahu Village in Thailand.

As news pours in about the magnitude of human suffering following Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti, National Ministries is working with International Ministries, ABCUSA regions, Church World Service and the North American Baptist Fellowship to coordinate disaster response.

A 7 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. with devastating results. American Baptist missionary families serving in Haiti with International Ministries were in the United States at the time.