JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 29 AT ABCUSA BIENNIAL/CENTENNIAL

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 06/12/07) -- A major joint press conference is set for 4 p.m., Friday, June 29, in Room 209-A of the Washington, DC Convention Center. This is the day of overlap scheduling by the American Baptist Churches, USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

The press conference will focus on “A New Era of Baptist Cooperation.” While reporters may ask whatever they choose, a few topics of interest might be:

• The historic shared worship service that evening sponsored by ABC and CBF.
• The growing partnership between ABC and CBF, including dually appointed missionaries and church starts.
• The centennial celebration of ABC, founded in Washington, D.C., in 1907, as the Northern Baptist Convention.
• The growing role of the North American Baptist Fellowship as a regional body of the worldwide Baptist World Alliance.
• The New Baptist Covenant Celebration, initiated by President Jimmy Carter and Mercer University President Bill Underwood, that sponsors hope will draw more than 20,000 diverse Baptists to Atlanta in 2008.
• The upcoming consolidation of Baptist archives at Mercer University’s Atlanta campus and the relocation of two major Baptist historical societies.
• Baptists and race relations, religious liberty, etc.

Participants will include:

• Dr. David Emmanuel Goatley, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention
• Rev. Dr. Sumner M. Grant, Executive Director, Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board
• Rev. Dr. Roy Medley, General Secretary, American Baptist Churches USA
• Rev. Dr. Tyrone S. Pitts, General Secretary, Progressive National Baptist Convention
• Rev. Dr. Reid Trulson, Executive Director, International Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
• Dr. William D. Underwood, President, Mercer University
• Dr. Deborah Van Broekhoven, Executive Director, American Baptist Historical Society
• Rev. Dr. Daniel Vestal, Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
• Rev. Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director, National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA