Baptist Briefs
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Belew dies. Wendell Belew, 77, a driving force in Southern Baptist missions for nearly half a century, died March 8 in Rome, Ga. A Kentucky native, Belew was one of the first Southern Baptist missionaries to work full-time in that state's poverty-stricken Appalachian region. He later became a vice president of the Home Mission Board, where he retired in 1988.
___ Giving rises for CBF. Mid-year giving totals to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are up 13 percent, boosted by designated gifts for refugee relief. Gifts to the Atlanta-based Fellowship's general budget were up 10 percent through the first six months of the fiscal year, said Gary Skeen, coordinator for finance and administration. CBF ministries received $4.04 million between July and December 1999, compared to $3.61 million for the same period in 1998. An annual Global Missions Offering took in another $1.36 million, up nearly 5 percent from $1.3 million the previous year. The largest increase came in designated gifts, which grew 43 percent, from $792,946 to more than $1.14 million. The increase is primarily because of money earmarked for Kosovo refugee relief ministries in Albania, Skeen said. He added that 1,526 churches contributed to the Fellowship in the first six months of the fiscal year, 48 more than the first half of last year.
___ Conservative leader dies. A pioneer in the "conservative resurgence" movement that shaped the Southern Baptist Convention has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. William Powell, 74, who died March 9 in Bremen, Ga., left a job with the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board to found the Baptist Faith & Message Fellowship in 1973. As editor of a newspaper called the Southern Baptist Journal, Powell led charges of liberalism in seminaries and other institutions in the nation's largest Protestant denomination. The Journal is credited with galvanizing conservatives with its often-strident articles.
___ New degrees approved. Four Southern Baptist Convention seminaries have been approved to offer a new doctor of educational ministry degree, according to notifications received from the Association of Theological Schools. The degree will be offered by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Midwestesrn Baptist Theological Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___ Bivocational celebration planned. A National Bivocational Ministers' Celebration is planned for Cincinnati April 27-29. Sponsored by the Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers' Association, it will be held at Friendship Baptist Church. Speakers include Leon Wilson, North American Board missionary for bivocational ministry, and Jack Kwok, executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. For more information, call (614) 258-8491, ext. 29.
___ Bright to speak to wives. Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, will be the keynote speaker for the Ministers' Wives' Conference held during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., June 13. The luncheon meeting will be held at the Omni Rosen Hotel at noon. To order advance tickets, which are $10 each, send a check and self-addressed, stamped envelope to Leigh Lowery, 2810 E. Texas St., Bossier City, La. 71111.
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