October 20, 1999
Walker elected to head Joint Committee
___ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP)--The Baptist Joint Committee marked its fall board meeting with a change in leadership of the 63-year-old religious-liberty coalition in Washington.
___The Oct. 4-5 meeting in Arlington, Va., marked both the official farewell for James Dunn, who retired Sept. 1 after 18 years as the agency's executive director, and the election of Dunn's successor, Brent Walker, who previously served as the BJC's general counsel.
___BJC directors passed a resolution honoring Dunn's work. "For us, James has been the face of religious liberty," it said in part.
___In retirement, Dunn, 67, now has two jobs. He has assumed duties as president of the Baptist Joint Committee Foundation, where he is working on raising the last $100,000 of a $1 million fund-raising goal by the end of this year. He also is professor of Christianity and public policy at Wake Forest Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C.
___Board members voted unanimously to elect Walker, whose nomination had been announced earlier by a search committee.
___Walker, 48, becomes the agency's fifth chief executive. He has worked for the BJC since 1989, first as associate general counsel and more recently as general counsel and associate executive director.
___Walker brings the ability to both "stand upon the broad shoulders of James Dunn and the wonderful work he has done" and to lead the organization "in his own right," said board Chairman Aidsand Wright-Riggins, executive director of National Ministries of American Baptist Churches in the USA. He predicted Walker would both relate well to current constituents and "reach out to a whole new generation of people."
___In addition to electing Walker, BJC directors also chose new officers of the board.
___June McEwen of Chattanooga, Tenn., representing the Religious Liberty Council, was elected president. Boyce Brannock of Staunton, Va., a representative from the Baptist General Association of Virginia, was elected first vice president.
___Charles Weber of Wheaton, Ill., who represents the North American Baptist Conference, is the new second vice president. Walter Parrish of New York, representing the American Baptist Churches in the USA, is secretary.Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!